Instant Inbound – The Future of Ultra-Successful Sales

The way the world does sales is changing.

In fact, it’s already changed. 

Customers, especially B2B customers, care about speed and efficiency in the sales process. 

Sales teams that fail to adapt to the now-or-never expectation of their prospects can expect to lose prospects to their speedier competitor.

The businesses that are succeeding in this environment recognize that their tools, expectations, and service need to be top-tier. 

Sales has experienced a tectonic shift on a fundamental level — one with the power to transform how businesses operate, how revenue flows, how deals close, and how every SDR and AE on your team contributes.

So, what is that shift?

And, more importantly, what should you do about it?

Speed to Lead is Dead

We talk a lot about speed to lead. 

A lot.

Recently, ChiliPiper blew up the Twittersphere with 1.6 million impressions during a Twitter crowdchat. We virtually own the #speedtolead hashtag. 

We ignited the webinar space with a first-of-its kind discussion on the power of speed to lead.

Google “speed to lead,” and our article on speed to lead statistics is the first result you’ll see. 

Speed to lead has garnered a lot of attention, and with good reason. 

Is it important? Heck, yes.

However, our research surfaced a crucial finding. 

Instant leads close faster and at a higher rate than  leads that are contacted even minutes after an initial form submission. 

Within our software, we began pushing the envelope. 

Why wait minutes? Why not instant? 

Chili Piper enables sales teams to turn inbound leads into instant bookings. 

In other words, our software has erased the concept of speed, and turned it into an instantaneous click-to-call-to-close process. 

It is no longer about speed. 

Sounds dramatic, but it’s the truth. Speed to lead is dead.

It’s all about instant inbound. 

In summary, the change is this — even the fastest speed to lead is too slow. 

What sales needs now is Instant Inbound. 

What is Instant Inbound?

Instant Inbound slashes speed to lead time down to zero by allowing leads to book a meeting directly from your inbound form, turning inbound leads into qualified meetings, instantly. 

Instant Inbound is the gold standard of inbound marketing best practices that our customers have been achieving for years, but the market has been stuck talking about speed to lead. 

It’s time to call it what it is.

Instant Inbound. 

Soon B2B marketing teams will no longer measure how quickly they can respond to a lead because anything slower than instant is simply too slow, and, yes, even obsolete.

Instant Inbound: An Analogy from the B2C World

Within the B2C sales process, instant inbound has been the status quo for years. 

Let’s talk about dog food. 

If you want to order dog food off of Amazon, you can do so quite easily and quickly.

After finding the relevant food, usually prompted by machine learning algorithms that intuit what Fido wants, you click the buy button.

But Amazon goes a step beyond.

You can have a prime subscription, where 2-day shipping is the norm, with no extra shipping charges. 

Oh, and you can use the “buy now” button to go straight to checkout rather than going through the rigamarole of confirming your payment method and delivery address. 

Ah, and, if you’re lucky enough to live in an area they serve, you can get Amazon Prime Now, where your doggie treats arrive in mere hours. 

For just a moment, let’s set aside physical goods, which can take a couple hours for delivery.

What about Netflix or Prime Video?

If you want to watch Mulan on Disney Plus, you’re going to go to your Disney Plus app on your TV, find the movie and start watching.

Instantly. 

We don’t wait around for stuff. 

We get it when we want it, which is instant. 

Imagine walking into a car dealership asking for a test drive on the 2020 Camry that’s on display on their lot. 

The sales person responds with “Please leave your contact information and I’ll try to get back to you in a few days to schedule a time for you to come back.” 

That would never happen.

But that’s the rough equivalent of today’s B2B selling experience.

As consumers, we expect better. 

Since B2B buyers are peopletoo, they want to buy software the same way they want to buy a Camry, or kiblets, or Mulan.

Changes in B2B sales often follows, albeit at a slower rate, the trends in B2C sales.

