Studies have found that the typical win rate for inbound leads is 1.5x-2.5x higher than outbound leads.
This makes sense from a logical standpoint: inbound leads are raising their hands and saying, “hey I want to talk.” Whereas outbound leads are typically associated with cold outreach, meaning they might not be in-market or at the right stage of their journey.
But a funny thing is happening at 6sense: our win rates for outbound are higher than inbound.
This isn’t a mistake either, it’s by design.
Thanks to unparalleled insights into the buying journey, our sellers can pinpoint exactly the right time to reach out.
We’re seeing this unheard-of success with outbound through three key areas:
- People: Our marketers and sellers are in lockstep about when to reach out and engage
- Process: Hot Accounts are routed at the right time, and sales reps are given a playbook and SLA to work them before they are reassigned
- Technology: 6sense uncovers hot accounts that are ripe for outbound engagement
We also strictly follow our own No Forms. No Spam. No Cold Calls. playbook, so we set a high bar for our inbound qualification. That means that our outbounds are outcompeting some strong inbounds.
How We Find the Right Accounts
Roughly 70% of the buying journey happens anonymously — we call this the Dark Funnel™.
During that anonymous research, buyers are:
- Reading content on your site
- Searching topics related to your products and solutions
- Checking out industry review sites
- Visiting your competitor’s website
Once the buyer feels ready they’ll reach out to a vendor — becoming an inbound lead.
But here’s the kicker: By the time they decide to raise their hand, there’s a good chance the buyer has already decided the winner. Sitting back and waiting for an inbound lead misses the opportunity to get to an account first and start influencing their journey.
The 6sense platform gives our teams the ability to find hot accounts: companies and buyers that are actively researching solutions like ours.
Why We Win Outbound Deals
Our teams can reach out at the right time armed with incredible insights like what an account is researching, who the key stakeholders are, and just how far they are into their journey.
We set strong standards for our sellers to engage with identified hot accounts, and consistently measure their performance.
Because of the intelligence at their disposal, and the organizational commitment to working outbound leads, our sellers can reach an account earlier than the competition and have better conversations.
When you get into a deal first — and especially when you have unparalleled intelligence about an account — your odds of winning jump dramatically. That’s why 6sense places huge importance on outbound, a channel that has typically been relegated as less important than inbound.
Breaking it down, here’s why outbound is a success for us:
- Timing: We can spot accounts showing purchasing intent extremely early thanks to 6sense’s intent data capabilities. Importantly, we don’t reach out too early! Buyers want to do research on their own and might not be ready for a conversation in the early stages.
- Intent: 6sense captures critical buying signals (that are typically anonymous) and matches them to the accounts where they’re happening. AI and historical data then reveal where the account is in their buying journey. That gives us the secret sauce to know exactly when to reach out.
It can’t be overstated how beneficial it is to get a peek at what’s going on in the Dark Funnel™. 6sense delivers the insights we need to hone our outbound strategy.
Conclusion: The Implications of Strong Outbound
For too long, outbound has been seen as a weak channel; one with high expenditures and low hit rates. But 6sense is proving that outbound can be a reliable channel to win opportunities.
With the right people, process, and technology you can:
- Find deals earlier
- Influence throughout the buying journey
- Multi-thread across an organization
- Beat the competition
It’s time to focus on outbound and make it one of your strongest strategies.
