Appointment Setting – What To Do With Unintended Success?

Sometimes, whether it is during the course of an appointment setting campaign or on an actual cleaning job, you achieved success without meaning to. Accidental accomplishments like that seem to be the stuff of cartoons but you never know when it makes its way to reality. On the other hand, is there anything in your appointment setting strategy that prepares you for this?

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.

Telemarketing Tips – Differentiate Between Following-Up And Pure Stalking

On negative perception that telemarketing companies work so hard to rid themselves off is actually the same negative perception that today's online marketers are trying to shake: stalking. And by stalking, it is actually the popular belief that businesses will do anything, even invade privacy, in order to learn about their customers. It is not just limited to B2C marketing either. In B2B relationships, similar charges can be made when you are following-up on prospects and trying to generate feedback.

How To Get Qualified Leads Without Stalking

In their defense, many businesses demonstrate a clear need for such information. The ideal is that it is supposed to help them provide a better service. Realistically speaking though, it can reach a point when it is starting to feel like unintended harassment.

And since that is the case, how then can you qualify your sales leads without irritating those prospects? You do a basic review of what a good follow-up strategy is supposed to have such as:

• Good Timing: You know the best time to call a prospect. Although, this in of itself should be part of the information you should initially gather. When contacting a prospect for the first time, always give priority to determining the best hour of day to make any further calls or emails. 

Related Content: B2B Telemarketing Tips & Tricks – Following-Up With Prospects

• Moderation: Do not always pester a prospect with calls even if each call comes with a different purpose. Just because you qualified their interest during one call does not mean you can call them again for a telemarketing survey soon after. If you have already called or emailed one contact, then be patient or at least pursue another one until you find another proper time call back. 

• Transparency: If your purpose is B2B telemarketing, be honest about it. Do not waste a prospect's time beating around the bush and get straight to the point. Tell them why your business is calling. Are you there to re-evaluate their interest? Are you there to remind them of an appointed meeting with your sales representative? Is this the first time they have been contacted? Are there other times when you can call back or other means with which they are more comfortable communicating with? Regardless of the answer, always be clear in your objective. 

• Finishes Fast – Speaking of wasting time, you should never forget how valuable it is to prospects. No matter how much you promise or how much you apologize, it will not return every, single second you consume. Your follow-ups should not only be thorough and objective but also quick enough that your prospect can easily resume whatever current task that was preoccupying them. 

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

And do not forget, you can also apply this to more than just follow-ups. Your telemarketing surveys and B2B appointment setting calls can be perceived negatively as well so exercise the above traits to differentiate yourself from marketing stalkers.

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.

Are You Telemarketing For Short-term Or Long-term?

Given the variety of processes that telemarketing is capable of, it can be easy to grow indecisive when determining which on you need the most. For example, they can play a role in either delivering you a long-term advantage or a short-term one but not always at the same time.

Balancing Both Is Delicate For Lead Generation

Choosing between short-term and long-term benefits has been an ancient dilemma that extends beyond the world of business. Ultimately though, the decision maker has to make a compromise, trying to balance both by actually forging a connection instead of always picking one over the other.

Here is an illustration for telemarketers:

• Short-term – Suppose your business is in a pinch and needs to generate as many sales leads in order to stand a chance of surviving the next year (or worse, just the following months). You can have telemarketers start a massive, wide-reaching campaign to see just how far the actual numbers go. You might have to forego using them for customer support for the time being but it just cannot be helped. Once you are done though, what do you do with the results? In fact, think about this with the assumption that you got enough sales to save your business. What then? Is this all you will get out of future campaigns?

Related Content: Lead Generation Telemarketing – Plan It, Test It, Assess It

• Long-term – Suppose your business did well but there are signs that the future looks pretty dry and you need customer retention to survive it. The only way to do that however is to be as openly as possible to customer feedback. Telemarketers can receive incoming calls, record and resolve issues, but at the same time, send this feedback back higher up for the rest of your company to reflect upon. But just like short-term, what do you do with the actual results of this B2B telemarketing process? Are you really content with just maintaining your current business relationships without making new ones?

Hopefully, you can already tell what kind of compromise you can make between the two. Again, you need to forge a connection between short-term benefits that can have an effect on long-term. With regards to the results produced by telemarketers, that connection is formed by flowing the information between inbound and outbound. Using the above example, you use the information you got during your short-term, outbound campaign to inform the agents receiving your inbound calls.

