"I spend all day making cold calls, and I'm getting very little to show for my efforts. Getting the first appointment is harder than ever. If I could just get my foot in the door..."
It's a common complaint from B2B sales reps nowadays. Traditional prospecting approaches like cold calling have become less and less effective over the years. Decision makers simply don't answer unsolicited sales calls like they used to.
What can you do about it?
Supplement with Inbound Lead Generation
The above complaint is no excuse to stop prospecting altogether. You just need to supplement those activities with inbound lead generation strategies. This solves two problems at once.
- First, relying solely on your sales team to drum up net new business is inefficient.
Their time is better spent having actual conversations with qualified prospects. Inbound marketing and lead generation takes the pressure off reps to drive the pipeline completely independently.
- Second, inbound strategies like content marketing allow you to attract and engage prospects much earlier in the buyer's journey.
Instead of cold calling at the last minute when buyers are ready to purchase, you can answer their questions before they even ask them and provide valuable information proactively. This helps you build relationships over time as prospects consume content at their own pace. You capture their digital body language and intent signals through this process and convert them into sales-ready leads when the timing is right.
Empower Your Sales Team
Inbound marketing uses content creation to position your company as a thought leader in your industry. It allows you to answer your prospects' questions before they even ask them and provide valuable information to them proactively.
Your prospects are already doing a lot of research on their own online. Inbound helps them do it better and captures their digital body language to generate sales-ready leads.
Additionally, a sales enablement strategy anchored by proven sales plays will help you scale best practices across the sales team. Reps will no longer feel pressure to experiment with ineffective tactics or constantly "recreate the wheel."
The New Way Forward
With strong supportive foundations provided by marketing and sales enablement, the sales team can focus their energy on having high-quality conversations without burning out.
The key is accepting that the old way of pure cold calling no longer works in today's modern buying landscape. You have to help your reps be more effective by leveraging inbound lead generation and sales enablement best practices. This allows them to get their foot in the door more efficiently and drive deals across the finish line.
