Outbound sales can get a bit of an unfair reputation, especially when outsourced. With most companies focusing on other forms of lead generation, outbound sales is often stereotyped as old-fashioned and outdated. And in today’s marketplace, customers are more empowered than ever before to find the products or services that they desire on their own terms. Because of this stereotype, many companies are beginning to wonder if a transition away from outbound sales is necessary to assure that their sales teams can keep up with their competition.
Outbound sales is not as archaic as some would make it out to be. In fact, statistics show that outbound sales is still an extremely effective way to reach out to new customers and create a consistent source of revenue for your company. Here are some reasons why your organization should continue to invest in outbound sales outreach, contrary to popular opinions.
1. Predictable and Repeatable Formula
When using inbound sales strategies, the customer already has an idea of what product or company service they’re looking for. When relying solely on this form of sales, you are ultimately relying on your customer to take the first step to initiate contact with your sales representatives. Outbound sales techniques change this so that your sales team is the initiator of contact with your potential future clients. Now, your salespeople can directly control the volume of leads coming in. With this approach, your company has a much more predictable and consistent stream of potential customers compared to other sales methods.
Using an outbound sales method spearheaded by a strong SDR team creates extremely predictable sales formulas, but it is also easily repeatable across channels in your company. Now, other sales representatives for your business can practice the same formula and earn similar results on a consistent basis. That way, as your organization and sales teams grow, your revenue also increases, keeping your sales formula scalable to your organization's needs.
2. Initiating Human Contact is a Proven Tactic
Contrary to popular belief, customers appreciate being contacted via phone or email. Approximately 69% of customers contacted by salespeople answered their phone when called during the last 12 months. Executives also prefer this communication method, as 57% of C-Suite decision-makers appreciate being called rather than receiving email messages, the latter of which tend to get lost in their inbox. Studies have also shown that an overwhelming 82% of prospects accept future meetings when salespeople reach out to them directly.
Through the inbound sales method, the customer initiates contact with you. Because of this interaction, you lose out on many potential customers who simply do not know that you or your product exists. Outbound sales, however, is built to allow flexibility in meeting potential customers who may not be directly looking for your product, but could still use it nonetheless. By contacting these potential clients directly, you increase the likelihood of scheduling a meeting with them and exponentially growing your customer network.
3. Generate New Leads Fast
Beyond the fact that direct human interaction can increase your leads, outbound sales also enables you to connect with new customers faster than using other sales methods. When directly communicating with a potential buyer of your product, you can better understand their concerns or hesitations, while immediately answering any questions they have about the product or your company to alleviate any objections they may have.
This instant feedback allows you to know if these leads are worth pursuing or if your time can be spent elsewhere. These calls will not always go as planned, but having direct communication with a potential buyer of your product will help you see the holes in your sales pitch and allow you to better adjust for future outbound sales calls or emails.
4. Use Automation to Pursue Strong Leads
Automation has begun to transform the business industry. When using email, automation via a comprehensive CRM can be helpful to accelerate the outbound sales process. Sending out emails one by one to your demographic can be extremely time-consuming and is not an efficient way for your employees to spend their time. However, using services that automate the sending of these emails is a great way to pursue outbound sales leads while also minimizing the amount of time your employees spend on email prospecting.
Automation also makes segmenting qualified emails faster as well, saving your employees even more time so they can focus on more critical sales processes. You don’t want your salespeople wasting time emailing, messaging, or even calling leads who have no need for your product or service. Automating this process mitigates human error and ultimately increases your profit from outbound sales.
A pitfall that many companies fall into when automating outbound emails is not personalizing the message to fit each individual customer. Studies have found that around 60% of people think unpersonalized emails are irrelevant to their needs, while 50% of customers will either not respond to or willfully ignore an email that is not personalized to them individually. This lack of targeted messaging causes some customers to find another company offering a similar service or product instead of working with your business.
When automating these emails, use a service that allows your messages to be individually personalized to your recipients to increase the likelihood of closing deals through this sales method.
5. Old-Fashioned, Time-Tested
At the end of the day, outbound sales techniques were extremely successful in the past and continue to be successful today. In a 2019 study, 41% of respondents said that outbound phone sales is the most effective tool available in their sales arsenal, and they need to use this method regularly. Outbound sales techniques have remained a foundational aspect of sales formulas for companies large and small, and have worked well in the past to kickstart an organization's revenue. Outbound sales methods are not only business-size agnostic, but have been proven to work across different industries.
Times are changing and buyers’ preferences are always evolving, so it is important to modernize your organization’s sales techniques to keep pace with these trends. However, doing so at the expense of abandoning a time-tested, successful sales method is detrimental to your sales teams and, ultimately, to your revenue streams. Your company's future customers are waiting for you to contact them; take advantage of this and continue to invest in outbound sales.
Want to learn more about how your company can optimize your outbound sales formula? Schedule a consultation with FullFunnel and discover how we can increase your revenue by revitalizing your sales techniques today!
This article was originally published on December 20, 2020, and has been republished to provide the most accurate information possible.
