Why You Should Have Multiple Sales Channels
Learn how to sell across multiple channels.
To have an edge in the outbound sales environment you must go multi-channel.
Top performers in the sector are generally aware of the advantages of multi-channel sales outreach. Multiple channels will widen your company's range on the market and will bring you more revenue when done properly.
The single-channel approach is very risky because the sales environment changes and some channels can lose their relevance.
In this article, we'll explain why you should have multiple channels, and how outsourcing can be used in tandem to great results.
Top performers in the sector are generally aware of the advantages of multi-channel sales outreach. Multiple channels will widen your company's range on the market and will bring you more revenue when done properly.
The single-channel approach is very risky because the sales environment changes and some channels can lose their relevance.
In this article, we'll explain why you should have multiple channels, and how outsourcing can be used in tandem to great results.
What are Sales Channels?
Let's review what a sales channel is.
A sales channel is the way in which a business-to-business (B2B) sales organization goes to market, either through direct or indirect ways, to sell its product or solutions to end customers
Channels can be platforms (online or offline), people, or partners.
Often people confuse sales channels with distribution channels. Let's clear up any doubts:
Commonly used sales channels to increase and close sales are:
What are these channels used for?
The reasons why a company is using a certain sales channel can vary depending on what they want to achieve through the channel. But the main focus should always be outbound prospecting. Because it is through cold outreach that you are able to reach out to those who are unaware of your product or service.
Increase brand awareness
A dedicated cold outreach strategy for brand awareness will ensure that you are targeting unknown people or businesses with your brand.
Brand awareness, however, does not mean bombarding random people with your most recent product or a discount coupon. The idea is to give the stranger the power to get intrigued by your brand.
A higher impression is made on the person through targeted cold outreach, making them aware of your brand.
Lead generation
To improve future sales, the process of attracting potential consumers' interest is known as lead generation.
It is an essential step in many businesses' sales processes. Anyone who has expressed interest in a company's goods or services but may not yet be able to purchase them is considered a lead.
By making them aware of your brand through outreach, you are generating potential customers.
Lead nurturing
Businesses utilize lead nurturing as a tactic to maintain their connections with potential customers.
Gaining the confidence of your audience will help you grow sales.
You can try a number of lead-nurturing techniques, such as concentrating on content marketing, using data to email-target prospects, and getting to know your audience better through surveys.
Testing new markets and target groups
When your company launches a new product or service, cold outreach is a method that delivers rapid results on how the market reacts to your new offer.
It provides invaluable information and insight.
Even if you don't launch a new product, reaching out to a new target group will give you good feedback on how people in a particular sector or industry react to your product or service.
A sales channel is the way in which a business-to-business (B2B) sales organization goes to market, either through direct or indirect ways, to sell its product or solutions to end customers
Channels can be platforms (online or offline), people, or partners.
Often people confuse sales channels with distribution channels. Let's clear up any doubts:
- A sales channel is involved in helping to increase and close sales.
- A distribution channel has more to do with physically getting products across to consumers.
Commonly used sales channels to increase and close sales are:
- Cold Emailing - BDRs use cold emailing to reach out to potential customers and introduce them to the company's products or services. They send a message that is relevant to the customer and provides value so that they are more likely to respond.
- Cold Calling - Cold calling involves contacting potential customers who may not be familiar with the company or its products. BDRs need to be prepared for objections and have effective rebuttals ready.
- Social Selling - Social selling is the process of using social media platforms to identify potential leads and connect with them. This method allows BDRs to build relationships with potential clients before reaching out to them directly. LinkedIn is the platform that offers the most value for the business, and especially for salespeople to network.
What are these channels used for?
The reasons why a company is using a certain sales channel can vary depending on what they want to achieve through the channel. But the main focus should always be outbound prospecting. Because it is through cold outreach that you are able to reach out to those who are unaware of your product or service.
Increase brand awareness
A dedicated cold outreach strategy for brand awareness will ensure that you are targeting unknown people or businesses with your brand.
Brand awareness, however, does not mean bombarding random people with your most recent product or a discount coupon. The idea is to give the stranger the power to get intrigued by your brand.
