Acknowledgments xi

Foreword xiii

On the History of Sales through the Salesperson’s Eyes, by Dan Tyre xiii

On the Current State of Sales and What the Decades Ahead May Hold, by Mark Roberge xviii

Preface xxiii

Introduction xxv

An Interview with Brian Halligan xxvi

Part 1 The “Why?” Behind Inbound Sales

Chapter 1 I Was Never Supposed to Be in Sales 3

Chapter 2 Why Inbound Sales Matters 23

Part 2 How to Be An Inbound Seller: A Playbook for the Front-line Sales Rep

Chapter 3 Identify: How to Identify the Right People and Businesses to Pursue 37

Chapter 4 Connect: How to Engage Active—and Not So Active—Buyers 63

Chapter 5 Explore: How to Properly Explore a Buyer’s Goals and Challenges 75

Chapter 6 Advise: How to Advise a Buyer on Whether or Not Your Solution Addresses Their Needs 91

Chapter 7 Closing and Negotiating 109

Part 3 How to Lead Inbound Sellers: Reflections for the Front-line Sales Manager

Chapter 8 The First-Time Sales Rep–to-Manager Survival Guide 125

Chapter 9 Reflections on Sales Leadership 147

Part 4 What Inbound Selling Means Across the Executive Suite

Chapter 10 Sales Is a Team Sport: The Executives’ Guide to Transforming into an Inbound Sales Organization 177

Part 5 The Future of Sales and The Sales Profession

Chapter 11 The Future of Sales: An Epilogue by Derek Wyszynski, board advisor at SalesTribe and CEO of RealSalesAdvice 215

Notes 233

Index 239

PRAISE FOR INBOUND SELLING

"Brian has delivered a book that is at once strategic but also highly tactical—a 'two-step' that most sales books struggle to deliver. While he grounds his work in a high-level, strategic discussion of the massive changes we're seeing in the customer buying environment, he manages to couple this with an incredibly practical set of guidance for how sales reps, managers, and leaders should adapt their approaches in light of these changes. I highly recommend it."
—MATTHEW DIXON, co-author of The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer, senior partner, Korn Ferry Hay Group

"Inbound Selling weaves Signorelli's personal narrative as a leading sales rep and sales manager throughout an actionable playbook for executing an 'inbound sales' process. The book clearly illustrates a step-by-step guide for engaging inbound leads and provides an invaluable starting point for building an inbound sales organization."
—DANIELLE HERZBERG, head of SMB Sales, Slack

"Sales books are a dime a dozen. Most are uninspired and full of the same platitudes we have heard a million times before, just with a different spin and repackaged 'methodology'. A select few are inspirational and unique, and even fewer provide real tactical insights a salesperson can apply to their day to day and long-term career. This is one of those books."
—SAM BELT, sales professional and inbound seller, HubSpot

"This is a must read for anyone in sales or thinking about becoming a sales professional! Brian lays out the step by step how to master inbound sales with practical examples and real-life tales of starting from the very beginning."
—JILL FRATIANNE, sales professional, inbound seller and entrepreneur

"Brian's book is not only incredibly tactical, but it really makes you think. It makes you re-think everything you know about sales and instead truly look at the sales process from the perspective of the buyer… and then meet them there. He provides a play-by-play breakdown of what the new inbound seller's steps should be and does it in a way that is easy to understand and execute. Everyone in sales (and marketing!) should read this book."
—DANI BUCKLEY, general manager, LeadG2/Center for Sales Strategy

Once upon a time, sales reps traversed the continent carrying barely portable computers with the hopes of meeting maybe two out of three potential clients face to face. How many times do you think those reps tried to sleep on a crowded plane and dreamed about clients coming to them? Cut to: today, where the inbound approach to marketing makes that sales dream come true. However, the selling game itself has been flipped on its head. Yesterday, sales reps controlled all the information a prospect needed to make an informed purchasing decision. Today, with only a laptop and a few keystrokes, the buyer is in the driver's seat. Inbound Selling translates the connectivity and insight produced by inbound marketing into a world-class selling strategy in tune with today's informed and empowered buyer.

In a world where over 60 percent of buying decisions are made without a sales rep, everyone in sales needs to evaluate what they're bringing to the table, from frontline sellers to managers in the office and C-suite. No one is better qualified to define the contemporary sales rep than Brian Signorelli, who joined the hottest inbound marketing company on the planet with no sales experience and rose to director of a global program in just four years. In this biographical guidebook, he takes you step by step through his personal training and work experience at Hubspot so you can evolve into an inbound seller at any stage of your career and transform any sales department into an inbound powerhouse.

Brian's refreshing perspective on this innovative approach to sales is free from the cobwebs of bias and old habits from obsolete outbound sales tactics. Along with his own reflective narratives, real-world examples, and model dialogues, he lets in the voices of Hubspot's thought leaders on specific topics to share practical expertise. In this single primer to inbound sales, he shows you how to:

• Implement the entire inbound sales playbook, including techniques to identify receptive buyers, connect with them, explore their unique goals and challenges, and advise them on what to do next
• Get through the toughest challenges along the entire journey from sales rep to manager with a valuable, hard-won survival guide
• Make sales a team sport with an executive playbook to empowering and guiding every member of your team

The days of sales reps' privileged knowledge of products and markets are gone. Buyers are in control now and with Inbound Selling, you can rocket your sales numbers by tailoring every buyer's sales experience to their specific needs and goals.