Marketing Profs Daily Fix blogger, CK has a mantra: May all leads be inbound. Simple, yet prophetic, as her post proves.

Honestly, I don't understand the value of cold calls when hot opportunities are what I seek (which means they're calling me). And when the phone rings, I'm intent on that conversation being a negotiation, not a pitch.

CK goes onto say that when a prospect calls her, she can skip the "who we are" and focus on "what we'll do for you". And that means you spend more time having a conversation with the prospect...which builds a relationship and increases the chance of landing them as a client.

So what you should probably start doing, she says, is focus less on selling (seeing how many prospects and clients you can find) and focus more on marketing (finding programs that help people find you and your product).

Sales is reactive, marketing is proactive. [...] With sales you're centered on volume, with marketing you're centered on value. Sales is short-term thinking since it focuses on how to move the most merchandise in the shortest timeframe, whereas marketing is long-term thinking centered on engaging a lifetime of brand loyalists.

It's so basic, so elementary, and yet it seems completely revolutionary! Especially in context of the insurance industry where most insurance professionals do all they can to find new clients but spend, by comparison, far less time trying to set themselves apart from the rest of the pack and earn brand loyalty.

At the end of the day, CK puts her proverbial eggs in the basket of lead generating programs. And I have to agree with her. Focusing your efforts on avenues that bring interested people to you—rather than vying for the attention of countless folks who could really care less about what you've got going on—will help you develop lasting relationships with people rather than exhausting yourself with a sales pitch.

Translation: less effort, more reward.

Take a look at CK's full post here and learn how putting marketing in the driver's seat can increase your sales.

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