Outbound sales have been around since the beginning of time. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but outbound sales are one of the oldest sales strategies in the world. Businesses, big and small, everywhere in the world engage in outbound sales because, despite its age, it is quite effective. Outbound sales is one of the many solutions offered by Sales Focus Inc. In this article, you will learn the basics of outbound sales and the sales process.
Outbound Sales 101
Outbound sales are an activity wherein the seller or the business reaches out to a prospective client to sell their product or service. Sounds familiar, right? One of the most common forms of outbound sales is cold calls and cold e-mails sent to clients potentially interested in the business’ products.
The goal of outbound sales is to generate sales. However, this is not its only goal. Another equally important goal of outbound sales is creating connections with potential clients, get to know them, and help them get to know your company and offerings. These connections ideally would invoke interest in the prospect toward the business’ offerings. Outbound sales is a great way to touch on untapped markets that usual sales and marketing channels may not typically reach.
The Outbound Sales Process
Based on the explanation of outbound sales, it may seem like a futile activity akin to shooting blindfolded. But of course, that is not the case. Outbound sales have a process that doubles as a strategy for targeting each business’s best prospective clients.
The outbound sales process involves scouting prospects that fit the company’s target customer profile, writing e-mails and scripts that would entice a prospect to learn more about your company, giving the client more information, and guiding them through the customer journey that ends with a sale. The outbound sales process needs to be strategic and personalized to the prospective clients because, as much as it is an effective sales strategy, it can just as quickly drive prospects away in annoyance.
Advantage of Outbound Sales Process
To maximize outbound sales, sales representatives need to entice instead of annoy prospective clients. Salespeople can tread this fine line through a well-thought-out outbound sales process that each sales representative can follow. Here are the benefits of having a standardized outbound sales process. These benefits do not just span the services concerning sales, but also with the sales team’s performance.
1. A Clear Path For Sales Representatives
Having clearly defined steps at every stage of the sale drastically improves sales representatives’ performances. It guides them through all the details and strategies that have proven to be effective at attracting prospects. Without such a process, sales representatives may forget details or ramble and potentially lose a deal.
2. Evidence-based Improvement Of Sales Methods
Great sales teams are always on the lookout to improve their methods, and they do this through measurable data. A standardized process makes it easier to pinpoint ineffective strategies and implement evidence-based changes. Most companies start by following the best practices and then, through trial and error, find the sales process that works best for them.
3. Better Feedback On Team’s Performance
A sales process also makes it easier to measure the sales team’s performance and give feedback to help them improve. Aside from data and key metrics, a standardized process enables you to understand the sales representatives’ choices at every stage and see their impact on the sales.
4. Improved Communication Between The Sales Team And The Company
Sales and marketing have very specific jargons that are often difficult for people in management to grasp. This makes communication and collaboration difficult. When working with an outsourced sales team, you need simplified and effective communication. A standardized sales process can make communication between the company and sales teams simpler by giving both parties a common ground.
5. Find More Qualified Leads
One pitfall of outbound sales is targeting the wrong prospects. This strategy becomes effective when it’s targeted and specific. A standardized sales process helps sales representatives filter out low-potential leads and focus on prospects who are more likely to purchase your product. This helps make the process more efficient and valuable.
Overall, a standardized outbound sales process makes the process easier and more manageable for the sales team and improves the customer’s experience. A good outbound sales process may help layout the foundation for a strong long-term customer relationship.
Steps involved in the outbound sales process
As mentioned earlier, outbound sales’ strategy lies in its process. Years of trial and error have led the industry to the foundational sales process. Let us go through the outbound sales process.
1. Prospecting: Lead Generation
Lead generation or prospecting is the process of sourcing contact information of potential new clients. To streamline this process, it is crucial to establish your target customer profile. Once you have a clear idea of the target customer profile, you can start the prospecting—research on the web and sites like LinkedIn. Find customer information that will help you decide whether they fit your target customer profile and personalize your campaigns later.
2. Outreach: Cold Calling And Cold E-mailing
Cold calling, as mentioned earlier, is calling prospect clients you previously had no contact with. While cold e-mailing does the same in the form of an e-mail. These two activities rely on different skill sets. Cold callers need persuasiveness and speaking skills, while cold e-mailing needs someone with excellent copywriting skills. Both, however, are necessary for successful outreach.
3. Lead Qualification: Sales Call & Demo
When a prospect accepts a sales call after learning about your product, you have the opportunity to turn them into a client. The sales call is where you can do a demonstration of your product. It is essential to be prepared with the perfect demo for their buyer persona. But the first sales call is also an opportunity to learn more about the buyer persona and how you can turn them into a customer.
4. Closing: Contract Signing
This is the late stage of the sales process. The prospect turned opportunity is now about to become a customer. When the potential client expresses the desire to make a deal with you, you need to motivate your client to take action. This may involve delivering a quote, negotiating a proposal, upgrading from free to Premium, and so on. You need to present a clear proposal to the client to make the contract easy to sign.
5. Customer Success: Delivery And Support
You now have a new customer. But your sales process does not end there. You need to deliver on your promises in order to retain this client. If they are impressed, you may ask them for referrals and repeat the outbound sales process again.
Conclusion
Outbound sales process is an effective strategy for widening a company’s reach and increasing market share revenue. This practice is quite tricky, but it can be highly effective when done right with a standardized sales process. Refine your outbound sales process with an experienced sales team from Sales Focus Inc.
