Get Health Sales Leads From Temporary Solutions

In healthcare, your health sales leads can be like those patients who are not that keen on paying for a full procedure. Rather, the are the kind who would rather pay for painkillers, changing bandages, or anything that only involves keeping an ailment at bay instead of a more permanent solution. And like them, your sales leads can only prolong it for so much without suffering in the long-term.

Lead Generation Tips – If You're Gonna Go Political, Don't Take Sides

Do you really feel that your marketing and lead generation strategy is just irrelevant and out of date without playing the tune of the election season? Do you honestly feel that, despite all risks of a major PR suicide, you want your own business to have a voice in politics?

Well, if you insist then go ahead. Go political. There is just one thing you need to avoid: actually taking a side.

Political Sales Leads Without The Partisanship

Admittedly, people who advocate politics in marketing do have one fair point: It is a powerful way to connect with your market. That begs one question though: Is it powerful enough to justify the risks?

The answer is no. Here is the good news however: You can still connect that way. The trick is to simply not take sides. There is no question that a connection formed via political appeal can generate more qualified leads from prospects who sympathize (if not, embrace) a certain ideological bent. You can generate this appeal though without necessary doing any embracing yourself.

If you want an example, look to 7-Eleven (as reported by Entrepreneur). It maybe a B2C marketing strategy but take a hard look at the core concept if you really doubt that B2B marketing cannot apply it:

“The convenience store 7-Eleven proclaimed that 'politics are brewing' last month as it announced its quadrennial Presidential Coffee Cup Poll. 7-Election 2012 allows customers to indicate their presidential preference when they purchase a cup of coffee -- a blue cup imprinted with a donkey for President Barack Obama or an elephant-emblazoned red cup for Mitt Romney.”

But of course, you cannot be wrong for wanting the finer details of how this works for B2B. A key element in this strategy is understanding the link between politics and work place culture as well as viewing this election season just like you would any other season. In short, it is a form of seasonal marketing.

Related Content: Tips For B2B Telemarketing – Seasonal Myth Busted

Like regular seasons, elections are a theme in of themselves regardless of whether you subscribe to any worldview (or make it a part of your business identity). Your marketing just has to align itself with this theme just like 7-Eleven. That is not the same as aligning with any faction but just mildly tailoring your sales lead generation process accordingly to your prospects' political tastes.

• Use prospect's opinion to line up with an objective need. - Your business is meant to fulfill objective needs. How do you align them with political opinion? You simply listen. Make a connection with their views with whatever solution or service that you could provide. 

• Avoid raising the subject yourself – Do not forget that you are not alone if you want to avoid politics. Other business owners are not necessarily eager either. Stick to a neutral image first and wait to see if your prospect is starting lean away. If not, good news. You can now market as normal. 

Related Content: Professional Telemarketing – What Great Leaders Can Teach About Great Communication

• Make a note so sales can carry on the conversation – Your markers cannot keep up the conversation forever. That is why they are supposed to just qualify and let salespeople make the close. You cannot just pass the baton though without letting them know what you are passing. 

So it would seem that you can appeal to the political side of your prospects without necessarily taking it. The best part is you now have both supplying you with B2B sales leads!

Treat Your Sales Leads Professionally, Not Dramatically!

While getting sales leads is your marketer's job, that does not mean they should not (or cannot) express concern over how your salespeople are treating them. You may have already heard this before but you will still hear it here: sales and marketing work hand-in-hand.

Business Leads Are Valuable For Both Sides

Just because your marketers have outlined their responsibilities on paper does not mean they cannot chime in on the actions of salespeople. Your salespeople in turn should not be afraid of giving and sharing feedback. In short, this is a call for both parties to act professionally and not act as if they are characters in some business drama.

Many negative stereotypes surrounding the business world are spawned from what is actually unprofessional behavior. For example, marketers actually act the part of pushy salespeople when they are just supposed to only qualify interests for appointment setting. Meanwhile, your salespeople are exhibiting behaviors that turn off prospects simply because they cannot tell their business world fantasies from reality.

It does not even matter what method you use. The problem lies at the human behavioral level so therefore, your solutions should focus on fixing that behavior. Because whether you use telemarketing or email marketing, that behavior will kill all your campaigns.

Related Content: The Top 3 Ways To Kill Your Telemarketing Campaign

This might sound more like an HR problem but this is an HR problem that specifically involves the people who are bringing in your customers. They are a critical part, if not an entire half, of your whole business model. So knowing that, you should still view this with the perspective of both parties in mind. A few things you can look into include:

• Mode of communication – While it has been previously stated that form of communication does not matter, take a small note of how your marketers perceive the tools they are using. If you are outsourcing for example, do your provider's employees actually have their own belief in their chosen method? If not, then it is no wonder they do not deliver as many B2B sales leads. Obviously, you do not want a telemarketing call in the hands of someone who finds parodies of the approach more factual than the real thing. 

• Means of appointment – Like with your marketers, the bad behavior of your salespeople might be tied to the kind of meetings they have with potential clients. As ridiculous as this might sound, those who lack a sense of professionalism might have a tendency towards dramatic delusions. Still, it makes for an easy start. Do your salespeople see themselves as actual professionals or just characters from Gossip Girl? 

