Glossary
What is inbound sales?
Inbound sales is selling to people who came to you first: through your website, a form, an ad, a chat, a referral or content they found. The work is answering fast, qualifying well and booking the right next step. Outbound is the opposite direction: you start the conversation with people who did not ask.
Published by Sellinger AI. Numbers and settings checked on 24 October 2026 against the fact register. Report an error.
How is inbound different from outbound?
| Inbound | Outbound | |
|---|---|---|
| Who starts | The prospect | You |
| Main lever | Speed and quality of the answer | The list and the first message |
| Typical risk | Leads waiting too long | Writing to people with no reason to listen |
| Volume control | Set by marketing and demand | Set by you |
Why does response speed matter so much?
Because the prospect's interest is highest at the moment they write, and they often contact more than one supplier. A lead that waits a day has often moved on or booked with someone else. That is the idea behind speed to lead. Speed is not everything, though: in our own outbound, cutting reply time from 19 to 2 minutes did not lift meetings, because the list mattered more.
How do you qualify inbound leads?
- Answer the question they asked first.
- Ask one or two qualifying questions, such as company size or timeline.
- Route good fits to a booking link or a person at once.
- Send poor fits to useful content instead of ignoring them.
How Sellinger handles it
Facebook lead form leads are polled from a sheet every 60 seconds and Google Ads leads every 300 seconds, then created as leads and contacted by the campaign (Google Ads leads default to WhatsApp as the first channel). The live chat agent answers website visitors, and the WhatsApp and Instagram agents answer people who write first.
The inbound lead qualification use case shows the setup, and speed to lead for ad leads covers form leads.
Common questions
Is inbound better than outbound?
What is an inbound SDR?
How fast should inbound leads get an answer?
Sources and method
General sales practice. Sellinger figures from the Sellinger case study and the fact register, checked 24 October 2026.
Related: Speed to lead, Marketing qualified lead, Inbound lead qualification, Outbound sales.
