A rule I gave myself after running a company for several years is that I never reply to incoming offers or sales pitches. In my opinion it’s very rare that someone really offers something that my company needs at that exact moment, so most interactions resulting from such offers will be a waste of my time. In the past I reacted to such incoming offers, but I always regretted it and usually burned some money and time as well. Now they only way I pick suppliers is by sourcing them myself exactly when I need something.
I think many executives / entrepreneurs have developed a similar adversity towards incoming offers, and my own experience with cold outbound selling seems to confirm this. I’ve contacted hundreds of companies myself trying to sell our service, but the only deals we closed so far were either with companies we already knew via our network or ones that did actively seek out our services themselves. It’s of course possible that an experienced sales person would be able to generate outbound interest, but as a founder without much sales experience it is very tough.
I therefore think inbound sales is the future, at least in B2B.
I think many executives / entrepreneurs have developed a similar adversity towards incoming offers, and my own experience with cold outbound selling seems to confirm this. I’ve contacted hundreds of companies myself trying to sell our service, but the only deals we closed so far were either with companies we already knew via our network or ones that did actively seek out our services themselves. It’s of course possible that an experienced sales person would be able to generate outbound interest, but as a founder without much sales experience it is very tough. I therefore think inbound sales is the future, at least in B2B.