As we all know, inbound marketing and sales are all the rage—they’re effective, customer-focused, and proven to have positive impact on your company’s revenue growth.
However, outbound sales tactics are back in style! Though it’s still not time to break out your cold calls or spam emails.
At times, though, an inbound strategy may temporarily fall short. Even though your Marketing team may have placed all their efforts in producing incredible content to draw leads in, your Sales team may not have enough to hit their quota. It’s important to remember that inbound is more of a marathon than a sprint.
The New Outbound
If this is the case, it may be time to return to some outbound marketing strategies to generate more leads and outbound sales strategies to close more customers. However, even if this means buying contact lists, it does not mean that you should barrage that list with spam.
Rather, by keeping your company’s buyer personas in mind, and continuing to keep that inbound emphasis on the Buyer’s Journey and the customer experience in your practices, you can successfully merge inbound and outbound strategies.
So say you do purchase a list—then what do you do? Well, start by refining and integrating that list into your inbound tools, like your CRM and marketing automation software!
Outbound Sales Tools
Additionally, there are new sales enablement tools coming out everyday, many of which are built for both outbound and inbound strategies. Below is a list 5 different outbound sales tools, with brief highlights into their most compelling benefits.
Though many of these platforms have similar features, it’s important to test the waters and find which is right for your organization. (For a slightly more in-depth look at each of these, and a few others, check out this article.)
1. HubSpot CRM and Sidekick
HubSpot, one of the most all-inclusive inbound programs out there, is also optimized for some outbound selling. With the ability to create sales and email templates, send messages, track email, phone, social media, and website activity, HubSpot offers an organized way to keep Sales and Marketing aligned—for both inbound and outbound strategies.
2. InsideSales.com
This platform utilizes gamification, enabling your Sales team to visually see their progress, and their teammates’ progress. Additionally, it allows for communications and predictive analytics, and makes recommendations for the best leads within your contact list.
3. LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator
With LinkedIn, you can receive custom lead recommendations based on your preferences, as well as search through the social network manually. Additionally, LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator allows you to import Salesforce data, see live updates from potential customers, and see full profiles of leads that aren’t even in your network.
4. Close.io
With Close.io, you can track email, calls, and lead activity—which pop up on your monitor at the time of a call with leads, ensuring that you have all the important information available when you need it. This platform also has a pipeline dashboard, offering a brief yet comprehensive look at your sales funnel.
5. Sales Loft
With their products Prospector and Cadence, Sales Loft offers a number of different features and benefits. You can build lists, drawing from social networks, as well as customize, automate, and manage email workflows.
And these sales tools are only the tip of the iceberg! Other platforms, such as Witty Parrot, Carburetor, Avention, InsideView, and Outreach, offer many of the same features, in different price ranges. As noted, it’s all about finding the platform that is right for your company.
So yes, inbound is still the talk of the town. But don’t let that make you forget about outbound—it’s making a comeback. These two strategies can, and should, work together. By merging the best practices from both, your company can reap the benefits of inbound and outbound.
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