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Outbound Sales: The go-getter's approach to bringing home the bacon
While many sales reps prefer inside sales, outbound sales is still crucial to success. Here are some tips to ace your outbound sales strategy.
Reading time: 4 minutes
For a sales representative to be successful in the world of outbound sales, they will need to master the art of the cold call and keep an open mind in the process.
Having ambition and the right tools to get started in cold calling is one thing, but the benefits of outbound sales can also be monumental. But what exactly is outbound sales and how can you ace it?
Fret not, in this article, we’ll go through the definition of outbound sales and some tips to be successful in your outbound sales strategy. 👇
Contents
What is outbound sales?
Outbound sales is the method of selling a product to your potential customers by reaching out to people first. Outbound sales calls would be an example of a technique sales representatives use to draw in leads.
Although they do have similarities, outbound sales are different from inbound sales, in which customers would flock to the seller (generally due to successful content marketing techniques). Many companies utilize a hybrid approach, using both of these techniques to maximize sales.
💡 Additional read: Inside vs outside sales: Which is better for your business?
How does cold calling fit into outbound sales?
There are three types of outbound calls, and cold calling is the most common lead generation method.
Cold calling is the technique of calling prospective customers who have not shown interest in a company’s products with the hopes that the customer decides to consider the product by the end of the call.
Similarly, outbound sales calling involves speaking to people about considering their product. The difference is that these calls are usually prepared to hit a target audience at the right time to increase the likelihood that these people will take interest.
While the strategic technique that outbound sales callers use is effective, the main benefit that cold calling brings to the table over outbound calls is volume.
If a sales representative calls more people, that means more people will take notice or at least be aware that their product exists.
For example, if a potential customer gets cold-called and declines, but an outbound sales caller from the same company follows up with them, the customer will more likely consider the offer.
This is how cold calling can be a valuable tool in an outbound sales operation.
Advantages and disadvantages of outbound sales
Advantages
Reaching out to customers can be a powerful tool for several reasons, including:
- Being in control of selling pace — Having control over your selling pace can be an excellent advantage that outbound sales offer over inbound sales. When revenue is low, a sales representative can compensate for that by making more calls.
- Builds client relationships — Calls allow clients to have a more personal experience with the representative than any online screen gives them. These business relationship experiences are as important, if not more important, than the actual product that the representative is trying to sell.
- Immediate feedback — Outbound sales allow sales representatives to have a direct yes or no answer from clients. With cold calling, this can be discouraging but will enable representatives to make the most of their time not chasing false leads.
- Targeted approach — A huge benefit of outbound sales over inbound sales is that the client pool base comes from determined conditions that would increase sales the most.
- Exposure — One of the best and worst things about calls is that they interrupt the clients’ day. They may be in a work meeting or binging a Netflix show, but they will still hear their phone ring. Even if the client declines the product, they are now aware that it exists.
Disadvantages
Outbound sales involve a lot of fine details that often get overlooked. Here are the most important ones not to miss:
- Customer distaste — As mentioned earlier, phone calls interrupt a client’s day. Some people find this off-putting, so much so that even if they needed the service, they would decline the call and seek services elsewhere.
- Cost — Investing a lot of time and money into creating a sales pitch geared towards a specific audience holds a lot of risks. If customers are not brought in, it could be disastrous for the business.
- Advertisements — Many people have a setting on their email to send unknown advertisement-type emails to the spam folder. Unfortunately, outbound sales emails or calls risk the same fate.
Tips to be successful in outbound sales
Implementing an outbound sales system in a business doesn’t take much effort, but it takes work to become efficient and successful in outbound sales. Keep these tips in mind when working on how to bring home the bacon in outbound sales.
- Build a good team — Having a solid team with diverse skills goes a long way in making sure the whole team is fresh on every idea.
- Don’t skimp on client research — A large part of outbound sales is research. By going in-depth into the target audience, businesses will be more likely to find clients who want and need their products.
- Have a great value — Clients will be much more likely to buy products that have great deals attached to them. Not only will the business be better, but sales representatives will also have an easier time pushing clients into a buyer mindset.
- Use the right software — Using the right outbound sales software will not only save sales representatives a ton of time, but this can help with team communication, organization, and sales tracking.
The bottom line
Being involved in outbound sales can be risky business. This business risk is part of the beauty of outbound sales. Not being afraid to take risks and cold call clients might be the next move that brings big rewards for the company.
It takes quite the investment to get started, but once everything falls into place, most businesses benefit in the long run from the exposure it gets for their products.
Taking risks is what sets great businesses apart from average businesses. Taking the time to dig in and look at what outbound sales options there are can have a huge payoff.
If you’re looking for a software that can support your outbound sales efforts, why not give Novocall a try?
Novocall’s outbound autodialer feature allows you to set up a virtual outbound call center from anywhere in the world. The call recording function also helps you capture feedback from your outbound calls to provide insights to your sales team on how you can improve sales strategies.
Jonathan Liebenberg
Jonathan is a technocrat and an avid outdoor enthusiast. When he isn’t working to make the internet a better place, Jonathan can be found exploring the great outdoors and beautiful coastlines with his sidekick, Zen, a very energetic Weimaraner.
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