Although the buying process is different, the human component is not. We’re still dealing with human beings who desire rapid responses, quick decisions, and closed deals — on both sides of the selling table.

It only makes sense that instant inbound is going to be the gold standard, the status quo for B2B sales from here on out. 

What does “Instant Inbound” mean for sales?

Instant Inbound is an absolute game changer for sales, especially B2B sales.

Here are a few of the standout changes: 

• Zero drop off between someone “raising their hand” and getting a meeting scheduled
• Superior buyer experience
• Less friction in the sales cycle
• Pipeline that fills faster and closes faster

These benefits are easy to throw into a bulleted list.

But consider the knock-on effects of these “simple” benefits. 

Take “better buyer experience,” for example.

A new customer, giddy over her recent experience in buying from your business is eager to share the news on LinkedIn, or discuss the experience with a vendor. 

She spreads the news. You get referral business, a social media shout-out, or whatever. 

That can go a long way!

By making customers happy, you convert customers into evangelists. That is priceless. 

How about the above bullet point about friction? If you were to quantify friction reduction in the sales cycle, the cumulative effects could fetch into the tens of thousands, if not the millions, depending on your ASP (average sales price) and other factors.

Guess how encyclopedias used to be sold. 

A Grolier’s sales rep comes to the actual physical door of your house and talks to you about how a set of Groliers is your ticket to omniscience.

You write a physical check. In a few weeks, the postal carrier delivers a box of hardbound books.

That’s inconceivable to us today. 

Instant Inbound is equally revolutionary in the modern sales world. 

We’ve turned the entire game of speed on its head. 

We’re changing entire expectations and preconceptions of what a successful sales process looks like. 

The future is instant. And the future is now. 

Instant Inbound: The Future of Successful Sales

We believe that because our world is becoming more and more automated

Connection — instant connection — matters more now than ever before. 

This is more than COVID-inspired cliches.

The Chili Piper team lives all around the world, and yet we work very closely with each other — a constant relay of Slack communication, Zoom calls, and other collaboration tools are an omnipresent facet of our work style. 

It’s the way things are going to be from now on. . 

Even though the way buyers and sellers connect is changing with the times, the buying experience should still feel connected, seamless, easy. 

The Chili Piper platform helps people connect with their customers simply, and more importantly, it happens instantly. 

Instant Inbound: The Customer Is Number One. 

The B2B sales experience should be 100% customer focused. 

We can dispense with the banality of “the customer is always right,” but we can focus on the customer’s delight. 

And the best way to do so is to satisfy their needs instantly. They are the priority. 

If a buyer is interested in your product, they can talk to someone about it right awaywhile they are at the peak of their interest. 

If a customer needs to schedule an appointment with their account manager, there is no longer any back and forth via email to find an available time.

Your scheduling software shouldn’t be a barrier to a thrilled customer. It should be the method of causing that customer to be thrilled. 

Instant Inbound: Sales Teams Are Insanely Efficient 

Sales  efficiency happens at the nexus of human knowledge and advanced technology. 

Using Chili Piper’s cutting-edge scheduling software innovation, there’s no longer any excuse for a mashup of mangled spreadsheets or frantic slack messages decrying the loss of a hot lead.

Boosting your sales team’s efficiency is now as simple as purchasing Chili Piper (advanced technology) and training your team to use Chili Piper (human knowledge).

The rest takes care of itself. 

Instant Inbound: The Future Is Now

Chili Piper’s product is predicated on the power of instant.

By purchasing Chili Piper, you’re not investing in yet another sales tool. 

You’re purchasing the modern innovation in sales. 

You’re securing customer happiness. You are obliterating friction from your buying process. You are streamlining your sales team.

You are upleveling your sales game in a massive way.

Now Is the Time To Embrace Instant Inbound

There is only one logical thing to do now that you understand the modern sales landscape.

Use it for yourself.

You can see what Instant Inbound looks like on your website.

It’s free. And it only takes 30 seconds.

Try it now.