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The Importance of Thinking Outside-In

Guest post by: Jeff Ogden

Article Overview: As I browse B2B websites, I’m struck by a very common mistake I see over and over. I estimate as many as 9 out of 10 companies think Inside Out today. Inside-Out means you look at buyers through the lens of the business.

The Importance of Thinking Outside-In

I was presenting my B2B lead generation approach "How to Do Great Marketing on (Almost) No Money" (slideshare is below) to a group of small business software CEOs in NYC when they asked me:

"Where do you recommend we invest our limited marketing funds today."

I gave them a challenge "Thinking of how you would sell your products and services. Where would you consider investing?" As they considered the question, they suggested Google Adwords, print ads, billboards, Linkedin, email campaigns, webinars, events and more. I said "Great. Do you have the funds to invest in all of those?" They said "Certainly not."

This lead to a discussion of my radically different way of thinking of B2B lead generation - outside in. That means that instead of thinking "Here are our products and services and this is how we help you." And pushing out marketing campaigns.

In the Outside-In approach, we start with buyer problems and work back to our products and services. By starting with buyer problems and how they look for solutions, you find very few channels.

For instance, start with questions like these:

• What are their problems?
• Where do they turn for information? (the channels)
• To whom do they turn to find solutions to business problems? (thought leaders)
• What questions must they answer to buy your offerings?

Once you have those buyer insights, you can begin crafting stories and content to address real buyer needs. If you understand what questions they need to answer, you can start to figure out what content will answer those questions. Then once you understand their buying process, you'll know what content you'll need to move them from step to step. Finally, when you understand their key pains, you'll have answers for the Untroubled/Unaware buying stage. (You know someone is in the Untroubled/Unaware stage when he says "Not interested" despite the fact you see he really needs it.) Finally, you'll know where they look for answers, so you'll know where to invest.

The Outside-In approach ensures that your company delivers value buyers actually understand and appreciate.

Unfortunately, moving from an Inside-Out mindset to an Outside-In mindset is a core fundamental change, but unfortunately most companies lack the leadership to get it done. This is why it is important to work with outsiders like the B2B lead generation experts at Find New Customers. As one top expert said on a recent webinar "Only an outside person is able to ask the tough questions needed."

What do you think? We love your comments and re-Tweets.

Check out our new "Link to Us" page. We're honored if you would use it to create links from your website or blog.



"If more companies listened to (Find New Customers) a lot more would be sold." Dan McDade, Pointclear.

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Article Tags: b2b lead generation, btob lead generation, find new customers, lead generation companies, marketing lead generation, sales lead generation



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