WHAT IS A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN INBOUND SALES REPRESENTATIVE LIKE?

Now that our previous posts have covered the concepts of inbound sales, or inbound selling and Smarketing, let's look at what a day in the life of an inbound sales representative is really like.

Imagine you work at an inbound marketing and sales company, and a new sales opportunity shows up in your email inbox. Let's start putting some inbound sales best practices into action. You have this new sales opportunity:

What are you going to do? Are you going to pick up the phone right away? No way. So what will we do? We're going to research the opportunity we have in our hands.

We visit the website of the company:

• You'll find company news and press releases, past or upcoming events, and access to the names not only of the management team but also of the company's directors and advisors.
• Next, review their page. What kind of information could this page give you? Well, you can see who they're working with. Who do they usually sell their services to? Do you share any clients with them? This would be a great conversation topic to help strengthen your credibility.
• The last place you look at on the website is the bottom of the footer, where you can navigate the entire website. You can see other offices they have, the job openings they've posted, industry details, and you can even read the company's entire history!

This research not only lets you personalize your conversations, but also helps you narrow down the options and determine whether this sales opportunity fits your company's goals. Information is practically an inexhaustible source, as long as you know where to look for it. Besides the website, research the following before reaching out:

• Look up the company's name in a search engine, such as Google, in the news section.

• This lets you stay up to date on the industry and see who else might be talking about the company. To keep a conversation interesting, you need to be interested in the person you're talking to.
• If something jumps out at you, write it down and use it when you interact with your prospect.

• Now go to the company's LinkedIn profile, where you can gather information such as the company's size, recent updates, job openings they've posted, and other news.

• You can also see how you're personally connected to the company. Maybe you know one of their employees, or you have a good contact you can leverage to find common ground.

• You'll also want to take a look at the prospect's individual LinkedIn profile. You get the chance to see their exact title, the places they've worked before, any recommendations they may have received, their hobbies; in short, all of those things. This gives you a very precise idea of what kind of person he or she is, even before you start a conversation.

• Check out the Twitter accounts of both the prospect and the company. Do you share any followers? Do you follow people in common who could make a great conversation topic? What kind of content are they writing, sharing, and reading?

• As a sales rep, you'll want to learn to read what your buyers are reading. Put yourself in the buyer's shoes. You should keep all of this in mind as you continue your research.

Now that you have all this information about your sales opportunity, you're ready to pick up the phone and start your phone conversation. Good luck!

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