What is nearbound sales?

Nearbound sales is a motion top sellers leverage to action ecosystem intel, influence, and introductions to close bigger deals faster. 

Nearbound sales is not new (read more here)

Tapping into influence and intelligence isn’t new. What’s new, however, are the scale and speed with which we can tap into influence and intelligence.

Sell like your customers want to buy (read more here)

Customers are connected and informed. Yamini Rangan, CEO of HubSpot, calls this the "age of the connected customer" because where sellers used to be gatekeepers of information, now customers are talking to their community and doing research on the product sometimes before they enter into a company’s funnel.

The infocalypse is real (read more here)

Every company in your niche is competing for the same buyers’ attention. What makes you think you’re going to win? A better cold email? A better DM? A solid demo?

Here’s the truth: most customers won’t even read that email or DM. Everyone’s inbox is crowded with people, asking for the same thing, time.

Leslie Douglas reiterated this point, 

Outbound is more challenging today because it’s noisy. There’s a lot of players at the table. There’s a lot more information at our fingertips and our buyers are more knowledgeable.

If you want to cut through the noise, you can’t outcompete it. Instead, tap into your customer’s networks of trust.

Your network is your net worth (read more here)

It’s not a coincidence that most sellers value their network. The game changes when a seller finally realizes all of the ways she can tap into her network for intel, intros, and influence.

You work for the customer (watch more here)

Lots of sellers get caught up in their scripts and playbooks. Here’s a secret: the best sellers are customer-obsessed. Instead of relying on old playbooks, they think customer-first—what matters to my customer, how does my customer want to be sold to, how can I exceed my customer’s expectations?

Tom Slocum furthered this point recently, explaining,

Companies are so stuck with the traditional methods that they’re not adapting. And so they’re meeting buyers with the old ways of buying where the buyer is not at the center of the process. This is creating dysfunction and friction in the buying process.

How to do nearbound sales

How to crush quota with nearbound tactics (read more here)

Jill Rowley is a legendary seller who at one point sold 40% of the revenue in the history of a company with more than $100M in ARR. And she did it by partnering with the right people at the right time.

The buyer doesn’t want to tell you about their business; they want you to know about their business so she tapped into partners with intel and studied customer stories to find patterns.

Jill shares,

My job wasn’t to sell. It was to facilitate a buying process. Doing it with partners was how I won deals and made customers more successful.

How to tap into intel (read more here)

Intel is any information that your partners and/or partnership technology can provide you about an opportunity. Get the answers to the test from those who know.

Here are the two most important pieces of intel to nail:

1. North Star: What are their top 3 business initiatives?

2. Proof: How do you directly impact one (or more) of those business initiatives?

Get the intel email template here.

How to ask for influence on deals or conversations (read more here)

The influence stage is where you use a relationship to surround key moments in the buyer journey and advance to the next step.

Get the influence email template here.

How to get an intro from your network (read more here)

If you play your cards correctly, you can transform that intel and influence into an intro. This intro doesn’t mean you can automatically sell to them. It’s the door that allows you to build a relationship with them, gain their trust, and prove to them that your relationship and product are worth it. 

Get the intro email template here.

How to engage a seller as a partner pro (read more here)

The way you talk to other partner people is not how you talk to sellers. Sellers want results, not talk. As a partner pro, you’ve gotta show them what partnerships can do.

Find a champion seller (someone everyone in the Sales team looks up to) and pair them with a partner you’ve already had success with. Facilitate that co-sell motion and make sure all parties are successful.

More nearbound sales resources

• Download the Nearbound Sales Blueprint

• The Nearbound Email Template Hub

• The 3 I’s of Nearbound in Action

• The Biggest Deals Closed with Nearbound

• Isn’t That Just Good Outbound?

• Nailing your Nearbound Sales Math

• Selling Better Together: Leveraging Nearbound and the Who Economy

• Steal This Grassroots Approach to Co-Sell Success

• The Art of Permissionless Partnering

• Why Your GTM Determines Co-sell Strategy

• The Challenge for CROs Thinking Nearbound with Mark Roberge

• Why Sales Teams Need Nearbound with Bobby Napiltonia

• When the Buzzword Meets the Road: Does Co-Selling Have to be So Hard?

• Operational Rigor in the Nearbound Era with Cindy Zu and Graham Younger

• When Partner Attach Goes Wrong and How to Coach Your Way Out of It with Aaron McGarry and Cory Bray

• Go To Network & The 3 Nearbound Sales Plays with Scott Leese

• Real Templates You Can Use to Run Nearbound Sales Today with Will Allred

• Public Ecosystems and Private Ecosystems with Harbinder Khera

• Turning Your Company’s Network Into Pipeline with Joshua Perk

• Beyond the Data: Henry Schuck’s Journey from Bootstrapped to Billions

• 30 Minutes to President’s Club LIVE at the Nearbound Summit

And find even more resources on nearbound.com.

Stuff you don’t want to miss!

• Nearbound Summit 2023 Recordings—The future of GTM is Nearbound. Watch the recordings to hear how B2B leaders across departments unite with Nearbound strategies and tactics. Listen here.

• January 25th— CEO Summit—Join Pavilion and many more companies to be part of expert-led educational sessions, covering top-of-mind issues for CEOs and Founders. Learn about the latest sales insights, building a pricing strategy, and co-selling. Register here. 

• Feb 5th-7th in Miami—Impartnercon 2024—Partnerships are the future of growth. Join partner leaders to learn what it means to build the future of business, together. Register here.

• March 19-20th—Affiverse’s Amplify Summit—Join them for a 2-day virtual event to help affiliate businesses amplify their performance. Learn about digital, partnership, and affiliate marketing. Register here.