A higher impression is made on the person through targeted cold outreach, making them aware of your brand.
Lead generation
To improve future sales, the process of attracting potential consumers' interest is known as lead generation.
It is an essential step in many businesses' sales processes. Anyone who has expressed interest in a company's goods or services but may not yet be able to purchase them is considered a lead.
By making them aware of your brand through outreach, you are generating potential customers.
Lead nurturing
Businesses utilize lead nurturing as a tactic to maintain their connections with potential customers.
Gaining the confidence of your audience will help you grow sales.
You can try a number of lead-nurturing techniques, such as concentrating on content marketing, using data to email-target prospects, and getting to know your audience better through surveys.
Testing new markets and target groups
When your company launches a new product or service, cold outreach is a method that delivers rapid results on how the market reacts to your new offer.
It provides invaluable information and insight.
Even if you don't launch a new product, reaching out to a new target group will give you good feedback on how people in a particular sector or industry react to your product or service.
Why You Should Have Multiple Sales Channels
Deciding on a multi-channel approach is usually the better option instead of using just a single channel. A single channel means contact with prospects less often than your competitors and makes it easier for you to be forgotten.
A multi-channel approach builds relationships.
A company needs to plan its sales channels accordingly and has to set up a strategy.
Working with an external partner should always be considered to help you save time and money before setting up and managing an in-house sales team.
Use multiple channels to be independent
Channels saturate or are abandoned as markets shift.
Consequently, having alternatives keeps any potential decline in your channel from lowering your outcomes. The congestion of prospects' inboxes, for instance, wouldn't hurt you if you were employing both email and LinkedIn outreach.
Similarly, if one of your channels like email is no longer working due to email deliverability issues, for example, you still have other channels to focus on and use.
Several channels will make sure that you can always reach out to your prospects.
Multiple channels will show which one works the best for you
By testing out different channels, you might discover one that offers you a superior return on investment.
For example, switching to a hybrid approach with email outreach may improve your outcomes if you were previously employing cold calling to reach out to prospects
More options to get in touch with prospects
By contacting a prospect through a variety of channels, you are more likely to discover the one that works best for them. A multichannel outreach strategy boosts a prospect's chances of seeing your message and replying.
Different sales channels can also target different audiences.
If you have different target groups, you can find out which channel is the best for each one to create contact. This is a result of the various preferred contact methods that each prospect has.
If you reach out to decision-makers in multiple channels, they are more likely to trust that you're reaching out to offer real value.
But be careful with sending multiple conflicting messages. This can destroy your first good impression.
It's not all about revenue to evaluate the performance of a channel
At the end of a campaign, you want to see which channel works well and which one isn't performing as expected. But a channel giving low revenue may still be beneficial to some customers and profit may be high.
You have to consider if outreach on LinkedIn does not create high revenue for your company that it's still an effective platform to nurture connections and raise brand awareness.
If you can make people aware of your brand or give them useful information about your company's product or service first, they are more likely to start a conversation after receiving an email from your company.
Did you know that 80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn?
Social media in general can be used to make connections first and then follow up with emails or phone calls to convince your prospect of your proposal or vice versa.
You might think that managing multiple channels is going to take you a lot of time and money. There are many tools and platforms that you can use to manage your cold outreach via different channels: keeping an overview of all your channels is easier.
The only problem with using multiple channels is that when your company wants to run an in-house sales team, there will be corporate limitations to what they can do. And you really need to consider all the costs that will occur by using all the channels. Equipment, salary, training - they can all be expensive spending for a successful sales team.
This is why it is always worth considering outsourcing one or more channels for cold outreach.
A multi-channel approach builds relationships.
A company needs to plan its sales channels accordingly and has to set up a strategy.
Working with an external partner should always be considered to help you save time and money before setting up and managing an in-house sales team.
Use multiple channels to be independent
Channels saturate or are abandoned as markets shift.
Consequently, having alternatives keeps any potential decline in your channel from lowering your outcomes. The congestion of prospects' inboxes, for instance, wouldn't hurt you if you were employing both email and LinkedIn outreach.
