Outbound sales vs. inbound sales
Posted: Mon May 26, 2025 3:27 am
The biggest difference between outbound and inbound sales is who initiates the outreach. For outbound sales, it’s the seller (e.g. a seller calls a potential customer who is not expecting the call but has been identified as a good candidate for the product being sold). For inbound sales, potential customers discover products via marketing or advertising and reach out directly to sellers about purchasing these products.
Some sales reps take a hybrid approach where they use a combination of outbound and inbound sales approaches, depending on the needs of the company.
For example, one of my first sales jobs was as an outbound sales rep for the Yellow Pages (yes, I understand this now makes me sound like a dinosaur). I would reach out to local businesses selling ad space. The company I worked for also received inbound sales queries, usually from customers who heard about us from fellow business owners.
3 advantages of outbound sales
As an outbound sales rep, you’re initiating contact with potential america phone number list customers. This approach comes with certain advantages:
• Control: Inbound sales rely heavily on marketing initiatives and a bit of luck — finding people at the right time and place in the buyer’s journey — to attract customers. But with outbound sales, you are in the driver’s seat, proactively identifying customers and going after business.
• Flexibility: Since you’re typically focusing on one prospect at a time, you can adapt your sales techniques to your audience and pivot as needed, whether it’s introducing a new product feature or expanding into another territory.
• Speed: Outbound sales is a quicker way to sell customers on your product and get on-the-fly feedback. It doesn’t require as much prep as some inbound sales strategies — planning and running ads, for example — which can take months to see results.
Types of outbound sales reps
Companies usually have two types of reps to help with their outbound sales efforts:
• Sales development rep (SDR): The SDR is typically responsible for prospecting. They use a list of leads to contact prospects, usually by calling or emailing them, to determine if their needs align with the company’s solutions. An SDR then passes qualified leads on to an account executive to close the deal.
• Account executive (AE): The AE is the one who shepherds deals from lead qualification through discovery of the potential customer’s needs, to finding a good product fit and closing the deal. AEs often do bound inbound and outbound sales.
Some sales reps take a hybrid approach where they use a combination of outbound and inbound sales approaches, depending on the needs of the company.
For example, one of my first sales jobs was as an outbound sales rep for the Yellow Pages (yes, I understand this now makes me sound like a dinosaur). I would reach out to local businesses selling ad space. The company I worked for also received inbound sales queries, usually from customers who heard about us from fellow business owners.
3 advantages of outbound sales
As an outbound sales rep, you’re initiating contact with potential america phone number list customers. This approach comes with certain advantages:
• Control: Inbound sales rely heavily on marketing initiatives and a bit of luck — finding people at the right time and place in the buyer’s journey — to attract customers. But with outbound sales, you are in the driver’s seat, proactively identifying customers and going after business.
• Flexibility: Since you’re typically focusing on one prospect at a time, you can adapt your sales techniques to your audience and pivot as needed, whether it’s introducing a new product feature or expanding into another territory.
• Speed: Outbound sales is a quicker way to sell customers on your product and get on-the-fly feedback. It doesn’t require as much prep as some inbound sales strategies — planning and running ads, for example — which can take months to see results.
Types of outbound sales reps
Companies usually have two types of reps to help with their outbound sales efforts:
• Sales development rep (SDR): The SDR is typically responsible for prospecting. They use a list of leads to contact prospects, usually by calling or emailing them, to determine if their needs align with the company’s solutions. An SDR then passes qualified leads on to an account executive to close the deal.
• Account executive (AE): The AE is the one who shepherds deals from lead qualification through discovery of the potential customer’s needs, to finding a good product fit and closing the deal. AEs often do bound inbound and outbound sales.