Inbound Selling: How to Change the Way You Sell to Match How People Buy

262 Pages·2018·3.83 MB·English

by  Brian Signorelli

CONTENTS
Cover
Praise for Inbound Selling
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Foreword
On the History of Sales through the Salesperson's Eyes
On the Current State of Sales and What the Decades Ahead May
Hold
Preface
Introduction
An Interview with Brian Halligan, CEO and Chairman, HubSpot 2
Part 1: The “Why?” Behind Inbound Sales
Chapter 1: I Was Never Supposed to Be in Sales
Chapter 2: Why Inbound Sales Matters
Core Characteristics of the Modern Sales Rep
Why Inbound Sales Matters
The Inbound Sales Process and Inbound Sales Methodology
The Inbound Sales Methodology7
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
How to Define Buyer Fit Before Practicing Inbound Sales
We've Documented, Shared, and Socialized Everything.
What's Next?
Final Planning Steps before You Attempt to Engage Anyone, in
Any Way
Chapter 4: Connect: How to Engage Active—and Not So Active—
Buyers
Connect Call Mechanics
Chapter 5: Explore: How to Properly Explore a Buyer's Goals and
Challenges
Getting in the Right Frame of Mind
Exploratory Call Question Examples, in Context
Exploratory Call Follow Through: The Power of a Recap Letter
Chapter 6: Advise: How to Advise a Buyer on Whether or Not Your
Solution Addresses Their Needs
Part 1: Goals, Plans, Challenges, and Timeline
Part 2: Plans to Achieve Sales and Marketing Goals
Concluding the Advise Step: The Soft Close
Chapter 7: Closing and Negotiating
The Inoffensive Close1
The “1 to 10” Technique
The Perfect Close
Facing Reality: Closing and Negotiating Are Similar, but Not
the Same
How to Negotiate
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
So, You Think You Want to Be a Sales Manager?
“Growing Up” as a Sales Leader
If You Want to Become a Better Coach—and in Turn, a Better
Leader—Here's What to Do Next
Chapter 9: Reflections on Sales Leadership
Leadership Artifacts and Examples from My Own Management
Experiences
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
Part 1: Inbound Selling and the Future of the Sales Function
Part 2: How to Create Sales and Marketing Alignment to Drive
Growth
Part 3: The Role of Sales Enablement to Fuel Revenue Growth
Part 4: Building a Sales Operations Team to Set Up Growth
Part 5: The Future of Sales and the Sales Profession
Chapter 11: The Future of Sales: An Epilogue
U.S. Consumer Spending (in Millions)
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Table 11.1
List of Illustrations
Figure 2.1
Figure 3.1
Figure 3.2
Figure 3.3
Figure 3.4
Figure 3.5
Figure 3.6
Figure 3.7
Figure 3.8
Figure 3.9
Figure 5.1
Figure 6.1
Figure 6.2
Figure 6.3
Figure 6.4
Figure 6.5
Figure 6.6
Figure 7.1
Figure 8.1
Figure 8.2
Figure 11.1
Figure 11.2
PRAISE FOR INBOUND SELLING
“Inbound Selling is a handbook for organizations, managers, and sales
professionals who are ready to adapt to a world where the buyer is in
control and competition is closing in.
As a first-time salesperson and sales manager, a top performer and
studious learner, Signorelli provides a first-person account of his years
inside the HubSpot rocket ship as it grew revenue from tens to hundreds
of millions per year. Combined with interviews with accomplished sales
executives and lessons learned from books and training, Signorelli builds
on decades of sales expertise that will be useful for sales professionals of
all levels of experience and organizational responsibility.
Having read hundreds of sales books, I have not read one that so
thoroughly provides so many practical lessons.”
—Peter Caputa IV, CEO, Databox
“Inbound Selling dismisses the notion that “sales” is a dirty word and
shifts the way you think about how you sell. In departing from the well-
known, pushy, and abrasive sales tactics of yesteryear, Brian advocates
a highly personalized, yet scalable approach of identifying and remedying
a buyer's current business challenges. He laces the pages with
humorous anecdotes of humbling experiences to present an inviting
learning environment for anyone in sales or anyone interested in sales.
It's an evocative read that provides a turnkey framework that's as
comprehensive as it is pragmatic. To put it plainly, if you're not inbound
selling, you're doing it wrong.”
—Rachael Plummer, sales professional and Inbound Seller, HubSpot
“You hold in your hands a complete playbook for the journey of a sales
rep from old school to what works today. Buyers have changed. Many
salespeople haven't. Nearly every buying decision starts online. Buyers
have as much or more information than salespeople. Salespeople need
to work on improving the all-too-tenuous relationships that exist (or more
likely don't exist) between buyers and sellers today. Sales rep processes
have been shaken up due to the disruption of technology. Brian's been
there and done that. He states, “I was never supposed to be in sales.”
Yet he learned and grew as a young rep at HubSpot into a sales leader.
He's been down and dirty in the front lines of sales. He's emerged with
this book and both strategic and tactical advice for how to navigate the
sales journey with today's empowered buyers. Beginning with his journey
as an inexperienced rep with lots of ideas, but no real sales experience,
Brian walks us step-by-step through his sales journey: his emotions on
hearing no over and over (and what it felt like to hear yes), his real-world
experiences and how he could have done better, why he decided to
move into sales management—and what he wished he had known before
making that move. Unlike high-level strategic sales leadership books,
which are great in theory but aren't practical in reality, this one is deep in
the trenches, sharing hard-won insights from personal experience and
digging into the mechanics of how to sell now. Today, not 10 years ago.
Buckle up for this inbound sales journey—it's packed with actionable
examples throughout.”
—Lindsay Kelley, head of digital and content marketing, Telit
“For any salesperson, sales manager, or business owner looking to learn
how to adapt to the new way customers buy and turbocharge their
growth, this is the book!”
—Matthew Cook, CEO, SalesHub
“The world of sales has been flipped on its axis over the past decade.
Buyers have seized control from what once was a highly orchestrated,
controlled, and (some would say) manipulative process. Salespeople and
sales organizations have had to learn new skills and to develop new
processes. A result of this “sales revolution” has been a new approach to
selling called Inbound Sales. There are few people in the world who have
studied, practiced, and refined the process like Brian Signorelli. In this
book, Brian shares everything you need to know to be successful with
this approach. It's a must-have for any salesperson or growth executive's
bookshelf (or Kindle).”
—Doug Davidoff, CEO and founder, Imagine Business Development
Inbound Selling
How to Change the Way You Sell to Match How
People Buy
Brian Signorelli
Cover design: Wiley
Copyright © 2018 by Brian Signorelli. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Signorelli, Brian, author.
Title: Inbound selling : how to change the way you sell to match how people buy / Brian Signorelli.
Description: Hoboken : Wiley, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2017056770 (print) | LCCN 2017058103 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119473442 (pdf) |
ISBN 9781119473275 (epub) | ISBN 9781119473411 (hardback)
Subjects: LCSH: Selling. | Telemarketing. | Customer relations. | BISAC: BUSINESS &
ECONOMICS / Sales & Selling. | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS Marketing Telemarketing.
Classification: LCC HF5438.25 (ebook) | LCC HF5438.25 .S567 2018 (print) | DDC 658.85--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017056770
To Pete and Dannie