Telemarketing remains an important part of the B2B marketing mix today, as it is the only medium that enables true two-way dialogue with target audiences. It is the fastest, most flexible and most information rich approach to generating demand, gathering information, and building relationships with prospects, customers, and partners. Additionally, it can be integrated effectively into a multimedia communications strategy or multi touch campaign.
The success of telemarketing is in understanding the campaign objectives, and then designing an approach and process that will deliver against that.
Here are some key guidelines which will help you with planning and executing your telemarketing demand generation activity.
Preparation, Preparation, Preparation…
As with all marketing activities preparation is the key to successful telemarketing. A successful campaign is dependent on a number of factors:
– Objectives should be established and communicated to all contributing parties clearly stating what you are trying to achieve and why
– Target markets should be identified before selecting any data
– Data should be accurate and in a format which can be updated and managed easily – Criteria for lead qualification should be set and agreed between sales and marketing
– Internal preparation such as reporting process, internal briefing, training and testing should be carried out in advance to ensure you are providing the best representation of your brand to your target audience.
Outsource or in house?
If you are considering whether it is best for your demand generation campaign to be outsourced or executed in house, try to be as objective as possible. Ask yourself do you have the experience and resource to fulfil your objectives? Compromising here for budgetary reasons more often than not proves to be a false economy in terms of ROI.
Using a professional agency is beneficial as they can provide you with a wealth of experience gained from running many campaigns, experience of propositions and markets, understanding of how to make telemarketing work in different guises. However, it is essential before selecting an agency to understand what you are looking to achieve and why, and ensure that the agency have the experience and resource to complement your objectives.
General Best Practice
Be human – though B2B decision making processes are more complex than those for consumers, the business buyer is still human, so it is essential to build rapport and engage attention and trust with your target audience. This is done through confidence, knowledge, empathy and professionalism.
- Structure calls – scripted telemarketing processes may be a thing of the past, but structure is still important to guide and lead conversations to achieve the determined objectives. Call guidance documents and training should include the use of intelligent and probing questions in order to encourage the call recipient to engage with you and your proposition.
- Objection handling – this is a key skill in B2B telemarketing. Remember that the more senior the contact is that you are attempting to engage with, the busier they are likely to be, and so the less inclined to take your call or to be responsive and cooperative. Your telemarketing people must therefore be skilled in overcoming common objections, and navigating past gate keepers.
- Flexibility – is essential across campaigns, between calls and mid conversation. No two campaigns are the same, and no two calls are the same. Your people need to be proactive in achieving their communication objectives and knowledgeable enough to maintain the conversation. They must also be able to react to the person they are speaking to and be flexible enough to gather the information that is important to their contact, as well as meeting their own objectives.
- Gather Quality Information – always keep in mind that no matter how well trained and knowledgeable your telemarketing teams are, the likelihood is the decision makers they are contacting are more so. So do not get too bogged down in detail, it is important to record as much as possible, but do not inflict the technical aspects of your proposition upon them if this is not what they want to discuss.
Manage and track your ROI
In order to see the success of a campaign it is essential to measure, track and manage demand generation activities. The campaign objectives and measurement criteria should be defined at the outset. Furthermore, telemarketing activity should be continually monitored and refined throughout in order to ensure that they are performing to requirements, and if not, why not? Practice makes perfect, and so with time and experience messaging and approaches can be refined to achieve the best results and ensure professional representation of the brand.
Integrate
Telemarketing is an effective tool in single media campaigns. However, its impact can be increased dramatically through integration with other elements of the marketing mix, such as creative, digital, or events. A multi media, multi touch campaign, when executed well with carefully crafted messaging, will typically yield greater ROI and promote stronger engagement and brand perception to the target audience.