Related Content: Telemarketing Firms Still Require Some Details From You

In turn, your inbound calls should result in more information about what the market as a whole is currently demanding. These days, with online resources providing more and more information, your own customers have a greater capacity to influence each other's buying decisions ahead of your business. What is worse is that not even this collective understanding can always reach the specialist level of an industry expert. You should use the information gathered from feedback to shape up whatever message or questions to ask during your next campaign. Do not limit your B2B lead generation to either short-term or long-term but balance it for both!

Telemarketing Firms Still Require Some Details From You

Yes, many telemarketing firms take pride in being able to gather information with as little spoon-feeding as possible. It's why, despite their decline in consumer marketing, they're still a primary source of B2B leads for many industries.

That doesn't mean they're not without limitations. Furthermore, you shouldn't blame them when they've already hit those limits. Now as to what those telemarketing limits may be, below is just one short list:

• 
  Industry – Wait a minute, shouldn't experienced telemarketing services have vast amounts of industry expertise? Yes it they should but no matter how efficient they are in targeting various industries, they won't always know which ones your salespeople and your business would want specifically. It doesn't matter if you yourself cater to a wide range of industries either. There are still other factors to consider. For example, what if you've decided to refrain from marketing one particular industry but not inform your telemarketers? The result is your salespeople coming to you with complaints as well as another set of complaints from people in that industry. This doesn't even mention the possibility of counter-complaints you'll get from the company you outsourced. 

• Bad sales processes – Obviously if your salespeople aren't doing their part, you can't expect a right to complain. Your telemarketers evaluated the interest of your prospects, generated more of it, and even set a time and date for your salespeople to meet. What more can you ask for? Sure, some larger telemarketing services will offer to do sales as well but have you specified that? Was that in the deal you both agreed upon? More importantly, do your salespeople also want to outsource their own jobs? Do they have other things they'd rather do for your business? 

• Not doing it your way – Granted, a telemarketer should be flexible enough to change strategies and adapt new marketing tools in order to improve. However, wouldn't it be better to set down some guidelines first before filing complaints through every step of the process? If you already had a particular strategy in mind, why didn't you share it in the first place? That's the difference between adapting to change and forcing them to adapt in ways that you had the responsibility to specify before the campaign started. In the end, you may have had a good deal of success but think about the time you could've also saved had you at least collaborated more closely with your provider before beginning. 

Like anything you do in business, you should always have a plan. You need a plan when you want to attract and qualify sales leads. You still need a plan when you want to outsource that process to a provider (be it a telemarketer or even any type of B2B marketing).

On the other hand, rest assured that this always goes both ways. That's how close collaboration ideally works. From the perspective of any good telemarketer, you have a right to expect a high level of compliance. You can assert your demands to a considerable degree. Simply put, they shouldn't wince at the standards you've set up for them and their entire industry as a whole.

Just don't leave them hanging when they need only a few details before starting.

Inbound Telemarketing – There Shouldn't BE A Voicemail Hell!

In the above video, you will find suggestions for a few websites that can help assist customer service callers bypass what they call 'voicemail hell'. Voicemail hell is apparently their term for the mind-numbing grind they undergo before they actually get in touch with a marketing representative. However, perhaps the biggest tragedy is that these sites exist because of a mistake. That mistake is that your telemarketing service shouldn't be putting customers in that hell in the first place!
If you think this is bad for regular customers, what about busy business owners or even C-level decision makers? These people are busy and their day doesn't leave them much time to put up with this kind of service. Excessive automation is a bad thing in telemarketing and there's no excuse for it. Besides, there are plenty of alternatives to this and they don't necessarily even require you to do away with telemarketing at all:

• Website – If you want your customers to troubleshoot a problem, don't force them to use a phone for it. It's a lot easier for them to go to your website and get their information there. That does away with much of the automation they would otherwise go through in their calls. Any more serious problems should be good enough reason to connect them with a live customer service representative. 

• Email – A contact center doesn't have to be closed off to email. Some customers don't want to discuss the problem in real time but instead would first prefer to collect their thoughts and write it down. If your B2B customers want to write down these problems, use an online ticket system that sends messages to your company inbox. Take note though that your agents should still respond as quickly as possible. 

