Let the customer find you or do you find the customer?

Since starting MiniCorp over seven years ago, we have done little if nothing when it comes to outbound sales. That's ridiculous and I'm kicking myself that I haven't reacted to this sooner. Let me explain:

Inbound Sales

When building a business, I've always tried to focus on the long term game. A large part of this is our reputation. If our team does an exceptional job, our reputation grows. As our reputation grows, more people recommend us which increases the number of enquiries. Yay! Right?

The problem with this is that we cannot control the types of businesses that are enquiring and whether they are suited to our strengths. We need to meet with them, understand them and find the ones that we can really help.

Enquiries - Unsuitable Clients = Potential Clients

Outbound Sales

On the flip side, we have our outbound sales. We define our ideal clients and we search for them. We use our reputation and case studies to cement our capabilities and look to land them as clients.

It sounds ideal but the difficulty lies in whether they need us. With inbound sales, they have a requirement or a need to talk with us. With outbound sales, they may not have. They may be completely happy where they are.

Another big flag is whether they respond. If you get sent a cold outreach email, you most likely do not respond. The company needs to be recommended to you OR it needs to be a 'warm intro'. As in, the person contacting you knows someone within the company who can make an introduction.

Clients identified - Clients without a requirement - Clients who do not respond = Potential Clients

Which is best for us?

Honestly, I don't know yet. With outbound, we can make the skills of the company directly to the client but requires a lengthy business development process. With inbound, we need to field the companies that are suited to our strengths which can also take time.

This is our first step into outbound and it's exciting. I'll keep you updated on how it progresses.

Brian.