| In-sourcing B2B Telemarketing: Things to consider |
In a recent post I talked about weighing the options of in-sourcing vs. outsourcing b2b telemarketing. In follow-up, if you are thinking about setting up an in-house call center, you should consider the many steps that will be involved in the process including:
* Hiring – Finding and keeping professional call reps can be challenging.
* Training – In addition to the initial training required, telemarketers require ongoing training in call techniques and product knowledge.
* Paying Employee Costs – In addition to salaries, it is important to also account for expenses related to holiday pay, sick day pay, insurance, taxes and other benefits your company may offer employees.
* Managing – In addition to the team of callers, hands on management is critical – which can be a significant expanse and a challenging position to fill.
* Motivating – Rejection happens frequently on the phones so you also need to be prepared with the need to constantly keep them motivated.
* Workload Balancing- It is important to keep the flow of activity as continuous as possible so you are getting the most out of your call team’s time. If you’re telemarketing needs vary by month or season, then the downtime of an in-house team is costly.
* Office Space – Telemarketers require a quiet and professional working environment, along with all the furniture and accessories – so expenses add up.
* Telemarketing Specific Technology – In addition to the typical needs of a phone, computer, etc., b2b telemarketing professionals require specialized technology with call queuing, list management, databases, call analysis, call recording and more to manage the calling process.
I hope these provide some valuable insight as you consider the options. Building an in-house telemarketing team does have benefits but often times companies underestimate the effort and time involved in building them and discover too late that the costs can easily supersede the benefits.
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| In-sourcing vs. Outsourcing Telemarketing: Weighing the Options |
As companies focus on uncovering more qualified leads and nurturing them to a close, the need for telemarketing becomes even more apparent. While the need is there and the benefits of having a telemarketing team are readily seen by most, there is often a debate on whether to in-source or outsource telemarketing. In this post, I’ve highlighted some pros of each option.
In-sourcing Telemarketing: The Upside
Setting up a telemarketing team in-house can offer benefits in the right situation, they include:
* Call reps are 100% dedicated to your project.
* Call reps are down the hall, rather than across town or across the country.
* Call reps are behind the "firewall," making it easy to access business systems like order history and inventory programs.
* In-house teams make it easier to leverage existing personnel, infrastructure and traditional sales systems.
Outsourcing Telemarketing: The Upside
Leveraging the expertise of an external telemarketing partner has major benefits including:
* You can control the flow of leads your sales reps receive.
* You can get up and running quickly without a lot of upfront investment.
* You can test new programs without impacting existing operations.
* You gain immediate access to experienced and trained call professionals.
* You work with call experts who have the background, experience and technology to ensure the call campaign is successful from the get go.
* No additional office space and equipment is needed since you aren’t adding any new employees.
Are there any others that come to mind for you? I’d appreciate hearing them as we speak with marketers everyday who are thinking through the pros and cons of each direction.
For all, the ultimate goal is to generate more qualified leads and to do so quickly and cost effectively. For those that choose to outsource with the Lead Dogs, including Orbitz for Business, the results speak for themselves. “The Lead Dogs helps us keep Sales lean and productive, shaving a remarkable two months off of our Sales cycle. Year after year they continue to exceed goals and provide us with between a 300 to 500% ROI,” shared Phil Hammer, Regional Sales Director.
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| Sales Leads: Are They All Being Addressed? |
Sales people live for closing deals- not only do they thrive on the euphoria of landing a new client, it is their bread and butter. They don’t get paid based on how well they nurture a prospect in the pipeline or how good they are at researching and developing accounts – just to get the opportunity to sell. They get paid when a new deal closes.
20% of Sales Leads Are Handled Well
Hence, it isn’t surprising that in most sales organizations, the net result is a focus on 20% of the sales leads where there are established relationships – and a neglect of the other 80% of prospects where they simply don’t have the time or inclination to focus.
The Other 80% Of Sales Leads Often Slip Through The Cracks
Not doing something with that 80% is wasted opportunity. As companies come to understand this, many have dedicating resources specifically to ensure leads aren’t neglected. Most often these resources are inside sales professionals and their focus is to:
• Profile key information about each company [size, industry, number of locations, profitability, and more] to better target marketing messages
• Identify key contacts involved in the decision making process
•Engage with these stakeholders to qualify what opportunities exist
• Provide information to these prospects that is tailored to where they are in the buying process
• Determine when and how to stay in contact with prospects that aren’t qualified enough
for sales channel follow-up – and then do it
If you find your company is in a similar position and need to more proactively address those 80% of leads, my next few posts will focus on inside sales professionals, pros and cons of in-sourcing vs. outsourcing telemarketing, and more.