Similarly, if one of your channels like email is no longer working due to email deliverability issues, for example, you still have other channels to focus on and use.
Several channels will make sure that you can always reach out to your prospects.
Multiple channels will show which one works the best for you
By testing out different channels, you might discover one that offers you a superior return on investment.
For example, switching to a hybrid approach with email outreach may improve your outcomes if you were previously employing cold calling to reach out to prospects
More options to get in touch with prospects
By contacting a prospect through a variety of channels, you are more likely to discover the one that works best for them. A multichannel outreach strategy boosts a prospect's chances of seeing your message and replying.
Different sales channels can also target different audiences.
If you have different target groups, you can find out which channel is the best for each one to create contact. This is a result of the various preferred contact methods that each prospect has.
If you reach out to decision-makers in multiple channels, they are more likely to trust that you're reaching out to offer real value.
But be careful with sending multiple conflicting messages. This can destroy your first good impression.
It's not all about revenue to evaluate the performance of a channel
At the end of a campaign, you want to see which channel works well and which one isn't performing as expected. But a channel giving low revenue may still be beneficial to some customers and profit may be high.
You have to consider if outreach on LinkedIn does not create high revenue for your company that it's still an effective platform to nurture connections and raise brand awareness.
If you can make people aware of your brand or give them useful information about your company's product or service first, they are more likely to start a conversation after receiving an email from your company.
Did you know that 80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn?
Social media in general can be used to make connections first and then follow up with emails or phone calls to convince your prospect of your proposal or vice versa.
You might think that managing multiple channels is going to take you a lot of time and money. There are many tools and platforms that you can use to manage your cold outreach via different channels: keeping an overview of all your channels is easier.
The only problem with using multiple channels is that when your company wants to run an in-house sales team, there will be corporate limitations to what they can do. And you really need to consider all the costs that will occur by using all the channels. Equipment, salary, training - they can all be expensive spending for a successful sales team.
This is why it is always worth considering outsourcing one or more channels for cold outreach.
How Outsourcing Helps You Manage Multiple Sales Channels
Get qualified leads from external companies like SalesPipe
Generating, evaluating, and qualifying leads by an in-house team takes time depending on the channel and your employee's expertise. With it comes a bigger managing effort to get this job done.
Instead, outsource.
Once leads are qualified by the external partner, they will be given to one of your in-house sales experts who can focus on closing the deal.
Also, you can use sales outsourcing to connect with new clients interested in your service, make initial contact with prospects, and target other markets or various sales channels through other outsourced sales teams.
Instead of having your internal sales force concentrate on lead generation in markets they are unfamiliar with, outsourcing enables you to obtain the most promising prospects from each market or sales channel. The outsourced sales teams know which channel works the best in certain markets and for the right target groups.
Give away the work that experts can do better and faster
If the sales team has to generate leads across all channels, it may be that there is a lack of sufficiently qualified personnel to achieve good results.
For example, cold calling is often seen as a problem area. It makes sense to work with an external partner with cold calling experience.
You don't even have to outsource all of your channels right away, but if you feel one channel isn't performing well enough, an external partner will be able to give you the results you want.
Outsourcing companies will deliver you the expertise that you can get with an in-house sales team over months and years. The average ramp-up time for a sales rep is 3.2 months.
An external partner is able to deliver results after two to three weeks.
The management effort on these outsourced channels is very low because the external partner is in charge of this and helping their representatives themselves.
Managing an in-house sales team requires money and patience
Limited experience in creating and expanding international sales and channel teams is a common problem for all teams when beginning to create sales and channel operations.
If the work is done internally, one of two things will happen: either the executive team will have to take on a duty they are unprepared for, or they will have to pay a costly additional management team member to oversee the operation in addition to hiring a channel company.
Getting to the point where a channel is performing well, can cost you several months and thousands of dollars. Instead, outsource part of your sales cycle and ensure that you get professionals managing the early stages of your sales funnel across multiple sales channels.
