Telemarketing Tips – Breaking The Costs To Your Prospect

In marketing, it is popularly perceived that a high cost is a turn-off while a low cost is meant to attract. When it comes to telemarketing though, you will need to learn how to break both types of costs to a prospect because they will eventually demand to know.

How Can Telemarketers Break It To Them?

No matter how high or how low you perceive a price to be, your prospect can always have a different opinion. The context formed by reasons and situations also play a significant role. What is the cost about? Is it the cost of implementation? Are you talking delivery costs? Is this a cost that comes from consultation or repair? In short, being honest with the costs is not exclusive to just lead generation. Both current customers and prospects have their own respective reasons as to why they wish to know how much money they are going to pay.

You might not need to get your accountant or financial adviser on the line but your agents would do well to emulate them when it comes to simply pointing where their money goes. It also should call them to be aware of the average budget among companies in your target market.

The following list outlines a few situations where you must cite the costs right away and avoid suspicion:

• During qualification – A prospect that has shown interest in a product does not always mean they have the money for it. This is why it is important, again, to be aware of what budget sizes to target. Still, not all prospects will immediately tell you. That is why targeting can help rule out a significant number of businesses too big or too small. You will at least have fewer candidates to disqualify. 

Related Content: How to Get Better Accuracy and Results in B2B Telemarketing

• When prospects desire additional products/services – If you are offering something in packages, perhaps it would be better to suggest them instead of leaving it up to a prospect to make choices one by one. Just be careful when it comes to how much you know about them. Can your marketers honestly tell them and yourself that they will maximize every component of this package? 

• When customers come in with a new problem – Seeing as even outsourced telemarketing service can double as customer support, they should be ready to cite costs if additional support comes with a few fees. And while you can justify these fees, you need to avoid sounding like you are profiteering from a defect. 

Related Content: Is Your Telemarketing Broken On Purpose?

• During promo periods – There is also the occasional promo period when you slash prices in the hopes of attracting more leads as well generate more loyalty from current customers. However, both these customers and your prospects might include people who wish to know more about why you are cutting prices. As always, telemarketers should be prepared. 

With the global economy on a volatile roller-coaster ride, it is not surprising that many people tend to be price-sensitive. In a way, your marketers should be too by being sensitive about how your costs and fees will be perceived. Always make sure your B2B telemarketers know when and how to break the price-tag to your prospects.

Telemarketing – How To Integrate It When It's Outsourced?

A common misconception about outsourced telemarketing is that it's simply giving the task away without having to hear about it ever again. There is obviously still a need for close cooperation and collaboration between you and your provider.

It becomes even more critical when you need to integrate their tools and services in the larger machine that is your marketing. Today, it would seem that singular forms of marketing aren't even enough anymore, whether it's telemarketing or newer forms like social marketing. In fact, social marketing expert Ric Dragon has been quoted for the following words on Social Media Today:

'Social can be the lighter fluid on the marketing bonfire,' says Dragon, explaining that 'marketers are in the business of creating more value.'

'By integrating traditional marketing tactics with social, more value will be realized from each component of the marketing,' he says.

You need to realize this same value in the process of your outsourced provider. This is what establishes the need to close the gap between your businesses and collaborate more closely:

• Information sharing: Don't just leave them hanging! Make sure your social media efforts are generating as much information on the market and can help them gain insight as to how to mold their outbound messages. If you're handing out the number of their contact center, they should be well prepared to handle nbound calls and inquiries. 

• Emphasize on quick learning: Information means nothing if it is not understood properly. This is why you should only select providers who have enough experience to learn about your company as quickly as possible in order to give campaigns a faster start. 

• Delivers as promised: And of course, no outsourced telemarketing firm should deliver less than what they were paid for. It might be too ideal to ask for more but you're at least still in your right to demand a reasonable return. Don't also forget that you're now also giving information so expect them to only use this information to improve the campaigns and services they run for you. 

Finally, as the word itself implies, integration requires a union. Be it outsourced or not, you can use social media with telemarketing to generate more B2B leads. As a matter of fact, they even have something in common. Just look at this other quote from Dragon:

'Brands that embrace these new approaches to building communities, leading with passion and purpose, and one-to-one conversations are going to assume a leadership role,' he says, and 'will be difficult for competitors to usurp.'

