Inbound vs. Outbound: Why Most B2B Companies Can't Rely on Inbound Alone
Often times, inbound leads are considered better in quality than outbound leads. However, is it always really the case?
10/3/20263 min read
If you work for a huge, globally recognized B2B company with an exceptional product-market fit, it's only natural that most of your customer acquisition will rely on inbound leads.
(An inbound lead is a prospect who reaches out and books a meeting with you through your website, LinkedIn, or another channel.)
For example, if you're a Sales Executive at Anthropic, you'll probably spend most of your time onboarding new customers rather than actively hunting for new ones.
Why? Because companies are already reaching out to Anthropic's sales team and booking meetings themselves. They've often already made the decision to buy. 99% of the work has been done before the first sales conversation even takes place. The sales team might simply need to go through the technical details, recommend relevant upsells, and help them get started.
In this situation, inbound is so powerful, thanks to the company's enormous visibility, that outbound prospecting probably isn't even necessary, except perhaps for a handful of strategic accounts.
However, this is the exception rather than the rule.
To put it another way: Brad Pitt probably doesn't need to approach women. His DMs are likely already overflowing.
But, obviously, most men aren't Brad Pitt.
In the same way, for most "ordinary" companies, inbound leads are either insufficient in volume or simply not qualified enough.
1. The Problem With Inbound Leads
For most companies, inbound leads come with several drawbacks.
A. Not Enough Volume
Inbound keeps the business running, but there often isn't enough volume coming in every month.
Even if you're generating two or three meetings per week, that might not be enough to grow your business as quickly as you'd like.
B. They Don't Have the Budget
With inbound, you don't get to choose who books a meeting with you.
Unfortunately, you'll often attract companies that don't necessarily have the budget for what you're offering.
As a result, conversations end up revolving heavily around pricing, which isn't exactly the most enjoyable situation.
C. They're Shopping Around
They've booked a meeting with you, but they've also booked meetings with several of your competitors to compare their options.
You end up wasting time on sales calls where you're the tenth provider on their list.
D. What's Good About Inbound?
That said, inbound has one major advantage: people who have taken the time to reach out to you usually have an actual project in mind, and sometimes even a clearly defined budget.
In that sense, inbound leads tend to be more qualified because the need is already identified and understood on their side.
But how do you overcome the problems of insufficient volume and limited budgets?
2. Can Outbound Fill the Gaps Left by Inbound?
This is where outbound becomes particularly powerful: it allows you to address all three of inbound's main weaknesses.
With outbound prospecting, you can often generate significantly more meetings than you would through inbound alone.
You can also target larger companies than those that typically reach out to you.
Of course, be careful not to aim too high, because breaking into very large accounts can become extremely difficult.
Finally, it's relatively rare for a company you approach proactively to already be shopping around for providers at that exact moment.
But this is also where outbound has its main drawback: outbound leads don't necessarily have an existing project or an identified need.
You'll therefore need to make them aware of a problem or opportunity they might not have considered before.
That's why closing an outbound lead can sometimes seem more challenging than closing an inbound lead.
In reality, though, with an attractive offer and reasonable pricing (or plenty of testimonials and case studies to build credibility if your pricing is higher), you can usually improve your closing skills and work towards a 30% closing rate.
Conclusion
Ultimately, outbound allows you to generate more meetings and sometimes target more attractive companies than those coming through inbound.
However, you need to be particularly good at closing, because converting outbound opportunities can be more challenging.
Personally, I'd recommend Alex Hormozi's CLOSER Framework as a starting point for improving your sales process.