Inbound sales involves positioning your products and services as the best solution to a client’s unique goals and pain points. You may get inbound sales from blogs, podcasts, newsletters and other types of content. Unlike outbound sales, which requires proactively contacting prospects to get them interested in your offerings, inbound sales focuses on creating and distributing content that attracts potential buyers to your company.

One study from The Aberdeen Group found that 62% of salespeople who do not use inbound social selling end up missing their quotas. Want to get better at inbound sales? Read on. In this issue of Promotional Consultant Today, we share best practices from Sushant Shekhar, the founder of SalesBlink.

Make it easy for buyers. It’s most important to keep your communications with prospects direct, pleasant and concise, Shekhar says. This means not contacting prospects when you know they are busy, making your value proposition clear and letting prospects take the initiative with the next step.

Add value. Be sure not to work off a scripted sales pitch. Tap into your experience in the industry and sales in general to add to the discussion. Shekhar says that a true professional will bring value to every stage of the sales cycle.

Establish rapport. With inbound sales, the overall goal is to build connections with prospects. Shekhar suggests adding a personal touch to every phase of your sales cycle to help you develop a relationship with prospects. Don’t be afraid to add humor when it makes sense. This can help you build rapport quicker.

Write well. Remember that the first impression is the last impression, Shekhar says. Make your message clear and concise and pay attention to your style and tone. He says that by striving for stellar copy, you can better engage potential buyers.

Remember time and tact. Make sure you understand your audience so you can connect more meaningfully. This means basing your decisions on how your prospects behave, Shekhar says. To turn prospects into devoted clients, you should constantly be working on cultivating loyalty and trust.

What To Track

How can you tell if you’re successful with your inbound sales process? Track these metrics:

Your reach. Your reach is a foundation for other processes of inbound sales, Shekhar says. Tracking your reach will let you know what strategies you need to focus on more and what is not worth the effort.

Your click-through rates. Take a look at how much traffic your website or blog gets and examine the type of content that is driving more visitors.

Your lead conversion rate. Lead generation is the ultimate goal of any marketing strategy, Shekhar says. Let this metric guide you to improvement. Think about what you could do to convert more leads into buyers.

Take your inbound sales to the next level by applying the pointers above. You’ll be guiding potential buyers through the sales cycle by providing relevant content for each phase. When your sales team aligns with prospects throughout the process, you can provide these prospects with exactly what they’re looking for and increase your chances of closing the deal.

Source: Sushant Shekhar is the founder of SalesBlink, a sales outreach automation tool.