One-to-one conversations? The fact that a traditional form of marketing (telemarketing) has this in common with a new form (social media) only goes to highlight that they operate on the same principles and make integration all the more easy! Just because it's outsourced to an outside party is no excuse from making sure you're both working together. You might even be surprised at how these telemarketers would appreciate the integration because they too have experienced the value that social media can add to their methods.

Appointment Setting - Don't Depend Too Much On Individual Influence

There are times during an appointment setting campaign that certain individuals start to influence your market more effectively than the rest. This happens whether it's in the marketing or sales stages of the process.

In marketing, this happens when you rely on a key influencer to refer their friends and followers to your business. For sales, it can happen when a particular salesperson has gained a sort of celebrity status by making success out of even the least qualified sales leads.

At first, it sounds a lot like the celebrity endorsements of B2C. And for the most part, there are similarities. The only difference in B2B appointment setting, in fact, just lie within the products and services involved. In either case however, an excessive dependence on individual influence is risky. These same risks could affect the success of appointment setting for three reasons:

• #1: They won't be around forever. - Look at Steve Jobs. Despite how many mourned his passing, many more still became uncertain of his company's future. The success of Apple seemed very hard-wired into Jobs' image. Though touching on the subject of death is a bit drastic, it should teach one thing: nothing lasts forever; even clients gained from quality b2b appointment setting services. The decision maker you've often had close contact with may not always be in that position or even work in the same company. They have goals of their own too and it might take them places where you can't do much business anymore. The same goes for a celebrity salesperson. He or she won't always be there. They may even have their own dreams that would take them outside your company. How are you going to fill the large gap in sales that they'll leave behind?

• #2: They won't always influence the market - This isn't as hard to believe as some might think. Remember, nothing lasts forever. It not only goes for an individual influencer but also for their own influence. It could be the result of something as terrible as a loss in credibility or relevance. It could also be something as simple as a decision to not influence for personal reasons. It's the same thing with salespeople. Some might feel overconfident and start toeing the lines of professional behavior. Others might start feeling the pressure and this would affect their original capacity for making a successful sale.

• #3: Laziness – This doesn't mean laziness of the influencer. Rather, it's the laziness of you and the rest of your company! Do you seriously think it's a good idea to rely on an influencer to refer their followers for appointment setting while you're being lax with your own marketing and sales? Given the above two reasons, the role of key influence can be a lot more limited than you think. On the other hand, overestimating it can lull your marketing into a false sense of security while placing the burden of sales on a single salesperson all because of popularity.

Both reasons center on the mortality of both the key influencer as well as the influence they exert on your market. Therefore, your dependence on them shouldn't strain that mortality. It's an extreme word but again: nothing lasts forever. It's also more proof of why it's unsafe to mostly depend on outside factors to influence your market using b2b appointment setting.

Instead, your marketing strategies shouldn't depend on a single individual while leaving out the rest. Just because popular fiction puts the fate of the world on the shoulders of a single hero doesn't mean you should do the same in real life, with your real company! Follow good appointment setting practices and all the beneficial things will follow through.

Professional Telemarketing – Professionalism Goes Both Ways

Many people dread the prospect of professional telemarketing whether they're being the ones called or they themselves have to do the calling. May it be the former or the latter, there are just times when businesses feel that the process has become too stigmatized. The fear of getting (as well as giving) angry responses haunts the minds of marketers everywhere.

However, on that note, maybe this fear isn't so well-founded as you might think. Professional telemarketing is called 'professional' for a good reason. Not only that, the context of B2B telemarketing also means that this professionalism goes both ways. Therefore, if you're still either afraid of getting cussed out or feel tempted to rage at a telemarketer, you might want to read about this research recently cited by Forbes. Just from the title of that article, you can already tell that dirty words reflect badly on character when it comes to business. It denotes a lack of professionalism (as stated directly by the quote below):

“It found that employers tend to think less of an employee who swears at work for a variety of reasons. A majority of hiring managers said they believe that the use of curse words brings the employee’s professionalism into question, while others are concerned with the lack of control and lack of maturity demonstrated by swearing at work. More than half said using dirty words at work makes an employee appear less intelligent.”