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| Sales Leads: Are They All Being Addressed? |
Sales people live for closing deals- not only do they thrive on the euphoria of landing a new client, it is their bread and butter. They don’t get paid based on how well they nurture a prospect in the pipeline or how good they are at researching and developing accounts – just to get the opportunity to sell. They get paid when a new deal closes.
20% of Sales Leads Are Handled Well
Hence, it isn’t surprising that in most sales organizations, the net result is a focus on 20% of the sales leads where there are established relationships – and a neglect of the other 80% of prospects where they simply don’t have the time or inclination to focus.
The Other 80% Of Sales Leads Often Slip Through The Cracks
Not doing something with that 80% is wasted opportunity. As companies come to understand this, many have dedicating resources specifically to ensure leads aren’t neglected. Most often these resources are inside sales professionals and their focus is to:
• Profile key information about each company [size, industry, number of locations, profitability, and more] to better target marketing messages
• Identify key contacts involved in the decision making process
•Engage with these stakeholders to qualify what opportunities exist
• Provide information to these prospects that is tailored to where they are in the buying process
• Determine when and how to stay in contact with prospects that aren’t qualified enough
for sales channel follow-up – and then do it
If you find your company is in a similar position and need to more proactively address those 80% of leads, my next few posts will focus on inside sales professionals, pros and cons of in-sourcing vs. outsourcing telemarketing, and more.
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| Lead Generation Webcast : Putting stats to the test |
We recently hosted a webcast titled “Lead Gen in 2010: Learn What Is Working Best Right Now”. During the execution of the webcast, which was a lead generation campaign for The Lead Dogs, we adhered to best practices to encourage registrants to actually attend the event and stay on for the duration and monitored our results to compare to industry stats. Overall, our findings were intriguing and I thought I’d share some of them today.
Webcast registration to attendance rates: stats show that 45% of registrants will actually attend a live webcast with a higher likelihood of attendance if they registered for the webcast very close to the date it happens. We found this to be true and were also surprised by the number of attendees who literally signed up within an hour of the start time! It proves that if the content is of interest, your target audience will keep the information in their inbox and make time for it.
Webcast attendance for the duration of the webcast: While planning the event, which featured an industry guru talking about lead generation best practices and a real-life success story about an integrated campaign Microsoft did in the SMB space, we also wanted to introduce the Lead Dogs. We debated doing this at the beginning or end of the webcast and opted for the beginning. A Marketing Sherpa study said “research shows that 61.5% of webinar attendees bail on the webinar when a webinar begins with company/sales info.” Realistically though there are several things to consider….is it an introduction of the sponsor with brief details on their offerings or does it look like one of their full sales presentations inserted into the webinar? The latter will surely send your audience running or clicking away. We recommend one slide with an overview only and keep it to less than a minute (ours was 40 seconds). Another consideration is the value of the content to the audience. Most of us sat through quite a few commercials to watch the Super Bowl last weekend because the content was worth the short pitches throughout. Again, these were 30 second slots, not documentaries. Combine the two and you get very few deserters, as we saw…..
Webcast on-demand activity levels: After the event, we posted an on-demand version of the webcast on our site and sent personalized follow-up emails to attendees and non-attendees. Stats show that 15% of people who can’t make a webcast will watch it live later and 10% will watch it again. We found those numbers to be right on for this webcast.
I could talk about all kinds of stats we monitored for the event but overall, the takeaway is that many of them ring true and are a good guideline for planning. That said, as with any lead generation campaign, you also have to use your best judgment because, as you can see, our attendance rates, regardless of the brief sales “pitch” were very strong.
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| Telemarketing Lead Generation Programs: Top 7 Influencing Factors |
If I earned $1 for every time a prospect asked me within 30 seconds of a first call: “how many leads can you guarantee” without providing any additional information, I would be a rich man. The simple fact is that if they were asked the same type of question by their prospects 30 seconds into the sales process, they would be as unable to answer the question as me. The bottom line is, there are steps we need to take as business “partners” before I can make an educated forecast of specific results from a telemarketing lead generation program- anything less would be mere guessing. Furthermore, there are many factors outside of my control that can make or break a program. We call these our “Top 7 List for Program Success.”
1. Quality of the list (both company and contact relevancy and expectations)
How accurate is your list? Currently, we are experiencing a 30% invalid rate with lists received from clients or external sources. Considering this, are you giving us enough time to work through the list, find referrals or new contacts, and generate interest? Furthermore, are you realistic about the contacts we are expected to generate leads from versus the target company’s size. For example, are you expecting us to call into C-Level executives from F500 accounts? Is this realistic? Have you been successful at this in the past?
