Is "Inbound Sales" just another alternative to Sandler, Holden, Miller-Heiman, SPIN, Value Selling, the Challenger Sale and other sales methodologies?  Or is it a new way of thinking?

Or both?

All the aforementioned sales methodologies teach us valuable lessons.  They teach how to seek out the "fox" (Holden), to "go for the no" (Sandler) and other techniques for qualifying out time wasters, getting control over the deal and progressing the sale faster than your competitors.  

Some great news from the European Commission.

A while ago we talked about the proposal to require prior opt-in consent for B2B marketing.  This has been under discussion for some time now, but at last we have a decision that this is NOT going to be enforced.

Have you considered how you’re going to nurture leads that are/will be coming through your inbound marketing efforts onto your website, or how to target accounts through Account Based Marketing that you want to engage over a period of time. How do you move contacts further down the sales funnel? How do you deal with hot leads that need to be acted on by sales immediately. The best way is by setting up workflows with a marketing automation platform.

According to Forrester, companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads and according to Marketing2Lead, prospects nurtured in automated workflows have a 23% shorter sales cycle.

Workflows are such an important tool in the marketers toolbox, it's vital that you set them up correctly, and keep them updated ... so is the effort worth the return? You better believe it. Here are some reasons to get it right.

Whether you are several months or years into your investment in HubSpot and Inbound Marketing, just kicked off your HubSpot implementation or just beginning the journey, you want to make sure HubSpot is set up and working to meet the individual needs of your business to ensure you get the most out of HubSpot and inbound marketing.

Any piece of software that affects how several areas of an organisation works needs careful planning and review at the beginning of the implementation and as part of its ongoing operation. HubSpot has several moving parts and typically it affects marketing, sales, executive teams, internal web teams, IT, operations, relationships with existing external agencies, PR .... so how do you get it right from the start or stop yourselves plateauing .... here are a few pointers:

If you find some great content, it's worth sharing! Having read Brian Halligans inspirational blog on things inbound marketers should be considering in 2017, I wanted to share it in its entirety, adding some of my own thoughts. 

I was particually struck by Brian's thoughts on supply and demand dynamics. Increased competition means that marketing needs to work harder to engage buyers as earlier as possible which means finding different and more engaging conversion assets ... we are firmly in the "youtube age" and sales leaders need to find ways to make their sales teams more effective to beat the competition, which in some sectors means switching to a inbound sales mindset.  If buyers want a self-service experience (self-service research and self-service sales) then as Brian concluded the buying process needs to be automated and for 2017 I predict a surge in companies looking at Sales Enablement as a way to improve sales efficiency.  

Enough of me, sit back and enjoy Brian's insight.