Telemarketing is one of the most effective ways to generate leads today for most B2B companies. Outsourcing your telemarketing efforts can help to ensure you get the results you want, but how can you help to ensure the success of your campaign?
Here are a few tips to consider before you partner with a telemarketing agency to discuss outsourcing your campaign:
You need a solid offering. It’s not enough to contact a telemarketing agency and say, “I want to generate leads.” You need to do your due diligence ahead of time. You should already know who your target audience is and why they want or need your product or service. You can’t expect a telemarketing agency to be able to create a plan for you. Some agencies may attempt to create your message, but many will fail to do so effectively.
Consistent outreach over time yields greater results. You may get leads from a two-week intensive calling campaign, but in order to be truly successful, your campaign must have consistent contact with a targeted list. Over time, this approach will generate the results that lead to sales. A lot of contacts on your list may not be ready during the two-week period in an intensive campaign, but staying in contact with prospects over a longer period of time will eventually generate more leads.
Have realistic expectations. It’s not realistic to think that all of the contacts on your list will turn into leads. New contacts must be nurtured and developed over time. Also realize that fast results aren’t the best results. If the agents are worried more about quantity rather than quality, you won’t get the leads that are ready to enter your sales pipeline. It’s not about how fast a telemarketer can generate leads, it’s about how good those leads are in the first place.
Have a plan in place to handle the leads generated. If your sales force is already stretched thin or not adequately trained and experienced, you might need to rethink how the new leads will be handled. The quality of your salesmanship has as much to do with closing sales as does the quality of telemarketing leads.
Look for a telemarketing agency with depth of experience in your industry that is willing to perform a trial campaign to prove they can generate positive results. Not only will this give you an idea of how well your campaign will perform, but will also allow for changes to be made before rolling out a full campaign.
As with any service you considering outsourcing, make sure to check references when vetting a telemarketing agency. If you were hiring a new roofer for your home, you’d want to make sure they the experience and the knowledge to do the job correctly the first time and that their previous customers can attest to that. It’s the same concession when choosing a telemarketing partner. Look for a proven success record.
Intelemark has a successful track record when it comes to outsourced telemarketing campaigns. Not only do we have deep industry experience in healthcare, technology, finance services, and B2B, but we are also an industry-leader in many other of telemarketing, not just lead generation.
We recently developed an executive report entitled “Evaluating the Effectiveness of B2B Telemarketing: Does It Still Work?” to provide organizations like yours information about how different types of telemarketing campaigns can work for you. Telemarketing is still one of the most successful ways to engage your customers and prospects today.
Successful B2B telemarketing campaigns go well beyond appointment setting and lead generation. Download this report for free today and find out how.
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