Related Content: Don't Waste Lead Generation On Bad Sales Processes!

There is no doubt you will encounter defensive responses (and you yourself might feel a pang of guilt) from conducting this kind of evaluation. Despite that, this is a basic truth that is accepted among marketers and salespeople from all over. Ask yourself, who would want this kind of unprofessional representation? Nobody.

Hence, make sure you treat your business leads are treated professionally whether it is in B2B telemarketing or in client meetings.

Calling For Sales Leads – The Different Ways That Time Can Affect Success

No matter what channel you use for generating sales leads, don't underestimate the influence of one particular element: Time. You'd be surprised at the many ways that Time can present itself as an obstacle. Then again, time always affects you in many forms when it comes to business. For marketing, the most common forms include:

• The Amount of Time – Obviously you have the amount of time. Whenever you're trying to establish contact and communicating with a prospect, you are using that time. That includes your time and theirs. Mismanaging the amount of time you spend (whether you're using email, telemarketing, social media or all of them at once), will cause you to fall behind and even irritate the prospects themselves. 

• The Right Time – Another thing that annoys prospects is contacting them at the improper time. This could be calling them when they're no longer at work or emailing them with similar bad timing. Make sure that your contact center faithfully keeps track of the clock. If you're contacting different countries, you might even require them to synchronize several more according to their respective time zones. 

• The Next Time – You shouldn't pressure prospects either. Setting that B2B appointment is critical but so is giving a prospect time to think about their decision. In B2B, such decisions could affect their entire organizations so it's only natural that there will be those who will ask you to at least give them several days. Also keep those days close in mind so that you won't forget to follow up! 

• Being on Time – And speaking of forgetting, make sure that your leads also come with detailed information on the time, date, and venue for meeting with a prospect. This should call your salespeople and your marketers to really collaborate closely together. You don't want the efforts of the latter wasted on bad sales processes and vice versa. 

Those are four forms already and these manifest whether you use a singular or multi-channel approach. Another thing you should take note is that these different forms also interact with each other. For example:

• Not Calling Next Time Wastes Great Amounts of Time – A prospect might show some interest at first so you should be ready because they're already giving you another opportunity to qualify them. However, if you forget to follow-up, you'll waste all the time you had spent getting their interest. It's bad enough that the B2B sales process takes up quite a length. Make sure you don't add more to that length by making clumsy mistakes. 

• The Next TimeShould Tell You The Right Time – Suppose you have difficulty determining the right time to call or email so you decide to take a risk. Whether it goes bad or well, always have the courtesy to ask if you're calling them at the right time or if your email finds them in the best mood for reading it. Their response will tell you what that time will be once and for all, be it affirmative or negative. It will also serve to guide future attempts to contact. 

Those are just two examples but in the end, they tell you one basic thing when generating B2B sales leads: keep your eye on the clock. That clock will tell you how much time you've consumed and whether you're doing the right thing at the specified time. Don't underestimate the element of Time in your success!

The Different Ways To Generate Permission For B2B Telemarketing

Decision makers are in a position of authorization. Authorization implies permission. Therefore, if you had ways to get that kind of permission, B2B telemarketing would be lot easier.

So then, why is it still so hard? Well, the challenge is not just in the telemarketing but at least half of it (or more) lies in getting that permission. Their authority wouldn't be all that important if was that easy to get now would it? To succeed in B2B telemarketing though, gaining that permission has its long term benefits so you should make sure that your telemarketers are trying out the following techniques. These techniques can be used by in-house and outsourced agents alike.

• Online Engagement – Online engagement can be less direct than telemarketing and is therefore good for asking permission first. Usually, it's either done through email or social media conversations. Remember to focus on the engagement though because that's the core of these tactics (social media especially). Once the conversation starts feeling too long and drawn-out however, you can ask permission to call. Their consent will not only get you past their gatekeepers but also enable future follow-up calls. 

• Inbound Marketing – Instead of directly asking for it, you can also attract permission via inbound marketing. You can set up an informative website with a contact form for phone numbers for example. Forms that are filled will serve as the signal to call as well as their consent. But in order for this to be effective, you need to know proper targeting. Use advertisements only when you know that your intended market is viewing them. Have your website optimized with the right keywords. The call should also be used to get more information beyond that was spelled out on the contact form. 

• Customer Database – You can also target your current customers if you've already established several good B2B relationships. You've already done what was necessary so that they're no longer cautious of your calls. The only challenge now is to maintain that trust. Using your own customer database will only work if you have entirely new products and services that they might be interested in. Therefore, customer feedback is important. It will guide innovation and development so that you'll have something worth marketing to them.

Getting the permission of a decision maker isn't always easy but once you acquire it, it can be smoother sailing for the rest of the sale process. Why? Because asking their permission shows that you care about their authority and their business. Inbound marketing can show that you're aware of what's going among their businesses but aren't afraid to learn more about each of them. Targeting your customer database shows that you haven't just left them on their own once the sale was made. You're still willing to keep hearing from them. Using online engagement prior to calling demonstrates that you're not eager to sell and want to first find out their problems before offering a solution. There are many different ways to generate permission for telemarketing but don't forget the values that you can learn from each technique!

