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- Outbound Vs Inbound
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In 2023 businesses made cuts to Marketing spend and an increased pressure was put on sellers to be more productive with their Outbound efforts.
That trend hasn’t stopped.
And it’s created a huge problem in the market as we know it.
As companies panicked about costs of acquiring new business they reacted by increasing ‘‘productivity’’ with higher KPIs and activity [aka the easy thing to do as it takes 30 seconds to say you’ll do more ‘‘stuff’’.]
To most companies it made sense because the spreadsheets said so.
‘‘If we do 100% more calls we will get 100% more meetings and revenue’’.
But they forgot a major detail…
They might have teams that can do 2x the input but they don’t have teams that can 2x the output.
In this newsletter I’ll share with you why you can’t just delete inbound and double outbound to dominate your market.
Let’s dive in.
Outbound or Inbound?
Lets get one thing straight. I’m an Outbound guy. Always have been, always will be.
But if I know one thing about Outbound it’s this…
Outbound is LESS successful without Inbound.
As a stand alone channel, Outbound allows you to control:
Activity levels
Who you speak to
Targeted messaging
It’s more direct but its true power is that the channel allows the seller to be specific with everything they do [from targeting through to messaging].
The challenge most leaders forget is that when a spreadsheet says they need to do millions in revenue this year so they focus on one part of the puzzle → inputs and activity levels.
More activity means you need to go wider and approach more new accounts and people. This means you start to sacrifice the who part leading to more reps wasting time with the wrong accounts and prospects.
And theres no point sending targeted messaging if you’re messaging the wrong people right?
So whilst Outbound can be amazing [if you get it right] you have to find balance.
Every market has a ‘‘break-point’’ where you just can’t get more out of it. Think of it as an oil field. There is only so much oil in that field and when its gone its gone.
Sure, you can get the oil out faster with more inputs [machines] but soon enough you’ll have to find another oil field.
This is the same with prospecting. You are limited to the capacity of your market. The harder you push it, the faster you’ll have to move to new pastures.
And that’s the problem. Most people burn through their oil fields and don’t know where else to go to get the same results.
Hopefully you can see how quickly Outbound can unravel because a spreadsheet is saying ‘‘do more activity’’.
Question is; how can you keep yourself in check?
Well, this is when the real power of inbound comes into play.
Inbound is like a super intelligent salesperson that works 24/7 through content, advertising, PPC and other channels.
The benefit most people overlook? The speed at which inbound can identity new markets that are worth exploring using your precious Outbound resource.
Inbound allows you to control:
Speed of learning
Speed of iteration
In any business you need to be consistently learning who is most likely to buy from you and then move fast to take advantage of that knowledge.
If we go back to the oilfields analogy I used, inbound is precisely the vehicle to help you identity and move into new markets to keep the steam train rolling.
That means an ‘‘Outbound only’’ team is limited in it’s capability to move fast.
For example → imagine you have SDRs or AEs working accounts that your Marketing efforts have identified are not creating as many wins/intent signals as other industries or verticals. You wouldn’t continue to work those accounts → you switch, save the reps time and focus inputs on lower hanging fruit.
This is the magic of Inbound. It allows the slower moving, clunky Outbound machine to move faster and become a steam engine that does not stop.
With inbound, you’ll be faster at:
→ Honing your messaging
→ Deepening your targeting
→ Maximising the activity of your reps
The problem? It’s expensive. But remember you pay for speed. Ferraris are not cheap for a reason.
And that’s what Inbound will allow you to do. It’ll mean your Outbound efforts can iterate faster….
Better inputs → higher quality targeting and messaging.
Better Outputs → higher quality meetings, opportunities and pipeline.
Of course, this takes time and patience [like anything] but as the saying goes ‘you need two to Tango’.
Inbound is Bonny and Outbound is Clyde. Or maybe the other way round.
If you’re struggling and would like help with your Outbound Strategy you can book a FREE Strategy Call here.
Hope it’s helpful.
See you next week.
Cheers, Chris
PS. After 3 months of work my new product [Outbound Secrets] will be launching in June. It’s a 100+ page Pdf with everything a seller needs to build and sustain a consistent flow of high quality Outbound pipeline.
Whenever you’re ready, here are 4 more ways I can help you in 2024:
SDR Leader Bootcamp 2.0- Go from SDR Manager to SDR Leader & Start Building a High Performance SDR Team [Quarterly cohorts].
SDR to AE Skills Bootcamp 2.0 - Learn the system I built to help >150 SDRs get promoted to AE. [Quarterly cohorts].
The Cold Call OS - Get the exact framework I used to coach >800 sellers how to double their conversion from call>meeting booked in 2024.
Outbound Team Training - Turn Outbound into a 7-Figure Revenue Channel with my bespoke Outbound Training Programmes [only 2 bookings per month].