2. Receptivity to the clients’ messaging and brand
Will your target market know who you are and will your messaging resonate with them or is there an education process that will need to occur? For example, we have worked with a F500 software company whose brand was well known but their messaging was focused on a new product category in which they were not known for at the time. In this example, there was quite a bit of education that had to occur before interest could be developed, and so the program goals were set accordingly. Are your expectations in alignment with your target’s perception of your company/solutions?
3. Target industry or solution maturity
Are you targeting a vertical that will recognize your solution as valuable in today’s environment? Is your solution a new concept or in a mature category. I recently spoke to a new player in the SFA market, a very well saturated market with widely-known competitive players, who was going to target mid-tier companies for leads and had very high, virtually unachievable, expectations. For this company, in order for the program to be successful, they needed to reset to more realistic expectations.
4. Effectiveness of offers (whitepapers, calculators, case studies, webinars, etc.)
The “privilege” to speak to a Salesperson is not an offer. Offers are a great way to assist in developing immediate interest and nurturing contacts. Creative ones we have seen recently include financing options, ROI Reports (from a SME rather than Sales), and one-on-one C-Level referral briefings to discuss solution results.
5. Exposure to market softeners (email or direct mail blasts)
There is cold calling and then not-so-cold calling. Sending out material in advance of a calling campaign gives the telesales representative something to reference, whether received by the prospect or not. When doing this, be sure to match the delivery methods to who you are targeting. For example, recent studies show over 60% of executives view email via a mobile device.
6. Involvement/attentiveness to the program
Starting with training and throughout the program, client participation is critical to the program success. If at all possible, participate in face-to-face training. Remember that most communication is done via non-verbal means and meeting your partner in person builds a strong relationship that will provide benefit throughout the program. Also, be sure to assign a point-person from your organization that will be involved in weekly meetings that are critical to performance monitoring and improvements.
7. Telemarketing metrics and ongoing measurement of success
If you don’t have metrics than can be used for setting expectations, you will need them. At The Lead Dogs, we provide our clients with our “best” advice and counsel to establish these metrics based on 15 years of experience and millions of phone calls; however, these will be personalized goals that we set and manage together. The more you can address items #1-6, the better our ability to set these goals. Otherwise, we need to set achievable and realistic goals and be prepared to adjust as needed.
Certainly, there are many factors within my control that are key to the program as well, such as appropriate staffing, training, call quantity and quality, program oversight, etc. However, hitting “our” number includes responsibilities on both sides of the equation and when addressed, these programs deliver outstanding results.
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| Making the Move to Mass Customization |
B2B lead generation teams who want to move to mass customization selling process will most likely need to leverage new technology (e.g., Marketing Automation and Sales 2.0 tools), revamp their marketing and sales processes (alignment, agreement on goals, and possibly organizational structures), as well as re-train and/or shift current thinking about how to attract, court, and convert customers. Recommendations for accomplishing some of these tasks include: creating buying "personas" (representing roles seen frequently in the buying process); creating targeted marketing for each persona; asking each perspective buyer their desired method and channel(s) for communication; creating fulfillment and offers targeted to where the prospect is in the buying cycle (as defined by explicit and implicit behavior), and creating processes based on your competitive environment.
For a great overview of what techniques will set you apart in converting prospects to clients, including examples of customizing a sales process, check out our webinar on January 27th 2 pm EST. https://cc.readytalk.com/r/gyszosim6c8f . If you can’t make the date, a recording will be available on our website following the event. And no, we won’t be giving away a customized car or any specialty spaghetti sauce, but promise to follow-up with you in a unique manner based on your role and needs, if you chose to share them with us. |
| B2B Telemarketing: Phone Phobia In A Recession |
Having been in the B2B telemarketing business for 16 years, we have experienced the boom and bust cycles from the dot.com days through today’s economic recession. It is no surprise that what we have found (both internally and externally) is that during a down economy, cold calling efforts plunge. In fact, studies have shown that during economic rough times, cold calling efforts decrease by up to 38%.
The challenges of a tough economy span the entire sales process from first contact to close. Even the most hardened inside-sales people find it disconcerting that they can’t reach prospects, many of the nurturing prospects they have built relationships with are no longer employed, window shoppers have increased, fulfillments go out with no responses, and sales-ready leads are few and far between. But now is the time to re-double your B2B telemarketing efforts for the near future because eventually, companies will buy the solutions they need to be competitive and will buy from those that are top of mind. A couple of tips to consider:
• Set reasonable and achievable goals (hint: if they are the same as last year, most likely they need to be adjusted to meet today’s economic climate). There is nothing more frustrating than putting in the effort to succeed and coming up significantly short. Is everyone on your team missing their number by a long shot? If so, take a look at your goals or your talent, and make the necessary adjustments.
