In this article you’ll learn:
It’s very likely that your organization is using a mix of outbound and inbound strategies.
But these two strategies leave out a vital piece of the puzzle.
In this new world, you’re not going to achieve 100% of revenue if your strategy only includes 2⁄3 of the picture. Outbound and inbound strategies are good, but they aren’t enough.
The truth is that you are losing at least 33% of your revenue opportunities.
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There is a third strategy that overcomes all the filters and blockers that outbound and inbound face by leveraging the trust built between your partners and your potential customers.
This strategy is NEARBOUND.
Nearbound is the GTM strategy that centralizes partnering with companies your buyers already have a relationship with to increase revenue and retention. Having a Nearbound-led strategy in tandem with a Nearbound Revenue Platform, like Reveal, has helped top companies influence their revenue.
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But why is the market shifting at such a rapid pace? Let’s break down the How vs Who Economies, and how to leverage the Who Economy with Nearbound.
Over the last few decades, customers and prospects were trying to increase their expertise and knowledge on several topics due to all the new technologies in the market, as well as to level up against their competitors’ strategies. They were trying to find out:
These kinds of questions led organizations to create strategies to capitalize on the buyer’s need for information: outbound and inbound.
The Outbound Era revolutionized sales by digitizing the process and focusing on reaching the target market. This allowed for precise measurement of sales activities like emails, phone calls, and contact lists, leading to predictable revenue.
The goal was to answer the buyer’s questions by bringing the information directly to them.
As outbound strategies and technologies evolved, both the quantity and quality of outreach increased. Yet, excelling in outbound sales became increasingly challenging as everyone improved, leading to more interruptions.
Ultimately, there are limits to how many interruptions the human brain can handle, regardless of how targeted they may be.
Over 56% of sellers miss quota despite all the new sales technology—Tiffany Bova, Salesforce.
The era of inbound focused on marketing automation and attracting the target market. Instead of relying on cold outreach, the emphasis shifted to bringing customers in through relevant content, intent-based nurture sequences, and educational touch points throughout the buyer journey.
Basically, when buyers asked the question, organizations tried to be the first solution they saw.
Even with high-quality and relevant information, people have limits on how much they can absorb. Buyers no longer want to be forcefully funneled; they seek better ways to filter out irrelevant information.
The abundance of marketing content and nurturing activities has created a saturation effect. Consequently, customers are turning to trusted sources rather than advertisements or search engines for their purchasing decisions.
We aren’t saying these strategies are bad. In fact, they're pretty darn useful. The problem is that the How Economy has bombarded people with these strategies. It's an info overload, and because of it, no one really trusts companies anymore.
Plus, it’s getting harder and harder for companies to execute these strategies.
Buyers are hungry for that human element. They are seeking out people who have been where they want to go, or that they have worked in close proximity with. They are going to sources like LinkedIn, Partnership Leaders, or PartnerHacker to find real people like them that have faced the same real problems.
Need more proof?
Buyers are seeking out the who, and that’s what Nearbound leverages.
The key is to connect the right people to people.
As previously explained, Nearbound GTM is the operationalization of product, marketing, sales, success, and partnerships to drive revenue by working with companies or individuals who already have trust and influence with your target market.
It’s not trying to reinvent the wheel; it’s a layer on top of your current inbound and outbound strategies that will give them the boost they need to make them so much more successful.
Instead of trying to reach buyers cold, like outbound, or get them to come to you by searching and coming across your content through inbound, it’s tapping into the people that are already influencing them.
A good Nearbound strategy starts with one question: Who does my buyer trust? You're probably not the who, but you'd better be partnering with them!
And the best part? Nearbound can be executed across all teams to create higher revenue and aligned efforts.
The Who Economy is a great principle to follow for increasing the success of your partner program. Use these questions to get your program aligned with a Nearbound strategy:
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To leverage the Who Economy with Nearbound, Sales teams need to ask themselves questions based on the 3 I’s: Intel, Intro and Influence.
To identify strategic partnerships through the right people at the right time you should ask questions like:
To determine a joint value proposition and run it with your partners you should ask questions like:
To surround your customers and prospects with people and brands they trust you should ask questions like:
For you to be able to reach new audiences and markets in a more efficient way–as well as give your sales teams access to more prospects and the ability to generate more leads–you need to start thinking about developing Nearbound co-marketing strategies.
In case you don't know where to start, here are some questions you need to ask yourself following the Audience, Value proposition, and Strategy model.
When doing a co-marketing initiative is important to identify the target audience you want to address, to do so, you can ask the following questions:
To identify the value proposition first you need to understand why are you partnering up, and why should people attend your webinar, read your blog, open your email, etc, to make sure you have a high success rate you should make yourself these questions:
Finally, it is time to decide the strategy that you should follow to implement that desired initiative.
When your company needs to change direction, leadership teams should find a trustable person that can help them make this change. Asking the following questions can help find that person:
To find the best “who's” that are going to drive the most success in your Nearbound strategy, you need a tool to help you. Reveal is the Nearbound Revenue platform that helps you identify and leverage the who’s that are already existing in your ecosystem.
Here are some examples of how to find your “who” in this equation.
To answer, “Who are the potential customers or clients within your ecosystem who can benefit from your products or services?” you can use the Account Mapping feature. But this time, use the “my prospects vs customers” filters to see all of the partner’s customers that are your prospects, and the “partner’s customers not in your CRM” to find net new prospects.
To identify strategic partnerships you can use Nearbound intel like “Who has already X technology as part of their tech stack?” use the 360° Mapping to identify who of your customers is a customer of X company, and who is an open opportunity for your partners.
For example, to identify “Who are the common customers you share with your partner?” you can use the account mapping feature with each of your partners that you have already shared CRMs and click on the “Common customers” button.
To identify “Who are the potential strategic partners or collaborators who can help you achieve your business objectives and drive growth?” you can use the Nearbound intel in your partner’s overview. Prioritize by the percentage of each Market and Persona overlap, Win Rate, and Revenue Potential.
Embracing the Who Economy through Nearbound allows you to connect with trusted individuals and brands, establish meaningful partnerships, and build credibility with your target audience. By asking the right questions and leveraging these relationships, you can position your organization for success in the dynamic business landscape.
The future is not answering How, but working with the Who. In this new era, helping each team drive ⅓ activity is the only way to drive ⅓ of the results.
If you don't partner with those your buyers already trust, you will lose. It's hard to overcome the cold-start trust problem. But when you partner, you get to tap into the trust that already exists.
That is Nearbound. When you layer it onto your inbound and outbound, you win. In case you’re wondering who can help you do that, the answer is crystal clear.
We can.
Are you ready to leverage Nearbound and the Who Economy?
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This mastermind is for all partnership professionals who want to optimize the daunting process of creating partnership agreements. Learn how to optimize your contracts to accelerate your partnership acquisition process.
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