There may not be a more important skill for a businesses than sales. Yet for many businesses that sell B 2 B the sales process seems to have changed from a direct sales approac
h to an Inbound sales approach.
Inbound lead generation is all the rage these days. If you are not familiar with it, the concept is instead of using intrusive sales tactics ( TV, Cold Calls. Radio) you get your prospects to call you through Social Media, SEO, and a bunch of other Internet type systems. Problem is, Inbound marketing is only going to work for a small handful of businesses per industry, leaving the other 90% plus in the cold. The other problem is, lot’s of businesses won’t sell much through inbound marketing even at it’s best.
For the 90% of the companies that won’t be competing in the inbound marketing space because of budget, or the type of prospect they sell to, then the traditional sales models still work, kind of. There is an excellent article on how SEO services can sell more that really sum’s up the new direct sales model.
Buyers have changed in the last 10 years, because of the Internet. They are far better educated on what they want and need, and therefore the traditional sales process of educate, educate and close, is really fading. The new model is all about trust and relationships.
So the Internet has not only changed how you attract new prospects, but also hoe you sell to new prospects. Even companies that can’t or don’t invest in “inbound marketing” tactics still need to be very aware and on top of their on-line reputation. Even if a prospect doesn’t find you on line ( and many will not) they are more than likely to research you on line.
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