When talking about your business development process within your organization, is your focus on how your company sells or how your prospect/potential customer buys?

Most companies still focus business development with an outbound sales strategy. One that mirrors the stages in which the company goes through to acquire and convert a customer.

To focus on how your prospect or potential customer buys instead of how you sell - that’s inbound sales.

Inbound sales methodology makes the buyer the focus. The challenges, needs, and interests of the buyer are what guide the process. Instead of trying to simply close a deal, inbound sales requires a the salesperson to meet the prospect where they are at and then add value while assisting them through their buying process.

3 ways to think in an inbound way:

1. Know who is buying (and why)
2. Match your process to the buyer’s journey (don’t try and fit them into your sales process)
3. Focus on solving problems

People often associate outbound sales with the aggressive vibe of cold calling and relentless follow-ups, on the flip side, inbound sales can get the reputation of being soft and not as effective.

While inbound sales suggests to follow the lead of the buyer, it does not mean that you should just sit back and wait. The reality is, most people are already 57% of the way through their buying journey before they contact a sales rep. On the other hand, salespeople waste valuable time on people who may fit their target market, but are not ready or will never become buyers.

At the end of the day, the right way to do sales is the one that works for your organization and gets you to your business goals.