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LeoDMM
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Understanding the Inbound Methodology: why should sales team be involved in the "Attract" stage?

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I have difficulty to understand the inbound methodology. It says all customer facing teams, the marketing, sales and services should be involved in each stage. However, I don't think the sales, for example, should be involved at the Attract stage as it is an early stage for getting traffics to your business. 

 

All purpose of the marketing activities is to helping sales people focusing on SQLs and final conversions. Am I right or wrong? 

 

Please help with better understanding.  

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MFrankJohnson
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Understanding the Inbound Methodology: why should sales team be involved in the "Attract" stage?

resolver

death-of-a-salesman.png

 

Just using the word 'sales' can have a negative connotation these days. So much so, that many organizations now refer to their sales personnel as ...
-- Account Executives
-- Account Managers
-- Account Reps

 

Source: HubSpot ResearchSource: HubSpot Research

 

In the HubSpot ecosystem, we like to think in terms of Trusted Advisors -- with TRUST being the focus. That's because, buyer shopping behavior shows that customers value the opinions of those in their trusted circle over 'salesmen'.
- see [VIDEO] People Don’t Trust Sales. Here’s How Tech Can Help


++
In the old days, sales people had access to more information than buyers did. Now, the average customer has already researched our product/service before ever engaging with a sales person.


Because of this shift in access to information, customers no longer need to rely on the traditional 'salesmen'. They now rely on trusted advisors who aren't affraid to converse as if,
"the customer is always in the room".


Trusted advisors who have a deep understanding of their products/services and a genuine willingness to help solve their buyer's pain have the greatest chance of success.

 

Source: HubSpot ResearchSource: HubSpot Research
If sales teams are expected to compete these days, they must earn TRUST. So the question becomes, "how does one earn trust?"


We think one way to earn trust is for sales, service, and support personnel to be involved throughout the buyer's journey. This type of early engagement, consistent interaction, and unapologetic transparency puts a human face on the sales and marketing process and allows potential customers to develop 'gut feelings' about doing business with our organization.
[And we all know that gut feelings are really smart -- see Gut Feelings: The "Second Brain" in Our Gastrointestinal Systems]


Bottom line?


Gone are the Willie Loman (Death of a Salesman) days when customers had to wait around for salesmen to 'SELL' them using information parceled out at a snail's pace. Now are the days when TRUST may be the most important factor where products and services are BOUGHT instead of sold.


If we fail to attract buyers by using trusted advisors, no worries. The competition will.

 

 

Here's What You Can Do About it.Here's What You Can Do About it.

 

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are those of the author and may not reflect those of HubSpot.

 

Note: Please search for recent posts as HubSpot evolves to be the #1 CRM platform of choice world-wide.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Be well,
Frank


www.mfrankjohnson.com

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JonStanis
Colaborador(a) | Parceiro Diamante
Colaborador(a) | Parceiro Diamante

Understanding the Inbound Methodology: why should sales team be involved in the "Attract" stage?

resolver

Sales should definitely be involved in the attract stage of inbound marketing. As the primary source of contact for your buyers, they will understand your buyer's problems. This will help your marketing department create the right kind of content that will answer your customer's questions and attract them to convert.

 

When salespeople are part of the attract phase of the inbound process they will have more buy-in with the process, instead of rejecting the leads and doing their own thing.

 

We also recommend setting up a service level agreement between marketing and sales  This will outline what is expected of each team and how qualified inbound leads will be handed off between marketing and sales.

 

For more information check out our resource we put together on inbound sales: Inbound Sales for Industrial Manufacturers

MFrankJohnson
Solução
Autoridade no assunto

Understanding the Inbound Methodology: why should sales team be involved in the "Attract" stage?

resolver

death-of-a-salesman.png

 

Just using the word 'sales' can have a negative connotation these days. So much so, that many organizations now refer to their sales personnel as ...
-- Account Executives
-- Account Managers
-- Account Reps

 

Source: HubSpot ResearchSource: HubSpot Research

 

In the HubSpot ecosystem, we like to think in terms of Trusted Advisors -- with TRUST being the focus. That's because, buyer shopping behavior shows that customers value the opinions of those in their trusted circle over 'salesmen'.
- see [VIDEO] People Don’t Trust Sales. Here’s How Tech Can Help


++
In the old days, sales people had access to more information than buyers did. Now, the average customer has already researched our product/service before ever engaging with a sales person.