• Social Media – Getting real-time feedback via social media is another better idea. Customers can help each other out with the easier problems instead of forcing themselves to call upon customer support all the time. The community-oriented purpose of social media also serves as your eyes and ears to your market so keep them open to spot trends in problems. 

Now asides from the alternatives, there are a few more things you can learn from this video with regards to good customer service:

• 1: People still want live telemarketing agents – The existence of voicemail hell can serve as proof that people still want to talk to live agents instead of anything automated. They want to engage with and talk to a live person. This demand could go beyond only customer service and could also reflect the need for real conversations in marketing activities like B2B lead generation. 

• 2: Excessive dependence is bad - Too much dependence on new technology will eventually bring up its flaws. However, you shouldn't wait for that time to come. Don't be closed to the idea that there are still some things that live agents can do that machines can't. 

• 3: Time is still of the essence – It also serves as a reminder that, whether your customer is B2B or B2C, their time is and always will be valuable. When communicating with customers, don't take up too much of that time by forcing them to spend it in phone traps like voicemail hell.

There aren't just alternatives to the bad practices that result in voicemail hell. Its existence is proof that people still want to talk to live agents whether its in customers support or even in telemarketing. That should give you all the reason you need to retain real people who can give a real conversation.

Get A Contact Center Where Labor Works With Technology

One of the benefits of having a contact center and not just simply a call center is that it allows businesses to use more advanced forms of communication to stay in touch with their target market. In the case of B2B markets, flexible communication is even more important because business owners use these new technologies to engage their own customers.

However, as in any industry these days, you need to quickly identify if your agents are really working with the technology that they have or are just struggling to live without it. The same applies if you turn it around. So many marketers easily cave-in to hype and adapt these new forms simply because they're new.

Such is not a good response to change and is not going to give you any progress. Both situations are the result of too much pride that it blinds them to any flaws. You just have one side who overestimates human skill while the other overestimates technology. You can see these in outsourced marketing firms as much as you will see it within your own company's marketing team. But regardless of which describes your lead generator, you need to bring them back down to earth and objectively view these elements. Instead of setting them up to fight, why not see how well they can support each other?

• For technology – Skeptics of technology often challenge new forms by asking one simple question: How does this help? You should ask the same question. Don't just invest in or outsource something unless you understand how the technology helps agents perform. For example, will the data gathered result in insight to overall market behavior? Can this new channel of communication help generate permission for outbound telemarketing? How do you calculate the results to see if it's really effective? You can even simply ask if this can at least help your agents work just a little bit faster without compromising quality. Again, the key is to stay objective and not cave-in to hype. 

• For agents – If the technology is proven to help agents work, then they'd better use it. Integrating new technology isn't often as wasteful as some critics claim. The waste could actually be their own fault and it's your job to see if that is the case. Just as technology is capable of improving marketing efforts, marketers should have a complimentary amount of expertise to understand how why this is so. One example is when you enforce the use of email to help qualify sales leads. Therefore, your agents must understand how email actually helps in enhancing engagement with prospects.

As they say, tools are only as good as the people who use them. Taking pride in only either human effort or advanced technology only blinds you to what you can really do. Today, new technology only continues to offer new ways to engage markets and gather information about them. Such means of recording, calculating, and organizing data is beyond human capacity. On the other hand, what good is all that when you can't understand how it all helps in generating qualified leads? That requires a human mind and not just coded algorithms.

So when you're evaluating a contact center, make sure that its agents know the difference between using technology to enhance their efforts and simply trying to substitute one for the other. Both human skill and technology have limits as much as advantages.

Telemarketing Standards That Are Shared By Social Media

Many business professionals are hailing social media as the tool that's revolutionizing 21^st century marketing. It's new. It's young. It's keeping with the times. Plenty of social media experts are saying that even B2B companies should start looking to social media as their new mode for marketing. Could this be the end of traditional B2B marketing forms such as telemarketing?

The truth is every trend has its critics and the emphasis on social media being all young and hip is one prime area of vulnerability. A good example was just published last week by Inc.com: 11 Reasons a 23-Year-Old Shouldn't Run Your Social Media.

What's interesting is that the reasons do not only identify the traits of a more appropriate social media manager. These same traits have long been sought out in professional telemarketers and call center agents.

