Salespeople. The bane of humanity. Why won’t they just leave me alone, they’re only trying to trick me into buying something I don’t need!

Have you ever felt like this? I have, and I’m a sales guy myself!

I grew up with the word “salesman” bringing to mind a used car salesman, with a cheap pinstripe suit and hair so slick it almost drips with grease. Selling snow to eskimos, that’s what a great salesman is all about – so I thought anyway, and just the thought of it made my skin crawl.

Now my idea of a good salesperson is completely different. No Wolf of Wall Street, no smokes and mirrors. No “sell me this pen”. My idea of a good salesperson is someone who is genuinely able to help their customers with their challenges, before, during and after the sale. Past the legacy sales approach of handling all customers in more or less the same way.

It’s not only about the big bucks and winning huge deals (although I will admit, the rush of winning a huge deal is something else!), but about providing value. The best salespeople are the ones who are able to provide the best value for their customers, and not going through the same tired sales pitch for the thousandth time.

The best way I’ve found to do this is through the inbound sales methodology. It’s a great way to save time and resources, while working with more qualified prospects at the same time. Compared to the old legacy sales approach, inbound sales focuses on the customer and their needs, instead of all the features of the product.

In this article, I’ll outline the biggest differences between the old legacy sales approach and the inbound sales process!

Identifying who to contact

In the old legacy sales approach, a salesperson would make a number of assumptions when figuring out who to contact. Assumptions on their needs, wants, behaviour, budget, etc.

Sometimes these assumptions were right, and the best legacy salespeople could hone their skills of deduction – however, the inbound salesperson doesn’t need to rely on guesswork, but rather works closely with the marketing people to identify prospects that are active in the buyer’s journey (if you’re not familiar with the buyer’s journey, you can check out our e-book on inbound to learn more).

By doing this, the inbound salespeople utilize their marketing colleagues to easily shave off hours from their lead time. Less time needed for cold contacts = more engagement with the prospects that are actually potential.

Reaching out to prospects

Number-wise, the legacy sales professional generally has a higher number of outreaches to prospects. However, although the inbound salesperson may contact less prospects overall, the quality of these contacts is kept higher by working closely with the marketing team, and knowing who to contact.

By spending more time with each contact and understanding them better, the inbound salesperson can reach out with a personalized message that addresses a very specific need/pain point the prospect has – as a result,response rates are higher and more sales can be carried out in less time.

Gauging needs

Generic presentations and sales pitches are one of the biggest challenges with legacy salespeople. Especially if the information is already available on your website, there’s no added value in talking the prospect through it.

On the other hand, inbound salespeople focus more on asking questions, active listening, and trying to figure out where their services could help. A big part of it is also qualifying the prospect, to see if they’re worth spending more time on. If not, the salesperson can cut their losses and focus on better qualified prospects.

The best part about this approach is that you’re effectively not selling at all! You’re having a discussion to see if both parties could benefit from cooperation; if the answer is no, that’s fine! Move on to someone who you can help, and who will end up being a good customer.

Moving through the sales process

“Presentation mode” can easily become a standard for every new meeting/discussion, and as such doesn’t really focus on why your product or service would be useful for each specific prospect.

Unlike legacy salespeople (i.e. “presentation mode” people), inbound salespeople focus more on a solution sales approach. This helps tailor the meeting for each individual customer, and use the information uncovered in the earlier qualification stage.

Perhaps most importantly, the inbound salesperson interacts with the customer on the customer’s terms. Legacy salespeople are disruptive and often seen as annoying, which not only stops the sales process from moving forward, but affects prospects negatively – by being present and providing value, you will be on top of mind for the prospect when they’re ready to buy. When this happens, the prospect will be much more engaged and ready to listen to you.

To learn more about how inbound can help your organization, you can also check out my colleague Emina’s blog on transforming your organization with inbound, or have a look at our brand new e-book on inbound marketing!