As 2020 progresses, many companies around the world are starting their inbound marketing plan for the first time. Identifying their goals for the new program and starting to think of how to carry them out is primordial. To the CEO that are looking to increase sales next year, it could mean a series of things, but the most common paths are to increase marketing efforts as well as sales efforts. Naturally, hiring more sales representatives is considered to be the most direct route to increase company profits and accomplish the new goals of reaching higher sales; but increasing the number and quality of potential clients gained through your comercizalization can be as effective if not more so, to achieve the goals to start strong with the inbound program. The traditional marketing tactics are being replaced by inbound marketing programs in all of the industries. The way the B2B buyer has significantly changed to keep up with todays online buyers rhythms.
To help weigh options of whether to hire another sales representative and increase the efforts of marketing with the help of an Inbound agency, there are some things to keep in mind:
When hiring an Inbound agency is the logical thing to do
Like we mentioned before, if you desire to increase the number of sales your company has for next year, hiring another sales representative seems like the most logic way to increase profits and reach you objectives according to that. If you feel like you are leaving your prospects to a side, hiring a marketing agency might help you improve your program and impulse company sales in different ways.
When hiring an Inbound marketing agency is the most logical step
If hiring a new sales representative can help you deal with an excess of potential prospects, the quantity and quality of the prospects has decreased and you are looking for a sales representative to increase your connections, then maybe you need to analize your strategy corre tly because another sales representative is not what you need. If you haven't adopted an Inbound marketing strategy, hiring an agency to help you get things started from the beginning (or plan your actual internal strategy), might impulse your company sales in many different ways.
In the first place, a real marketing plan means establishing a Service Level Agreement (SLA, this is an agreement between a service provider and its internal or external clients that documents what's services will the provider will give and it defines the service standards that provider is obligated to meet) between your sales and marketing team to be on the same page when it comes to revenue goals is primordial. Very often we find that there is a lack of communication between these two teams once the prospects have been filtered, and establishing a SLA will help both areas to understand better each other's needs (as well as the prospects needs). A SLA will help guarantee that the right prospects will be adequately cualified and will be nurtured before being contacted by the sales team, with the marketing team keeping the sales team informed of the necessities of each prospects, doubts and previous behaviors. In fact, the sales team provides important feedback to the marketing team about the weak points of the prospects and the causes why they close or not the sales. The data base number of prospects is clear, and based in this context and constant communication you will be able to easily identify, nurture and close more sales.
Besides, establishing a SLA between you, your marketing and sales teams, an Inbound program also means optimizing your website in order to convert your prospects, the same way you nurture atomization once your prospects download content and carry out activities to convert. This will not only let your marketing and sales team save time, but also improve experience for each prospect basing the experience on the different qualifications.
At the end of the day, it's all about putting yourself in your prospects shoes and deciding what will be the most effective process to carry out. It is most likely you already have all the tools you need as well as sales representatives you need to capitalize your current prospects, but the way you manage and attract prospects might need to be updated. Inbound marketing allows you to create this personalized strategy that 2019-2020 B2B buyers look for, and everything is done in a very measurable manner and especially in a transparent way. You can use the information inbound provides to improve your sales and marketing efforts, all at an average cost per prospect really when compared to other traditional tactics.
If you want more information about how Inbound Marketing can help your company reach and surpass your goals, contact us.