“1. They're not mature enough.” - Maturity is critical for any kind of marketing agent, regardless if they use telemarketing or social media. Maturity and accountability are important ingredients in marketing as well as sales.

“2. They may be focused on their own social-media activity.” - You think only social media managers need to be monitored? Think again. Productivity is not just demanded of telemarketing agents but all employees in general.

“3. They may not have the same etiquette--or experience.” - It can actually be argued that telemarketing has a higher standard than social media when it comes to this. Long before social media ever became a marketing trend, telemarketing companies have been recording and reviewing messages for substance and consistency.

“4. You can't control their friends.” - Using company resources to communicate with friends has never been a good idea to begin with, whether it's social media or through telemarketing. It's not very professional.

“5. No class can replace on-the-job training.” - The experience of actually working in the field has always been a common selling point among telemarketing companies. On the other hand, even extensive experience on social networking is shorter in comparison given that it's still a young face in the whole of marketing.

“6. They may not understand your business.” - Naturally, any sort of marketer should be familiar with what they're marketing. Again, social media isn't alone. Don't forget that there are other effective marketing practices, such as telemarketing.

“7. Communication skills are critical.” - Communication is another key ingredient in marketing. Agents should be able to relay it clearly, whether in writing or speech.

“8. Humor is tricky business.” - It's not just about humor but propriety. Just as social networking needs to draw boundaries, so should telemarketing agents.”

“9. Social-media savvy is not the same as technical savvy.” - Being good at talking on the phone isn't a mark of a good telemarketer either. They too are required to have additional skills like database management as well as familiarity with processes like appointment setting.

“10. Social-media management can become crisis management.” - Handling emergency cases is necessary when telemarketing is used for customer support. They're not eager to make common mistakes either nor are they eager for their consequences.

“11. You need to keep the keys.” - Having access to records and controlling the tools being used isn't exclusive to social media or even telemarketing. There are limits to free reign and where they start is where higher management begins.

To summarize, the dangers of hiring inexperienced social networking managers are no different from the dangers of hiring any other kind of inexperienced marketing agent. Fortunately, telemarketing has long set up standards to minimize these dangers whereas social media has just begun!

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.

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!

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!

Use B2B Telemarketing If You Need To Make Things Quick

Rushing is never a good idea when trying to generate sales leads. However, that doesn't mean you can take your sweet time either. Speed is just as equally important as control. There are times that while you can't rush the prospect, the prospect will rush you!


And of course, there are plenty of good (and obvious) reasons as to why.

• They may have scheduled a lot of meetings throughout their day so they can't talk for long in between.
• Paperwork and management duties will always take top priority so obviously you need to have a good reason as to why you just interrupted them in the middle of their work.
• You also have the possibility of calling them when they're analyzing data and making important future plans. It may not be a good idea to interrupt their train of thought.

At this point, you might wonder why telemarketing? Why not just send them an email or even a real marketing letter? The problem with that is that it's going to the complete opposite extreme. You're avoiding all means of directly contacting the decision maker but at the cost of being completely ignored too. Did you send an email? It might never be opened. Sent a real letter? It's the same thing. The worst case scenario is you'll get labeled as a spammer or a junk mailer and now your messages won't be read at all.

The key here is balance. You need to balance getting their attention while not taking too much of their time doing it. B2B telemarketing can accomplish this (or at least, it can play a significant role in the overall technique). Unlike email or direct mail, a ringing phone is harder to ignore. Once the prospect has answered, you only have a window of a few minutes in order to accomplish what you set out to do and that is get their interest. Take note, there's a difference between getting their interest and trying to make a sale right out of the bat. Getting their interest means trying to get to know them first. It might even help to do some research before making the call. Try to ask questions that will help determine needs and make it as objective as possible. Once that's done, evaluate the response and politely end the exchange as soon as possible.

Another technique involves mixing both email or direct mail with telemarketing. Again, it's similar to the first technique. You make a call, make it quick, and then just say you'll send the rest in an email. Think of it as a new way of dropping off a letter. It also tells you beforehand if the prospect would really appreciate the message and won't just toss it in the trash. After that, wait for some responses and don't be afraid to follow-up.

As you can see, you're not rushing the prospect here. But at the same time, taking only a few minutes with a call at convenient intervals shows that you don't want to take up too much of their time. It may not even be an issue if you can't afford to invest in telemarketing yourself. There are plenty of telemarketing services who use similar (if not the exact, same) techniques so can outsource to them instead. It will still always be important to make things quick when contacting busy decision makers.