Outsourcing will save your sales team valuable time
Managing your channels can become very easy if the outsourcing sales team simply delivers qualified leads down in the sales funnel. They will manage their channels, employing methods your reps might be unable to or unfamiliar with, and deliver leads to senior in-house sales team members to close after the initial contact.
Altogether, outsourcing sales results in reduced risks and practical, secure market expansion.
Without the added time and expense of expanding your internal staff, you will be able to scale up your sales team with experienced sales experts in new markets and channels to generate leads.
Generating, evaluating, and qualifying leads by an in-house team takes time depending on the channel and your employee's expertise. With it comes a bigger managing effort to get this job done.
Instead, outsource.
Once leads are qualified by the external partner, they will be given to one of your in-house sales experts who can focus on closing the deal.
Also, you can use sales outsourcing to connect with new clients interested in your service, make initial contact with prospects, and target other markets or various sales channels through other outsourced sales teams.
Instead of having your internal sales force concentrate on lead generation in markets they are unfamiliar with, outsourcing enables you to obtain the most promising prospects from each market or sales channel. The outsourced sales teams know which channel works the best in certain markets and for the right target groups.
Give away the work that experts can do better and faster
If the sales team has to generate leads across all channels, it may be that there is a lack of sufficiently qualified personnel to achieve good results.
For example, cold calling is often seen as a problem area. It makes sense to work with an external partner with cold calling experience.
You don't even have to outsource all of your channels right away, but if you feel one channel isn't performing well enough, an external partner will be able to give you the results you want.
Outsourcing companies will deliver you the expertise that you can get with an in-house sales team over months and years. The average ramp-up time for a sales rep is 3.2 months.
An external partner is able to deliver results after two to three weeks.
The management effort on these outsourced channels is very low because the external partner is in charge of this and helping their representatives themselves.
Managing an in-house sales team requires money and patience
Limited experience in creating and expanding international sales and channel teams is a common problem for all teams when beginning to create sales and channel operations.
If the work is done internally, one of two things will happen: either the executive team will have to take on a duty they are unprepared for, or they will have to pay a costly additional management team member to oversee the operation in addition to hiring a channel company.
Getting to the point where a channel is performing well, can cost you several months and thousands of dollars. Instead, outsource part of your sales cycle and ensure that you get professionals managing the early stages of your sales funnel across multiple sales channels.
Outsourcing will save your sales team valuable time
Managing your channels can become very easy if the outsourcing sales team simply delivers qualified leads down in the sales funnel. They will manage their channels, employing methods your reps might be unable to or unfamiliar with, and deliver leads to senior in-house sales team members to close after the initial contact.
Altogether, outsourcing sales results in reduced risks and practical, secure market expansion.
Without the added time and expense of expanding your internal staff, you will be able to scale up your sales team with experienced sales experts in new markets and channels to generate leads.
Conclusion
The multi-channel approach is a must for sales teams to stay ahead of the curve of their competitors.
Testing and evaluating which channels work the best or which combination of multiple channels is the most effective is one of the most important tasks of sales managers today.
The sales environment is constantly changing, and therefore your sales team's outreach strategy must be constantly reconsidered.
At a certain point, it also makes sense to have some channels taken over by an external partner. Outsourcing companies are experts in their field and have the required expertise and equipment to deliver great results for your company.
The management effort will be reduced when an external partner is on board because a huge amount of work can be given away.
Interested in outsourcing your sales process?
Get in touch with us to learn more.
Or apply to be part of the best BDRs in the game.
Testing and evaluating which channels work the best or which combination of multiple channels is the most effective is one of the most important tasks of sales managers today.
The sales environment is constantly changing, and therefore your sales team's outreach strategy must be constantly reconsidered.
At a certain point, it also makes sense to have some channels taken over by an external partner. Outsourcing companies are experts in their field and have the required expertise and equipment to deliver great results for your company.
The management effort will be reduced when an external partner is on board because a huge amount of work can be given away.
Interested in outsourcing your sales process?
Get in touch with us to learn more.
Or apply to be part of the best BDRs in the game.
Post by Mattes Wöstemeier.
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