What is "inbound selling"?

Inbound selling is a customer-centric approach to selling. Instead of pushing sales onto buyers, inbound sales is about building trust with potential customers by offering valuable content, insights, and solutions. Rather than seeking a quick sale, Inbound selling seeks to meet and interact with customers; it intends to walks customers through the entire buying process.

This sales approach also aligns with the modern buyer's preferences. It supports self-service research and asynchronous communication. It also gives the buyer a great deal of control over when sales will reach out. Inbound sellers only want to reach out when the buyer has expressed genuine interest or has expressed a specific need, ensuring a non-intrusive and customer-centric experience.

The main goal of the inbound sales process is to enhance the buyer’s journey, personalizing it to the buyer’s context, being a helpful and trusted advisor to prospects.

The Inbound Sales Methodology is a four-step process that aligns with the buyer’s journey. It’s designed to help sales teams better understand and assist potential customers. Here’s a detailed explanation of each stage:

Identify: This is the first stage of the Inbound Sales Methodology. In this stage, salespeople identify potential customers, often referred to as leads. These leads are typically individuals who have shown some level of interest in the company’s products or services. This could be through actions such as visiting the company’s website, filling out a form, downloading content, or opening emails. The goal in this stage is to identify those leads that are in an active buying cycle and prioritize them over passive buyers.
Connect: In the Connect stage, salespeople reach out to the leads identified in the previous stage. The goal here is to initiate a conversation and build a relationship with the potential customer. This is done by providing personalized messaging and advice based on the prospect’s interests and needs, rather than focusing on the seller’s needs. The aim is to build trust and establish the salesperson as a helpful resource and trusted advisor.
Explore: During the Explore stage, salespeople engage in deeper conversations with potential customers to understand their specific needs, challenges, and goals. This is often done through an exploratory conversation, where the salesperson guides the discussion to uncover deeper buyer goals and understand the challenges they are facing. The focus is on the buyer and their needs, and the salesperson serves as a translator between the messaging on the company’s website and the buyer’s specific context.
Advise: The final stage of the Inbound Sales Methodology is the Advise stage. Here, the salesperson presents a personalized solution to the potential customer’s problem. This solution is based on all the information gathered in the previous stages. The goal is to demonstrate how the company’s product or service can address the buyer’s specific needs and challenges. The salesperson acts as a trusted advisor, providing valuable advice and guidance to the buyer.

https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/inbound-sales-methodology

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