A Quick Contrast Between What Scammers Do And What Professional Telemarketers Do

Anyone with even average experience in the telemarketing industry would eventually learn about telemarketing scams. And painful as it is, it's usually when they're hearing someone hold them up as a reason why the industry is dead.

However, if B2B businesses have any say about it, it's still pretty much alive. You see there's a fine difference between what real telemarketers do and what scammers posing as them would do.

Today, telemarketing continues to stay alive because there is still a need for it to contact and engage potential B2B clients. All kinds of decision makers, from managers to all the way up to the CEOs, take a lot of means just to contact. The phone just happens to be one of them.

In the following, you will find just some areas where scammers and telemarketers differ greatly.

Targets

Scammers – Scammers typically target the most gullible. These would include people who have no easy access to confirming the things they say over the phone. They would go for areas that they think have low awareness with regards to telemarketing scams.

Professionals – B2B telemarketers target only businesses, and more specifically, certain people in charge of certain areas all in order to generate sales leads. The businesses themselves aren't very easy to navigate because you have gatekeepers and other safeguards to prevent people from wasting the decision maker's time. The businesses must also fit a certain criteria determined by industry, size, and factors that would indicate a need for whatever product or service they're offering.

Goals and information

Scammers – Scammers are basically thieves. The things they steal? Information. Personal information. These could be credit card numbers, bank account PINs, and other sensitive data that would allow access to people's money. And if they can't get that, there's always the classic case of duping people into directly sending them money by making up the same false promises (e.g. tax reduction).

Professionals – Real telemarketers are also after information but this information is only for the purpose of convincing either themselves or whoever is outsourcing them for it. Convince them of what exactly? A need. B2B transactions have their best value when there is a definite need for something and the money spent on the relationship or the project is worth every penny. You're talking about big business here and specific needs have to be confirmed. It's the only way they can get the qualified leads they need to determine who and who is not open to do business. The telemarketers themselves aren't attempting to sell and in fact, the closest thing to that would be when they do additional appointment setting. The sale itself still needs to be made by whoever needed to get the necessary information to act upon.

Technology

Scammers – Scammers are cheap or otherwise they wouldn't be so desperate to steal instead of pursuing more honest efforts. This is reflected in their use of low quality communications technology, fellow criminals who obviously never trained to communicate like a pro, and even those who use websites generally don't put effort to make it look convincing enough. That takes money and perhaps more money than what they rip off of people.

Professionals – These people use only the best and more. They're not just limited to the phone. They have a large database that they've built over the years so they don't have to start compiling numbers from scratch. Their equipment is selected to ensure clear, quality communication. Finally, they wouldn't be professionals if there wasn't some time invested in their training.

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.

B2B Telemarketing – A Marketer's Best Friend

What any company cannot afford to waste is time and money. When it comes to marketing, you can only go so far before you exhaust your budget. And given that most campaigns are given a limited amount of time to be prepared, or to get results, you really can't have yourself throwing marketing dollars in the wrong direction as well as using time which could have been allocated to doing other tasks which could have yielded better results. This becomes more of a trying task when you have certain requirements you need your prospects to meet. Also, you can't just go around and make random office visits and expect to get meet with your target decision makers. Under these circumstances, what's a marketer to do?

With such obstacles surrounding the field of B2B lead generation, perhaps it's time to consider an approach than can help with pre-qualifying your prospects, one which isn't that much of a hassle and won't eat up much of your marketing budget. What we're talking about here is B2B telemarketing, a direct marketing approach that can greatly help with lead generation. This can be done through B2B appointment setting. In essence, this is already what a B2B telemarketing campaign is all about and how it functions. Because of the direct approach, you can get in touch with your prospects through means of the phone and have your telemarketers pre-qualify them right there and then, as well has have any questions answered on the spot.

So instead of spending valuable time and money on sending your marketers to different places with no assurance of getting you sales propositions, you can make use of B2B appointment setting and telemarketing. Pre-qualify your prospects through the phone and generate sales leads from those who express a genuine interest in your offered products and services. B2B telemarketing is really any marketers best friend, a medium which helps save time, money, yet performs exceptionally well for marketing functions.