What’s the one thing that defines your sales activities more than anything else?
Is it the kind of prospects you target? A focus on customer nurturing and repeat sales? The way your team members cooperate to get deals done, instead of going it alone?
While many sales organizations use a hybrid approach that draws from a variety of selling tactics and methodologies, there is usually one element of how they sell that’s more prominent than the rest.
What’s the difference between a sales model and a sales process?
A sales model is a general framework that defines an organization’s high-level approach to selling. Common sales models for B2B companies include inbound sales, outbound sales, account-based sales, relationship-based (or relational sales), and team sales. B2C businesses such as retailers may also employ a high-volume/low-touch transactional sales model, or a channel sales model, which doesn’t require a sales team at all.
Unlike a sales process, which lays out the specific steps an organization takes to turn a lead into a sale, a sales model is simply a shorthand way to describe how you sell.
Since your company’s sales model can influence the activities and goals that you include in your sales process, having a working understanding of the concept is important. Don’t know which sales model your company follows? Here are four questions that will help give you some clarity.
1) Where do most of your leads come from?
One of the clearest dividing lines in sales is inbound vs. outbound. In other words, are your leads coming to you, or do your reps have to generate their own leads?
In an inbound model, sales organization rely on online ads, SEO, and content marketing to attract potential buyers. Visitors become leads by completing website form pages to request more information, and inbound sales reps then contact those leads in order to learn about their specific needs and begin the qualification process.
Learn more about inbound sales
By contrast, outbound teams have to hunt for their own leads. Through a combination of cold-calling, cold-emailing, social media outreach, and networking, outbound sellers identify potential buyers and reach out to introduce their solution.
Often, outbound sales reps work off of cold-calling lists that collect people who fit a certain buyer profile (but haven’t necessarily expressed interest in their product). No matter the methods that outbound sellers choose to employ, one thing is consistent: They make the first touch.
Learn more about outbound sales
Sales process tip: Since inbound teams already have leads flowing in through marketing efforts, the first stage in their sales process should be Qualify. For outbound teams, Prospect and Make Contact should come first, as sales reps have to put in the effort upfront to research, identify, and introduce themselves to potential buyers.
2) How much of your revenue comes from existing customers?
It’s quite common for the majority of a company’s revenue to be driven by repeat business—whether that’s recurring orders for a produce delivery service or monthly fees for an IT provider. But there’s an important difference between “we get most of our sales from repeat business” and “we get nearly all of our sales from repeat business.”
In a relationship-based sales model, revenue is driven almost entirely by existing clients, and sales reps spend far more time on nurturing than they do on prospecting. If your sales strategy is defined by post-sale activities and client retention, you likely follow a relational model.
Learn more about relationship-based sales
Read this ultimate guide on Sales Prospecting
Sales process tip: For relationship-based teams, the sales process shouldn’t end with the Closing stage. Make sure you’re staying on top of your clients’ needs by adding some post-sale stages like First Check-In and Upsell.
