B2B Telemarketing: Awesome Sales Tool, If Handled Correctly
A great article discussing b2b telemarketing as a lead generation tool but it doesn’t discuss how effective it can be with lead qualification. Following up on inbound leads, trade show leads or email blasts not only differentiates companies from their competitors but finds qualified sales ready leads to the sales department.
B2B telemarketing is one of the most efficient and cost-effective marketing tools for businesses across the world. Marketers use telemarketing because the response rate is higher compared to other direct marketing alternatives, along with a fairly low cost. However, while B2B telemarketing can be a great sales tool, it all depends on how you execute your campaign objectives. The difference between a successful telemarketing exercise and a failure rests in the planning and goal setting. That’s why it’s critical you understand the nitty-gritties before you pick up the phone.
What B2B Telemarketing Is All About
As the name suggests, B2B telemarketing is business-to business marketing of various products and services through calls. Telemarketing can be either inbound or outbound. Inbound telemarketing deals with incoming calls that may have resulted from email campaigns, direct mail campaigns, or any other channel. On the other hand, outbound telemarketing, also referred to as cold calling, requires well-trained and experienced personnel to call prospective customers and introduce your solutions.
Benefits of B2B Telemarketing
There are numerous benefits. B2B telemarketing is a cost-effective solution to generate leads, raise awareness about your brand, build credibility with existing and prospective customers, identify new business opportunities, and create relevant dialogues with partners. Although most marketing managers recognize its effectiveness as a marketing tool, here are a couple of facts to further validate the effectiveness of B2B telemarketing, despite the emergency of countless progressive sales channels.
- 84% of companies that have CRM, including telemarketing, as part of their direct marketing campaigns, have a lead scoring process in place to determine the quality of leads. (Source: Direct Marketing News)
- The most essential B2B lead generation tactics are inside telemarketing, sales executive events, conferences, emails, and tradeshows. (Source: Marketing Profs)
The 5 Golden Rules for B2B Telemarketing Success
Before you go full throttle on your B2B telemarketing campaign, here are 5 essential rules to follow.
- Be absolutely clear about your campaign objectives, both macro and micro
- Ensure that the telemarketing process is part of your overall marketing strategy
- Implement the right KPIs, such as calls per day or opportunities per day, etc.
- Invest some time and resources in building a solid database for your sales representatives.
- Test, retest and analyze the success rate of your telemarketing strategies to find the best ones.
Avoid The Common Pitfalls
Good Data, Bad Data
When executing a B2B telemarketing campaign, make sure you have an accurate database of target audience. If you do not have the resources required to generate an accurate database of prospective customers, you can always procure the services of a reputable phone data provider.
Keep it Calm and Dial On
Telemarketing campaigns often require some time pick up pace. Moreover, you need to give time to unavailable numbers re-directions and call backs, and sales personnel, if new to the trade, also need time to become experts in engaging and converting prospective customers.
Remember the Law of Averages
On an average it takes about 80 calls to generate a lead for a B2B initiative. This value, however, varies depending upon the proposition, market segment, product or service value, and target audience. So, do not lose hope until you accomplish your goals or realize you are fighting a lost battle.
Focus on Training
The proficiency of your sales team plays a pivotal role in deciding the outcomes of your telemarketing initiatives. The more relevant and convincing they are, the better will be the yield from their efforts. Therefore, make sure that every sales rep you employ receives intensive training.
Conclusion
Although digital marketing is relatively inexpensive, it may not produce the same results are other direct-to-customer methods such as telemarketing, especially in B2B arenas. That is the reason why despite the development of countless new avenues for client acquisition, a large number of B2B entities continue to employ this age-old strategy of driving conversions. However, in order to make the most of the option, you need high quality calling data, and a team of skilled sales representatives equipped with all they may need to guide your prospects to the end of the conversion funnel.
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