• Measure and manage the process. Take the value chain for an inside-sales team and work backwards. Are they hitting lead goals? Are they having discussions with decision makers? Are they getting referrals? Are they making dials? Are they at work? At the Lead Dogs, we monitor all of these and more to make sure we can focus on both individual AND team dynamics. Then we correct and improve on the process by coaching, training, and more management. If it is “skill,” we can fix it; if it is “will” we can change it.
• Focus on short-term success metrics. Focusing on short-term successes and milestone accomplishments will help everyone on the team. Sure, you need to set achievable long-term B2B telemarketing goals and should be consistently tracking progress, but as long as you are moving through the sales process, you are making headway in a brutal market. At The Lead Dogs, we often celebrate “referrals” as these prove to have higher conversion rates to opportunities than names on sourced lists and our representatives appreciate our recognition. Sure, these are not as valuable as leads but occur much more often and keep the feeling of accomplishment high on a daily level.
• Encourage positive attitudes. Some of the oldest and best techniques still work for many people. Keep a mirror on team members’ desks, ask them to stand up before making a few calls, or have team huddles at the beginning or end of day to discuss small “wins.” Having contests or team building events have worked well for us. Sometimes it is the small stuff that goes a long way. It’s proven that an optimistic salesperson outperforms their peers; so find what works for your team and implement it now.
If you are experiencing challenges in keeping your performance and attitudes high in this difficult recession (dare I say recovery), address these issues and if you need assistance, let us know. At the very least, we can share our B2B telemarketing best practices with you, as they are core to our company and what keeps us in business!
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| Adopting Mass Customization for B2B firms |
B2B marketers and sales professional should adopt a page or two from the B2C handbook regarding marketing best practices for interacting with their prospects. The concept of mass customization has been preached in business schools and board rooms of consumer-focused companies for many years. Many leading B2C firms had to evolve from mass production to mass customization in order to be competitive. Neglecting this shift caused many firms to lose market share and even resulted in enough disruption to de-throne market leaders (a very rare occurrence in the B2C space when compared to B2B). A similar shift has been occurring in the B2B market and the consequences of ignoring the need to change are just as dire. So how did the successful firms serving consumers do it? The evolution of the 1:1 relationship with the target consumer required companies to go through the following progression:
- Mass Production: Think Henry Ford and the famous quote “you can have any color you want, as long as it is black.”
- Market Segmentation: The concept GM put into place in the 70’s targeting a car for each phase of your life, with the feature/price mix increasing at each one, from Chevrolet to Buick to Cadillac.
- Mass Customization: A recent visit to the Saturn website has the “build your own” feature, with no less than 30 options (based on consumer feedback of the most important components to choose). Add in financing options; leasing options, pick-up or delivery, no-hassle pricing, free service for the first 40K miles, etc., … and you get the point.
Note: If you want another great example, check out bestselling author Malcom Gladwell’s presentation on how Ragu was displaced by a PhD. Food Scientist who gave the people what they wanted. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIiAAhUeR6Y
For B2B firms, the process is much more complex, in that BOTH the solution and selling process must incorporate mass customization. As with cars and tomato sauce, the end buyer has unique needs that must be addressed. However, unless you’re at the self-checkout line at my grocery store, the consumer buying process is straightforward. Conversely, businesses have complex buying processes and unique needs. As an example, the B2B buying process involves multiple decision makers and influencers, each with their own selection criteria and agenda (hint: address each one individually and your chances of winning the deal increase exponentially). Add up the other complexities in the research, evaluation, consideration, and selection phases and mass customization becomes a real challenge.
The good news is, if you can customize your selling process to these buyers in a meaningful way, you can convert more prospects into customers and many of these will be customers with a significant reluctance to change. This equates to a competitive advantage, especially if you are a first mover or innovator. |
| B2B lead generation strategies for Search Engine Marketing (SEM) |
Before implementing or reinvesting in search engine marketing, SEM, for B2B lead generation, make sure to carefully evaluate all of your options to ensure you are getting the greatest return on your marketing investment. Just as it is important to identify the keywords that will best perform, it is equally important to evaluate search engine performance. Often times we’ve seen people select the search engine(s) for placing their ads by simply evaluating overall search engine traffic, or even worse, making assumptions based on personal preferences. While search engine traffic and popularity is important, it is not the only aspect that should be considered. When it comes to online B2B lead generation, it is the quality of the leads generated, not quantity that matters. So, even though one search engine may appear to better perform the others due to overall usage, that does not mean it will deliver better lead-to-sale conversion results.
So, when it comes to SEM, don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. Instead, perform tests to evaluate the performance of your keyword conversions in each of the search engines and carefully evaluate the quality of the leads generated to determine which search engine(s) is delivering more qualified leads that match your targeted profile. The results you experience may be a surprise and will ultimately provide guidance on where to focus future SEM dollars to gain better B2B lead generation results.
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