If such a majority has a negative view on swearing in the work place, why continue to fear being on the end of it? In the worst case, a raging response will only say more about them than they will about you. And since that a majority of managers and decision makers don't have high regard for such people, you probably wouldn't want to do business with them anyways.

Still, be warned as the same goes for you. If you're going to contact decision makers, then you have to make sure that your telemarketers are also professional enough to maintain proper business decorum. In fact, this call to professionalism isn't just limited to telemarketing. It applies just as equally to any other marketing approach. The statistics in the article above should also indicate how important it is to train your telemarketers to avoid unprofessional behavior. And in the case of an outsourced provider, you need make sure that they also live up to such standards. Ask around for referrals and do some research on the companies that you're considering if you want a telemarketing service.

The standards of professionalism aren't just about indicating if a telemarketer knows what it's doing. It's about knowing if that telemarketer exhibits professional behavior that is only befitting the standards held not just by you but by your prospects.

Ultimately, it goes both ways

But on that note, this should also be good news for those who are still terrified of telemarketing. If you think that telemarketing has been stigmatized, there's a lot more stigma upon the unprofessional behavior that it gets. The statistics above should indicate that you have nothing to fear and that there is still a call to professionalism within the business world.

Outsource A Telemarketing Company When Faced With The Flaws Of The Internet

Suppose that, for a while, online marketing has been your business' only means of getting in touch with prospects. It's not even a core process but you have to do it because you believe it's the most up-to-date way to market yourself (even for B2B). However, this new report from Mashable could mean that it's high time to outsource a classical B2B telemarketing company.

“A study conducted by Harris Interactive highlights just how widespread this lack of trust in information on the Internet is for most Americans.

According to the survey of 1,900 Americans, 98% distrust information found on the Internet, with 94% saying 'bad things can happen as a result of acting on inaccurate information online.'”

Take note, this isn't really to say that a telemarketing company is superior to online marketers. In fact, a quick read through the comments on the article will actually point to an irony: despite how 'unreliable' online information is deemed, the article itself is a form of online information. Therefore, why should anyone trust it? Doesn't that look like a typical case of shooting one's own foot?

Setting that irony aside though, both the comments and the article itself do prove a simple truth: the internet isn't always reliable. Therefore, relying on it all the time can be counterproductive. Here are just two ways that the flaws of the internet can affect the success of your overall B2B marketing campaign:

• Reliability On Information Found – Lead generation is a staple for B2B marketing and leads are more or less packages of information. More specifically, it's information you can find that can direct you to a potential client. Still, even contact numbers and email addresses found on the net aren't entirely accurate or up to date.
• Reliability On Information Presented – This can also reflect the way people view the information you've put on your own website. They might not entirely trust it and if it's just too insufficient, they'll seek out another company. A business that is just too limited to the internet also limits the means with which prospects can contact it, inquire about it, and verify what is being presented.

An outsourced telemarketer is simply a cost-efficient way to expand your overall marketing capacity when a single channel proves insufficient. If you're relying on the internet for contact information, search for contact numbers and have the telemarketer acquire more information through the phone. That way, anything you've learned from a prospect via their website (or even a lengthy email exchange) can be confirmed. Using telemarketers can also give you new ways to gather information from both your target market and from among your current customers. On the other hand, having an outsourced call center will also allow your prospects to verify the information you've put out on your website.

The truth is dependence on a single medium isn't always the best idea. Before, people distrusted telemarketers for the pretty much the same reasons that people now distrust the internet (at least, the same reasons cited in the article). Expanding your marketing efforts is simply a way to paint a clearer picture of your businesses when one medium proves insufficient.

B2B Telemarketing - Driving Social Engagement Beyond Social Media

There seems to be no end to social media marketing and last week, cNet published an article reporting that the Global Fortune 100 are have only just begun maximizing this new channel. The article also mentions five findings as the result of the study but here is one that's most notable:

“3. Engagement is becoming second nature to companies. Seventy-nine percent of corporate accounts on Twitter attempt to engage with other users by retweeting and using @mentions.”

