Unlock the secret to mastering cold calling and all-bound sales strategies with OutBound 2024!
A number of years ago, sales commentators could only talk about the death of the humble cold call. What had changed was the introduction of social media. There were a large number of sales influencers who hyped something they described as “social selling.” This was good and fine, but to acquire the audience they needed, they suggested that everyone would be able to reach their sales goals using social media.
The Rise of the Four Horsemen
At this time, Jeb Blount, Mark Hunter, Mike Weinberg, and your faithful writer were given the name the Four Horsemen by Chris Beal, (conquest, war, famine, and death), as we continued to counsel our clients to keep making their calls. Any mention of cold calling on LinkedIn would be criticized by the cool kids who were setting out to teach social selling, causing us to laugh, knowing how this would end.
Around this time, HubSpot introduced tools for inbound marketing. The combination of social media and inbound marketing caused sales managers and sales reps to avoid using the phone and instead hang around on the social platforms, hoping for engagement, if only to communicate with other social-selling enthusiasts.
The All-Bound Approach
The criticism of our suggestion that salespeople would need to use the telephone to succeed in B2B sales continued to the point it started to be funny. Our clients were doing well with the phone-based approaches described in Fanatical Prospecting, New Sales Simplified, and High-Profit Prospecting. We were using social media, but we were not just inbound or outbound—we were all-bound.
I don’t remember the city or the client, but I do remember waiting for my turn to speak at a large sales kickoff meeting. An advertisement for the Inbound Conference said, “No more cold calls.” It occurred to me that if there was an Inbound Conference, there should be an OutBound Conference. I walked out of the giant conference room and called Jeb Blount, telling him that the Four Horsemen should start the OutBound Conference. Jeb told me it was the best idea I had ever had.
Launching the OutBound Conference
We advertised the conference on LinkedIn, only to have a number of commentators say that no one would be interested in a conference about outbound sales and cold calling. Between our four newsletters and LinkedIn efforts, we had 400 people in a big conference room, and OutBound was born. The audience was excited to learn more about outbound strategies, and we got great marks from the attendees.
The Decline of Social Selling
The promise of social selling was never fulfilled. Many sales organizations suffered from anemic pipelines and the poor results of prospecting strategies that failed to include outbound tactics. What happened next was the triumphant return of cold calls and cold emails. If you want to learn how to use social selling, Brynne Tillman will provide you with the best possible strategies available.
The result is seen in the proliferation of cold calls and cold emails, and the large number of technologies and tools that support these methods. We worry about the use of artificial intelligence without a human pilot, but we know that AI will change how we sell in the future.
Limited Tickets for OutBound 2024
Every year, OutBound finds a larger audience. But this is a new OutBound in 2024. There are only 500 tickets this year. In past years, we were able to accommodate everyone that showed up at the venue. I must tell you that when these tickets are gone, there will be no more space for San Antonio.
This new version of the old dream is one we have talked about for years. Most of the time will be spent in workshops in the main conference rooms. Just like the past OutBounds, you will get a workbook, so you can leave this OutBound loaded with sales strategies you can use as soon as your plane lands in your home city.
For those of you excited by the promise of AI, Jeb Blount and I wrote a book titled AI Edge: Sales Strategies for Unleashing the Power of AI to Save Time, Sell More, and Crush the Competition. We have a bolt-on ticket for a 3-hour AI Edge workshop.
My advice is to buy the VIP All Access Ticket. This is a training conference, making this an opportunity to train and motivate your sales team, while also giving them an incredible experience.
Go here now to buy your tickets: https://outboundconference.com/.