Outsource A Call Center For Phone-Related Marketing Efforts

Despite the prevalence of email, website, and social media, people will still use a phone. If these people are in business, perhaps it's even more so. While the other three, digital-based channels have the capacity to transmit more information, it has also indirectly given them more capacity to transmit junk and eat up time. You have spam messages, drawn-out content, as well as the need to be active on social media even when you have other important things to do.

Those are just some of the reasons why the phone is still used in marketing efforts. This doesn't mean that the pushy telemarketers are about to make their dreaded return. (DNC lists have put an end to that.) It only means that the phone is the best tool to utilize in business activities such as:

• Phone Surveys – Telephone surveys are a part of research. Research, in turn, has always assisted in shaping up marketing strategies, identifying targets, as well as qualifying B2B sales leads. The results could also indicate trends and changes in B2B buyer behavior. A phone survey could even more suitable for B2B because, as stated before, the phone is a channel still highly used in business.

• Inbound Marketing – When it comes to B2B, there's only so much information you can put out on your website or in your marketing emails. (And in fact, it's likely that you need to minimize the volume of that information as much as possible so that your prospect won't be overwhelmed). This calls for an inbound strategy which allows prospects to inquire only about certain things they wish to know about your business.

• Customer Service – One of the things that distinguish B2B from B2C is that there is a clearer emphasis on business relationships. Such a relationship goes beyond closing the deal. It's about ensuring that the client receives the full benefit of what you have sold. Neglecting customer service can result in bad referrals and a poor reputation all around. It's only worsened however if your prospects try to contact your business but end up frustrating themselves with long waiting periods and constantly being redirected.

On the other hand though, building up your own center can be very expensive. You need to hire more people and train them. In order to train them, you need to educate yourself first as well. Couple this with the costs of adequate technology and you might as well offer telemarketing services of your own in order to help cover for them.

Fortunately, that's why you have outsourcing. The only thing you need are the tools and the personnel after all. Outsourcing to telemarketing companies gives you access to those services without having to bear the heavy price of investing in them yourself. Another benefit to outsourcing is that it also saves you the time as well as the money when using the phone for the above purposes is a little bit too far from your core functions. Still, just because it's not what your business would normally do, doesn't mean you can't benefit from those who can do it for you.

Lead Generation – Is It Worth Outsourcing?

There are many questions (and even controversies) surrounding the topic of outsourcing. Some consider it as a cause of change in both the political and economic environment. Others say it is simply misunderstood and think people are only concerned when scandals are involved (such as what happened with Nike).

Regardless, the concept of outsourcing is simple. It's simply one company entrusting another to execute a certain business process (e.g. accounting, manufacturing, marketing etc).

Now another misconception prominent even among outsourcing supporters is that cost is the primary reason. That's not always the case. Cost can simply play a role in the overall decision. Here are two other common reasons as to why companies outsource that only involve costs indirectly:

• Non-core Functions – Simply put, companies outsource processes that are important but still a little far from the company's main function and field of expertise. A car manufacturer might outsource another company for accounting services because accounting doesn't really have a lot to do with cars. (That doesn't mean they don't need accounting.)
  
  
• Expansions – Many companies today are seeking to expand by placing more focus on their core functions. In relation to the first reason, outsourcing enables them to focus on these functions and thus enable expansion.

Take note that in the reasons cited above, neither of them deny that outsourcing saves them the costs of hiring experts and purchasing technology specific to a certain business process. In turn, what has been saved up can be used to focus on core functions and for expanding the business.

With that said, see if you can determine if it's worth outsourcing the process of generating B2B sales leads.

• Is it a core function? - Generating leads for any B2B product or service doesn't automatically demand for its respective field of expertise. Sure, expertise is necessary in order to demonstrate and assure quality but there are times when such expertise tends to work against your best interests. One might even say that generating leads is its own field! Remember, you may be an expert but your prospects might not. All that knowledge does not automatically translate into knowledge of how a B2B customer thinks. Therefore, it might not really be as close to your core functions as you might think.
  
• Will it make expansion more expensive? - Following up on the previous question, will this distance make it more expensive in-house? Take note that hiring and training the right experts and representatives requires a bit of expertise on your part. And as pointed out, getting qualified leads isn't necessarily within every company's expertise.

To further demonstrate, consider the tools used by lead generators. Some use email marketing to contact your prospects and exchange information. That may require a bit of industry expertise but it takes communication expertise as well. It's the same with older tools like telemarketing. Hiring and training your own agents might make expansion more expensive when compared to just using outsourced telemarketing while you focus on the core of your business.

There's no denying that a bit of industry expertise is necessary but that's why it's always a staple feature in many companies that are in the business of generating B2B leads. Some companies might even be more adept in marketing one form of product and service over another. And while they might not be as knowledgeable as the people in your company, they can be knowledgeable and at the same time, they're more knowledgeable about knowing what your prospects want.