Change the way you think about sales to sell more, and sell better.
Over the past decade, Inbound Marketing has changed the way companies earn buyers’ trust and build their brands – through meaningful, helpful content. But with that change comes unprecedented access to information in a few quick keystrokes. Enter the age of the empowered buyer, one who no longer has to rely on a sales rep to research their challenges or learn more about how a company’s offering might fit their needs. Now, with more than 60% of purchasing decisions made in the absence of a sales rep, the role of the rep itself has been called into question.
With no end in sight to this trend, sales professionals and the managers who lead them must transform both the way they think about selling and how they go about executing their sales playbook. Expert author and HubSpot Sales Director, Brian Signorelli has viewed the sales paradigm shift from the inside - his unique insights perfectly describe the steps sales professionals must take to meet the needs of the empowered customer. In this book, readers will learn:
- How inbound sales grew out of inbound marketing concepts and practices
- A step-by-step approach for sales professionals to become inbound sellers
- What it really means to be a frontline sales manager who leads a team of inbound sellers
- The role executive leadership plays in affecting an inbound sales transformation
For front-line seller, sales manager, executives, and other sales professionals, Inbound Selling is the complete resource to help your business thrive in the age of the empowered buyer.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Foreword xiii
On the History of Sales through the Salesperson’s Eyes, by Dan Tyre xiii
On the Current State of Sales and What the Decades Ahead May Hold, by Mark Roberge xviii
Preface xxiii
Introduction xxv
An Interview with Brian Halligan xxvi
Part 1 The “Why?” Behind Inbound Sales
Chapter 1 I Was Never Supposed to Be in Sales 3
Chapter 2 Why Inbound Sales Matters 23
Part 2 How to be an Inbound Seller: A Playbook for the Front-Line Sales Rep
Chapter 3 Identify: How to Identify the Right People and Businesses to Pursue 37
Chapter 4 Connect: How to Engage Active - and Not So Active - Buyers 63
Chapter 5 Explore: How to Properly Explore a Buyer’s Goals and Challenges 75
Chapter 6 Advise: How to Advise a Buyer on Whether or Not Your Solution Addresses Their Needs 91
Chapter 7 Closing and Negotiating 109
Part 3 How to Lead Inbound Sellers: Reflections for the Front-Line Sales Manager
Chapter 8 The First-Time Sales Rep–to-Manager Survival Guide 125
Chapter 9 Reflections on Sales Leadership 147
Part 4 What Inbound Selling Means Across the Executive Suite
Chapter 10 Sales Is a Team Sport: The Executives’ Guide to Transforming into an Inbound Sales Organization 177
Part 5 The Future of Sales and the Sales Profession
Chapter 11 The Future of Sales: An Epilogue 215
by Derek Wyszynski, board advisor at SalesTribe and CEO of RealSalesAdvice
Notes 233
Index 239
