Inbound vs. Outbound: who cares?

“Was that deal inbound or outbound?” a question virtually every B2B commercial team asks.

Does it even matter?

The short answer: absolutely! But probably not for the reasons you think.

At Dreamdata, we’ve learned that Inbound is rarely ever only inbound, and Outbound is rarely ever only outbound.

So we’ve developed an approach to inbound vs outbound that tailors our strategies to what the buying journeys look like in reality.

Defining Inbound vs. Outbound

For us the definitions of Inbound and Outbound are straightforward:

• Inbound deals are those deals that come through our demo request or free product.

• Outbound deals are those deals where an account executive has identified a signal - from intent data or a targeted outreach campaign - and actively engages with the lead.

Accountability: ensuring revenue math adds up

On the more typical side of things, the definitions enable us to make sure the overall revenue math works out. 

Sales and marketing teams often commit to specific pipeline targets. Without a clear distinction between inbound and outbound, evaluating whether these strategies have contributed to what they promised becomes difficult, if not impossible.

If inbound marketing activities are expected to deliver 60% of the pipeline, the team can measure their progress and make optimizations if they’re falling short. And vice versa with outbound efforts.

Now, this is where the typical and obvious ends and the nuance comes in.

Not just binary attribution but customer journey analysis

Sure, it is important to be able to broadly attribute the deal to one team or the other, to ensure accountability for performance and to recognize each team’s contribution to the pipeline.

But our data proves that deals don’t happen in silos.

They result from the combined efforts of sales, marketing, and sometimes even product teams.

Here’s an inbound and an outbound - Sales touches in orange, marketing in white. Can you tell which is which?

That’s why instead, we use the inbound vs. outbound dichotomy to ask the question: what activities in each of these journeys usually move the needle?

By tracking every touchpoint, whether marketing or sales, in each of the journey ‘types’ (inbound/outbound), we have gained insights into what’s working in each.

Which marketing efforts helped sales in their outbound effort? Was the account engaging with LinkedIn Ads? Organic content? Did they visit G2? Equally, what Sales outreach helps nurture an inbound lead? 

What customer journeys really look like

Here is a recent ‘Outbound’ deal as an example.

At first glance, it’s clear the sales team carried the weight of bringing in the deal with numerous touches - calls, emails, and follow-ups. 

However, looking closer at the entire journey reveals a much bigger story. 

Early in the process, marketing played a significant role, laying the groundwork with a mix of paid ads and organic touchpoints that nurtured the prospect before sales even got involved.

Conversely, we see a similar dynamic in deals marked as inbound. What starts as an inbound inquiry often requires substantial effort from sales - calls, demos, direct messages, and negotiations - before the deal closes.

In some cases, we even lose a deal during outbound outreach, only to have the same company reappear as an inbound lead later. This overlap shows that no deal is ever truly one-dimensional.

Understanding each team’s role in both inbound and outbound motions

When everyone across teams understands what works in both inbound and outbound motions, it makes both teams more efficient.

For instance, marketing will know what channels and campaigns are generating demand and building a scalable pipeline for inbound leads, as well as understand what ABM plays and content are supporting outbound efforts.

Similarly, Sales will know what signals to prioritize in outbound outreach as well as what nurturing motions work best for inbound leads coming from specific channels. Read more about how we use signal-based selling at Dreamdata.

In summary, we’ve built a system where:

• Each team focuses on their strengths across both inbound and outbound motions.

• Collaboration is now the norm, with each team recognizing their interdependence and working together to move prospects through the funnel.

• Leadership has a clear way to measure the health and performance of each strategy.

Collaboration drives results: double-down on what works

The key takeaway? Inbound and outbound are not opposing forces. They’re complementary pieces of the same puzzle.

Winning B2B strategies need to prioritize collaboration over competition between functions.

At Dreamdata, marking deals as inbound or outbound helps us delegate pipeline responsibility between teams, but it also helps us learn what’s working where with these approaches, helping us make better decisions on where to invest our resources and when.

To succeed, you need to:

• Track the entire customer journey across touchpoints.

• Understand the interplay between sales and marketing efforts.

• Double down on the activities that consistently drive results, regardless of which team owns them.