Because of this shift in access to information, customers no longer need to rely on the traditional 'salesmen'. They now rely on trusted advisors who aren't affraid to converse as if,
"the customer is always in the room".


Trusted advisors who have a deep understanding of their products/services and a genuine willingness to help solve their buyer's pain have the greatest chance of success.

 

Source: HubSpot ResearchSource: HubSpot Research
If sales teams are expected to compete these days, they must earn TRUST. So the question becomes, "how does one earn trust?"


We think one way to earn trust is for sales, service, and support personnel to be involved throughout the buyer's journey. This type of early engagement, consistent interaction, and unapologetic transparency puts a human face on the sales and marketing process and allows potential customers to develop 'gut feelings' about doing business with our organization.
[And we all know that gut feelings are really smart -- see Gut Feelings: The "Second Brain" in Our Gastrointestinal Systems]


Bottom line?


Gone are the Willie Loman (Death of a Salesman) days when customers had to wait around for salesmen to 'SELL' them using information parceled out at a snail's pace. Now are the days when TRUST may be the most important factor where products and services are BOUGHT instead of sold.


If we fail to attract buyers by using trusted advisors, no worries. The competition will.

 

 

Here's What You Can Do About it.Here's What You Can Do About it.

 

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are those of the author and may not reflect those of HubSpot.

 

Note: Please search for recent posts as HubSpot evolves to be the #1 CRM platform of choice world-wide.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Be well,
Frank


www.mfrankjohnson.com
LeoDMM
Participante

Understanding the Inbound Methodology: why should sales team be involved in the "Attract" stage?

resolver

Hi Frank, thank you for your thoughts and in depth resources. I agree that in the inbound world, we should consider avoiding the "sales", using account executive is better.

 

As I replied to Connor, I am trying hard to understand how the three teams can work together in each stage of the customer buying journey. Maybe there is a confusing chart of the Funnel Model which shows the marketing on top, sales in the middle and customers at the bottom of the funnel. It doesn't necessarily mean only marketing activities involved in the top of the funnel.

 

My understanding is all three teams can appear in any point of the customer buying journey.

 

PS. you have very interesting data here. I have two findings: 

1. I am glad that I didn't choose to be the stockbroker.

2. I am glad to see that the company product official website is still more trustful than Amazon.

Thank you again, I've learned a lot.
ConnorSlivensky
Conselheiro(a) de destaque | Parceiro Elite
Conselheiro(a) de destaque | Parceiro Elite

Understanding the Inbound Methodology: why should sales team be involved in the "Attract" stage?

resolver

Your correct in that Sales won't be "involved" the same way your marketing team will be. If you check out the Flywheel Model you'll see the center of it all is customers and ends with "delighting" them.

 

In this way your sales would (most likely) have the best working relationship with your customers and the way to keep the wheel spinning is by keeping current and past customers happy to keep them coming back. 

 

Your sales team should use their existing relationship to keep tabs on the customer periodically (could use sequences/personalization tokens for this to automate the process.) Don't be pushy but attentive to their needs. If they know you're trying to solve their problems first instead of making a sale at all costs it builds trust and they're much more likely to come to you the next time they have a need for your product/service. 

 

In the end, it's all about relationships and trust. 

LeoDMM
Participante

Understanding the Inbound Methodology: why should sales team be involved in the "Attract" stage?

resolver
Hi Connor, thank you for your thoughts and explanation here. My understanding now is that the force of the flywheel from the all three customer facing teams can be applied repeatedly to each stage of the buyer's journey. In general, we are trying to let marketing focus on demand/lead generation, sales team close the deals, and service team taking care of the customer service and might be regenerating new demands. For a customer in an early stage, all these teams need to be aligned and involved in order to earn customer trust to move forward to the final deal, especially it's true for those existing customers looking for new solutions. Not sure if I am going the right direction now. I think I am confused between the role and responsibility of the physical teams and the involvement of the inbound methodology. Now I kind of understand how it might apply in the real world.
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