If you’re in sales, or if you’ve ever received a sales phone call, how many times has the below happened?

Traditional Outbound Sales Rep Pitch

Sales rep gives them self the most amazing pep talk ever. 

::RING RING:: 

Sales Rep: Hello [prospects name] this is [sales reps name] from [company], how are you today?

Prospect: Hi, I’m doing well. How are you? 

Sales Rep: I’m great!!! I was reaching out to tell you about our super cool product [product xyz] and how it’s going to solve all your problem’s while helping you drive sales! Does this sound like it might be of interest to you? 

Prospect: (stopped listening at “I was reaching out”) Ya, sure…. 

Sales Rep: Awesome! This is what we do, [value prop, value prop, value prop, value prop] and then we can do [value prop, value prop, value prop] and we’ve worked with [company name, company name, company name] to help them. We want to help you too! 

Prospect: I’m sorry. This isn’t a good time. Can you send me an email or give me call back (will immediately delete your email or send your follow up call straight to voicemail). 

Sales Rep: I would love to. But what I would really love to do is pencil you in for a free demonstration or schedule a free discovery call. How does Tuesday at 9 am or 4 pm work for you? 

Prospect: I’m sorry. I need to go. ::CLICK:: 

Prospects looks over at their associate: Another friggen sales call!!!!!! Sales rep grabs the phone and starts dialing the next number because they know, IT’S A NUMBERS GAME, AND YOU’RE GOING TO GET REJECTION BUT KEEP ON SMILING AND DIALING!

This outbound approach has guided many, many successful company’s that rely heavily on an outbound sales approach, and many of these company’s have become extremely successful over the years. On the flip side, this outbound approach has led to very high attrition rates within the sales department, chewed up a large amount of data, money, and potential talent in ineffective approaches, and worst of all, has irritated countless number of potential customer’s. If you’re looking to move away from this approach, I have GREAT news for you. The massive amount of data available on the internet has changed the way sales people sell, and the sales industry is evolving!!! Time to jump onboard!!! Higher connect rates. Less sales attrition. Higher conversions. Then, most importantly, more satisfied prospects that lead to more customers!!! It all starts with two words. Inbound. Selling. And it will change your life forever! Many of these tactics sound awkward and out of the norm, and that’s because they are. They are designed to make the prospect on the other line smile. Make the prospect on the other line, do I dare say, laugh a little. Make the prospect on the other line WANT to listen to what you have to say! What a novelty for a sales rep! Following is a redesigned sales pitch utilizing inbound selling that might just work! We learned about this unique method through HubSpot. They’re a great resource for all inbound marketing and inbound selling questions.

Inbound Sales Rep Pitch

::RING RING:: 

Sales Rep: Hello [prospects name] this is [sales reps name] from [company]. (wait five to eight seconds before saying anything else)

 Prospect: Hi [sales reps name] (thinking about who you are, who your company is, and because you’re not saying anything, should I know them???) 

Sales Rep: [prospects name] I was doing some research, and saw that you attended [insert college]. How was it there? 

Prospect: It was a great experience. I met a lot of great people that I still stay in contact with today. I actually have a reunion planned in a month. 

Sales Rep: Awesome! I have a cousin looking into schools right now. Do you think it’d be a good place to recommend? Start talking about the pro’s of the school and why they enjoyed it so much. 

Prospect: Ok, so why are you calling anyways? 

Sales Rep: (Laugh a little bit) Well I work with companies in your industry that are struggling to acquire sales qualified leads through their current online footprint, does that sound like you? 

Prospect: Yes, I know that our website is not up to date and I know that we could be increasing our bottom line by having our customer’s find us, instead of us always looking for them. The leads we get through the website are usually tire kickers and we use Facebook but we’re not consistent. We’re a little bit all over the place with what we’re doing online. 

Sales Rep: Ok, so let me get this straight. You guys need a better marketing strategy regarding how you’re using your website and would like to compliment that strategy with consistent Facebook usage. Is that right? 

Prospect: Yes, exactly. 

Sales Rep: Ok great. I know you have a lot going on right now, but let’s schedule a time where we can go into greater detail regarding what we can do to help you. I have a lot of great idea’s. Schedule discovery call.

Badaboom, badabing. This approach leverages readily available information that can be found on LinkedIn to hold a more personalized, effective conversation. You’re asking them questions about THEM, not their business, and not their business goals. You get them to open up about who they are as a person, and then you bring that back into what business pain points their experiencing. After they’ve opened up about their business pain points, you drop the sledgehammer with what you do and how you can help them. Then you schedule your discovery meeting, and do what every great sales rep enjoys doing the most, CLOSE. Read our next blog post about effective ways to develop this pitch. Until then – happy selling!