Inbound Sales
| Aspect | Inbound | Outbound |
|---|---|---|
| Intent | High/explicit | Low/implicit |
| Speed need | Critical (<5 min) | Important |
| Content role | Education/enablement | Awareness/interest |
| Routing | Signal + form data | ICP + enrichment |
💡TL;DR
Inbound is won with sub-5-minute response and the first 3 touches. Template auto-acknowledgment, slot offer, and context-rich follow-up; let AI bridge off-hours. SMBs should simplify routing, clarify roles and SLAs to prevent missed contacts. Route low-score leads to auto-nurture so reps focus on high intent.
Definition
Responding to hand-raising prospects from forms, chat, or product activity with rapid, personalized follow-up. Strong inbound motions use routing, SLA timers, and templated first-touch to secure meetings quickly.
🏢What This Means for SMB Teams
Set up auto-acknowledgment and simple round-robin so even small teams hit SLA.
📋Practical Example
A 50-person B2B telehealth provider ($14M ARR) sold mental-health benefits to mid-market employers. Before: average response to form fills was 2 hours, first meetings booked on day 3, and form-to-meeting conversion 24%. They added an always-on bot offering two meeting slots, routed leads via round-robin with a 5-minute SLA, and sent industry-specific one-pagers automatically. After 60 days, 82% of inquiries were touched within 5 minutes, meetings booked within 12 hours climbed to 61%, form-to-meeting conversion rose to 38%, and monthly pipeline grew by $520k.
🔧Implementation Steps
- 1
Create an auto-responder that confirms receipt and offers two meeting slots immediately after form/chat submission.
- 2
Use round-robin routing with backup escalation at 4 minutes if no rep accepts the lead.
- 3
Preload first-touch templates by segment (industry, company size) with a relevant proof point.
- 4
Track SLA attainment (time-to-first-touch) and publish daily; coach reps who breach more than twice weekly.
- 5
Route low-score or off-ICP leads to automated nurture to protect rep time.
❓Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the ideal first-touch channel for inbound?
Use the fastest acceptable channel for the buyer: phone or SMS for high-intent forms, email for detailed requests. Offer a scheduling link in every channel to secure time immediately.
How do we cover off-hours without burning reps?
Use an AI/bot to acknowledge, qualify lightly, and offer slots. Set an on-call rotation only for high-value accounts; otherwise, queue tasks for the next business hour.
⚡How Optifai Uses This
Optifai detects inbound signals, creates tasks in the Action Feed with a 5-minute SLA, and AI handles off-hours.
📚References
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Related Terms
Sales Cadence
A scheduled sequence of touches (email, call, social, SMS) used to engage prospects over time. Modern cadences blend fixed steps with signal-based branching to avoid over-contact and improve timing.
Outbound Sales
Proactive outreach to prospects who have not raised their hand, using targeted lists, enrichment, signal-based prioritization, and sequenced touches across email, phone, and social.
Intent-to-Pipeline Conversion
The rate at which detected intent signals are converted into qualified pipeline through rapid routing, personalization, and follow-up.
Action Feed
A single, prioritized stream of AI-generated tasks (calls, emails, meeting nudges) triggered by real-time buying signals. It replaces scattered alerts and static task lists with one execution rail where reps work top-to-bottom.
Experience Revenue Action in Practice
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