Indeed, engagement is the critical factor in social media marketing. It's what both makes it an effective medium and at the same time, it's what proving to be the challenge for these companies. However, is such engagement necessarily limited to social media? You see, when you make that the goal, the medium might hardly matter.

In this case, telemarketing services can also be used to drive engagement and achieve similar results:

• Interest – It checks for a prospect's interest and responds appropriately. If there is clearly no interest, then simply move on. If there is more interest but not enough to warrant a lengthier conversation, they're tagged for follow-ups. The more interest there is, the more a telemarketer can engage with them and send them further into the sales process.
• Needs – A potential client won't have interest if they don't have any needs for the products and services offered. On the other hand, you can only learn to serve better if you knew the finer details of these needs.
• Time – Engaging a prospect through telemarketing does not necessarily consume as much time. You just need to make sure that follow-ups are done right and measures are placed to take the conversation elsewhere if the phone is proving to be too time-constraining.

Then again, perhaps what really puts social media over telemarketing is that it has enabled customers to organize themselves and given them a greater voice. This blog from the Harvard Business Review already demonstrates how this is so for B2C companies:

“In other words, social media improves service by making the market for peer-to-peer opinion more efficient. This is good news for good service and bad news for bad service. End of not-so-complicated story.”

Still, does this apply to B2B? As far as organizing peer-to-peer opinions, it actually does! While businesses would rather be treated on an individual basis, things like referrals and reviews can improve your image and in turn attract more prospects towards your business. On the other hand, negative feedback can also call you to fix things up and improve services.

That doesn't mean that other forms of communication cannot compliment that though. For example, once you've received your feedback, you can try outsourcing call center services to gather more data. Since businesses would still prefer to be treated on an individual basis, using both the collective feedback from social media and the individual feedback from one-on-one phone surveys can help paint a clearer picture of what you've done right and what you can do better. It also shows that you're not just engaging them as an entire audience but also as separate entities with separate needs. Don't just limit social engagement to social media. Go beyond it!

Can Your B2B Sales Afford Your Lead Generator?

Many of those working to generate sales leads get so caught up with impressing their superiors about the benefits and advantages of their campaigns. They end up forgetting that it doesn't even matter sometimes! Some CEOs don't care too much about the complications or why one method works better than the other.

Sometimes, they just want one thing: results.

No matter how many statistics you cite or how many experts you consult, you're just wasting your breath if it just doesn't show in the final results. Therefore, whenever you encounter someone whose sole focus is on the results, why don't you try seeing things from their perspective?

Now just what is it in the results that they're so concerned with? Well in a nutshell, it's all about how much it costs to generate leads versus how much is being made off of them. You don't need to lecture them about how leads represent sales opportunities. They probably know that already. What they want to know is if the sales being made can afford the entire process and then some. In order to answer that question, you should figure out where these costs are coming from:

• Time – As the saying goes, time is money. Unless you can find a way to reduce the costs being spent over time, maybe you should check to see if there's anything in terms of time management that's raising the price of lead generation.
  
• Tools – What exactly is your approach? Do you stick to just one method you know best (e.g. telemarketing) or do you go the multi-channel route? Are any of these asking more money? What kind of equipment do you use? Here's a surprise: It doesn't really matter how cheap or expensive it is. If it's cheap but the poor quality is killing your efforts, then that's where you've been flushing down your company's cash. Likewise, it's the same thing if the tools are expensive but aren't used to the fullest.
  
• Personnel – How much do you invest in training the people who are actively responsible for making the calls, sending the emails, or maintaining your online properties? Did you hire the right professionals? Were they taught the right skills? Did you yourself teach them the wrong set of techniques or strategies?

Oddly enough, this can apply whether you were investing in an in-house lead generator or outsourcing lead generation services. You can judge either party using the same criteria above. And surprise, surprise, so can your superiors. Like them, you should be focused on how the results are reflected in the effort. The only difference is that it's your job to go further down into the details and discover the leaks.

You can really learn a lesson from their seemingly narrow-minded perspective. It's about realizing when and where the details matter. They don't matter if the result is your lead generator costing more than what sales can make. They matter when you're trying to find the problems and discover ways to make the lead generation process more affordable.

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.

Appointment Setting – There's More Than One Way To Communicate!

