According to a variety of reports of B2B marketing spend (IDM and ABBA), many businesses still advertise, most have websites, a fair number go to trade shows and some are experimenting with social media, while the biggest loser in recent times has been the volume of spend on direct mail.
There is a traditional link between telemarketing and direct mail; whether the mailing piece is sent out prior to, after the call or both does vary, but the link is there.
Telemarketing, telesales and direct mail are all terms that many on both sides of the prospect/supplier divide do not have the greatest opinion off – but is it fair? Is telemarketing going to leave a negative impression? Can it add value? Can it be cost effective? Is this approach under-valued and so under used?
Of course we know from case studies as far back as the launch of in-company coffee vending machines, with Maxpax, that telemarketing mixed with direct mail and tele-appointing work. It was one of its main routes to market. Later when it could afford air-time on television its call-to-appointment and appointment-to-sale ratio improved dramatically along with a significant drop in the cost of a lead. Surprise, surprise a combined approach worked best even then.
What is the true value telemarketing?
Telemarketing is proactive outbound telephone calls that are designed to confirm data and clarify customer’s needs. In business there is a ‘rendezvous dilemma’ where two parties are seeking each other, the suspect and the supplier, in a journey that is obscured by time, distance, or attention. In essence there is a small set of well-matched candidates for product purchase hidden within a larger set of poorly matched candidates. Those well matched candidates are the ones we are seeking to attract or identify in effective lead generation.
The true value is that when done well telemarketing is a highly powerful torch that can light up the path between the potential prospect and the potential supplier.
Fish where the fishes eat
Targeting – there’s an old saying; ‘fish where the fishes are’. We make sure we do the same by putting some objectivity into what can be a subjective process. Define what good looks like in three areas before picking up the phone.
1. Define value in the customers’ terms – if we can start the process of defining value in the customer’s terms early, we have a great chance of delivering that value later on in our journey through the rendezvous dilemma.
For example; one supplier of property maintenance materials used to heavily promote its quick drying resins but its telemarketing campaigns were not too successful. To see an improvement it reflected on the end user’s needs and problems, this became a question about the frequency and problems associated with cracks and holes in walls, ceilings and floors and produced a vastly improved result.
Defining value in the end-users terms changes both who you want to talk to as well as what you might say and ask. In addition it helps identify ideal targets.
2. Define a Target Customer Profile (TCP) – identify the factors that go in to the ideal customer to attract into your sales process. You will find the factors by considering the profile of your best customers.
3. Define an Ideal lead definition (ILD) – After all, the better the input, the better the output. Define in clear terms what constitutes a good lead by identifying contact position, timescale of need involved and decision making ability to name but a few.
These three areas will help provide-laser focussed targeting to ensure the results from your telemarketing move easily through your sales process and become valuable and profitable customers.
What to say or ask
Once you’ve workout who to call, you now need to work out what to say.
Polite, respectful and two-way conversations based on a framework are far more likely to succeed than canned one-way dialogue or a heavily crafted script with questions you just have to say yes to.
One method is to take a historical research approach in the telemarketing calls; taking our property maintenance materials supplier its research questions become.
- How many buildings are you responsible for (The TCP required five or more)?
- Approximately how many staff would be on those sites (The TCP wanted 100+ per site)?
- Tell me about the type of cracks or holes you’ve had to deal with over the past twelve months (Factory floors with fork lift truck traffic was the ideal)?
- How do you typically deal with such problems (Direct workforce is best)?
- Who do you tend to use for sub-contractors or materials (Local suppliers was best rather than a large national chain)?
What are the common levels of need you look for when telemarketing?
- Never have such a need and never will
Action – consider deleting from your database
- No need in the past – might in the future
Action – nurture with a variety of communication including email, post and telephone
- Some need in the past – might in the future
Action – nurture with a variety of communication including email, post and telephone
- Just had the need filled – just bought
Action – send an immediate letter to establish your presence. Continue nurturing closely
- Recognised need now – actively looking now
Action – Move straight into sales activity
You may be forgiven for thinking the only valuable one is the last one. Of course to get us on the right road we certainly need to find enough of these – but all of the others are great results in knowing how best to manage our future marketing activities and budgets.
