Lead Generation Best Practices Part 3: When to Use Outbound vs Inbound

Posted by Dan McDade

Find me on:
on Nov 16, 2010 11:03:00 AM

Lead Generation Featured Image

Best Practice #3While there are benefits for using inbound marketing to nurture prospects until they self-qualify as sales-ready buyers, make sure you include outbound calling for prospect development in situations where inbound is less likely to be effective.

The right outbound/inbound balance depends heavily on variables like company size (larger solution providers continue to spend more on outbound initiatives) and, more importantly, a combination of factors that include complex decision making processes, long sales cycles and high solution investments. This is where it remains critical to ground core strategies in outbound marketing.

Executive work styles and late adopters: Many C-level decision makers have not yet embraced—and may never—the role of self-education via social media. In an earlier blog, I talked about the chief executive of a large utility who finally responded positively on the 42nd touch and later signed off on a $1 billion deal for one of our customers. His was not a self-educating work style, and there was no way he was going to search blogs or websites to download white papers. He responded to a proven outbound methodology driven by an experienced prospect development professional.

Timely market coverage: Because inbound marketing generates contacts and supports self-education over a period of time, it’s easy to miss qualified sales opportunities that could be deep in the current pipeline. We consistently find 5% of the market in an active buying stage and narrowing the list of competitive solutions. Many times, we’ve interrupted these scenarios to secure wins for our clients. And betting too heavily on inbound marketing providing 100% market coverage is a risk not worth taking.

Complex internal buying landscapes: Outbound marketing and its emphasis on personal, direct and regular contact with prospects assures correct assessment of decision maker roles and influence early on. Evaluation and buying dynamics are constantly in flux, and a personal relationship generated and maintained with outbound efforts provides immediate response to shifting prospect landscapes. Selling tactics can be immediately tailored to reinforce the laser-like relevance of a solution.

The return on complex sales is too high to place the care and feeding of potential high-value opportunities anywhere but in the hands of a skilled professional employing a proven outbound regimen of multiple touches using multiple media across multiple buying cycles.

The next installment in the series looks at the best practice recommendation to use dedicated resources for lead qualification and prospect development.

Read Introducing the 7-Part Series
Read Part 1: Agree on Lead Definition
Read Part 2: Segment & Test Your Market
This blog is Part 3: When to Use Outbound vs Inbound
Read Part 4: Dedicate Qualifying Resources
Read Part 5: Multiply Touches/Media/Cycles
Read Part 6: Fewer Leads Are Better
Read Part 7: Measure Beyond Cost-Per-Lead
Read Summarizing the 7-Part Series

 

By Dan McDade


Tell us what you think!

Topics: Lead Generation, Marketing Strategy, Inbound Marketing, Outbound Marketing


Revenue - Inbound - Nurturing = The GAP. We guarantee you'll be surprised by your actual metrics. Try our Lead Revenue Calculator
Get the Calculator

filter blog posts

  • Search

Top 5 posts

You Can’t Put in What God Left Out … and Other Important Things Learned in Business and Life

Jim Obermayer is the founder of the Sales Lead Management Association, and host of the Funnel Radio Channel. Jim recently..

What Should the Sales Close Rate Be?

I’ve read and heard (from a well-known industry analyst firm) that best-in-class companies close 30% of sales qualified leads..

Gold Calling vs. Cold Calling

I've written many blog posts on the fact that cold calling isn't dead. In fact, doing the right amount of research, adding a..

Outbound vs. Inbound: The Risk Management Issue in the Complex Sale

Companies providing complex, high-investment solutions are facing a significant risk management issue in light of Sirius..