First off, communication is important for generating business leads. It's the process that obtains valuable information about possible clients. Here are just some of the important kinds of information that play a key role in successful sales.

• Time – You obviously need to know when they can be available for a business meeting.
• Needs – This is another vital piece. It will help you long after the sale is made and when you're well on your way to providing the product or service.
• Budget – You'll also need to know if they can afford to give you your sale.
• You – A bit strange? You see, while you're gathering information on the prospect, that prospect is also gathering information on you. You also have to give information they want if you want to convince them to meet up.

However, one common mistake among lead generators is that they stick too close to just one form of communication. They would even go so far as to persist despite the obvious signs of ineffectiveness. This doesn't just apply to older methods like telemarketing and direct mail. The same also goes for social media, email, and other new forms of online marketing that are trending in the business world today.

An unhealthy dependence on one form of communication never bodes well in any process that requires you to be considerate of the prospect. Different people prefer different ways to communicate. When one person scoffs and says, “Who uses the phone these days?”, another person will say, “I don't need Facebook. Just give me a call.”

You never know what kind of medium your target decision makers and business owners would like to use. Maybe you can look up research studies and start coming up with generalizations but that's not enough. There are already differences just between industries with regards to how people would like to be contacted. You might also encounter exceptions.

Communication must be flexible in order to meet the desires of a diverse selection of prospects. A lead generation campaign is only a success when it ultimately delivers quality information on potential clients. The kind of communication you used won't matter as much.

It also implies versatility. When one method fails to reach them, use something else. For example, if you can't get through to them on the phone, try to look up their business on the internet. If they don't want to talk much via social media or email, then convince them to have the conversation on the phone. These are just some of the ways you can combine several forms of communication in order to establish a connection and take you closer to a set appointment.

Now if you're worrying about costs. That's not a problem either. Try outsourcing some of the other forms if you can't afford more than one. You want email? Try outsourcing email marketing companies. You want telemarketers? Outsource telemarketing services. What's important will always be making that connection, engaging in a conversation, and coming out with beneficial information. There's more than one way to communicate and set an appointment!

The Value Of Information And Why It Improves Appointment Setting

Anyone who knows even the basic definition of lead generation should see that it's an information gathering process. It's even more important in this day and age when information and access to it has become its defining commodities.

But first, just how exactly does information help in business? What makes it so sought after? What are the advantages?

The truth though is the value of information reaches back all the way to ancient times. The merchants of the past needed it to find new sources of materials for their wares. In addition to that, news and daily gossip helped them identify good buyers and draw the interest of new ones. During times of war, rulers would invest in spies and reconnaissance as much as they would in heavy arms and infantry. Number of enemy soldiers, strategic locations, and distance of travel all still fell under the category of information.

Today, the same value remains and only the form has changed. Businesses in particular are still eager to find potential buyers and in the case of any B2B organization, knowledge of even one possible client is already one worth gaining. As a result, all such businesses invest in B2B lead generation (and it's why this particular time period has them making use of any means to acquire it). The information acquired in that process can really assist you when you've set an appointment and make plans to meet the prospect.

There's also another basic fact about information that defines this century's technology: communication. It is the channel through which information flows. Places like the internet and social media have revolutionized the way information is obtained.

With such large amounts of information however, a big question arises: How much is too much?

The truth is not all information is useful for everyone. For B2B businesses, the information you need might exceed any single method of communication (including online-based ones). As an example, look to some of the lead generation companies out there. You'll notice a trend where they'll start going beyond their initially preferred methods of communication and start integrating other methods.

Why does this happen? Going back, B2B companies do everything they can to learn as much about their prospects. Things like budget, needs, company size are just the starting points. You all still need to figure out how they're related, how they're related to your own industry, and how you can offer a solution (whether its a marketing solution via advertising or an ERP software solution). All of this is for the purpose of using that knowledge to convince a prospect and close the deal.

The decision makers and other personnel who can provide this information can't be just easily reached through one method anymore. Discussing their problems would require several. Just when you think outsourced telemarketing means you're just using telemarketers, those same telemarketers could also be using email and social media just reach your prospects. That is just one sign that it's no longer just the method that matters but the information you obtain with it.