B2B Telemarketing
Is B2B telemarketing part of your overall lead generation strategy? If it is not, perhaps it should be! A large part of B2B sales and telemarketing calls is building relationships, lead nurturing, brand awareness, and market research. And while digital marketing is a leading component and an essential part of many marketing plans, it is smart to think about the best ways to blend both traditional marketing methods with digital tactics. B2B companies must consider all effective ways to build and nurture relationships over a long period of time in many cases – it is the nature of obtaining new leads and the heart of B2B lead generation.
What is the Focus of an Effective B2B Telemarketing Strategy?
There are countless reasons why engaging in B2B telemarketing services and strategies make good sense for many companies. Telemarketing works! And it is significantly important in B2B marketing plans while lending critical sales support to your company’s sales team.
- Aligning with your other marketing campaigns so that your telemarketing campaign complements other efforts in progress. This includes a marketing strategy which contains elements like social media (particularly LinkedIn for B2B companies), direct mail, webinars, inbound marketing with various content collateral, events, and various outbound marketing activities.
- Brand awareness is a key component outbound telemarketing campaigns. Outbound calling is one step in the process. It may not be a direct line to the sale, but it is an important starting point. Cold calling is not dead! A phone call has been more effective than ever lately since the advent of the pandemic-induced work-from-home and hybrid office/WFH models that is now present in our business lives. It is still a cost-effective tactic to reach out to prospects in your target market and develop a list of high-quality leads.
- Obtaining the right leads is paramount to successful a sales strategy and highly motivated salespeople. It is a “no-brainer” and getting the right, high-quality qualified leads is not as easy as it sounds. Sales reps do not have the time to waste speaking with prospects who have no interest in your products or services. Business to business companies understand that the sales cycle is long, and they must consider effective methods of reaching out to potential customers.
What Types of Telemarking Campaigns Can Companies Employ?
B2B and B2C telemarketing strategies and campaigns are very different because their sales cycles and types of customers are also quite different.
- Lead generation – A telemarketing campaign is a great place to start the lead generation process, especially when there are multiple phone calls required to get a prospect to the point of being a warm lead. These first calls in the campaign may be the brand awareness point of the campaign. It is valuable to the sales team when responsibility of warming up the lead falls with the telemarketing team or an outsource telemarketing company service provider.
- Appointment setting – Once the prospect becomes a warm lead and shows interest in taking the next step in the sales process, an appointment with the sales rep can be booked to learn more or even get a product demo.
- Brand awareness and market analysis – If your company is new or it is an established company who is targeting a new niche, industry, or audience base, a calling campaign should be part of your telemarketing strategy. This is an effective method to makes prospects aware of the new solutions and services you now provide that are relevant to them and their needs.
- Follow-up – Agents can follow-up with prospects who do not purchase when the initial engagement happens with the salesperson. This communication can provide valuable information to your company as to why they did not make the purchase or if their needs have recently changed. You may need follow-up from an event. This is a great campaign to stay in touch with someone you met at a conference. Your telemarketing team can follow-up on other channel campaigns you have implemented, such as direct mail or email campaigns. Multiple touches is smart engagement with decision-makers and potential clients and keeps these lead warm. Al great follow-up tactics helps to keep your company top-of-mind.
- Account profiling – Telemarketing campaigns can help your company understand and gather information about your current customers. Business is changing quickly, and the needs of your accounts may also be changing just as quickly. You can gather information on any additional issues and pain points that prompted them to speak with you in the first place. Your sales leads will now have the power to be strategic and create an effective sales plan for success for their salespeople.
- Lead nurturing – B2B sales is reliant on building relationships. Telemarking helps companies develop strong, lasting relationships by focusing on prospects’ needs and pain points. These campaigns provide relevant information which focus on offering value and solving daily issues that have become your prospect’s central focus to solve. It is essential that this stage of the process is not a strong push to close the sale but rather, an opportunity to be memorable and provide value and relevant solutions.
- Database cleanup – One of the most important thing a company can do to help your sales professionals close more deals is to provide them with updated leads who are truly interested in the products and services your provide. This is such a basic step to success, but real, true leads with the most updated contact information saves your sales team from wasting a tremendous amount of time.
The Last Issue to Tackle
Helping your sales team and your highly motivated salespeople is a priority for companies who are serious about increasing revenue and growing their business. And that is smart business. The last considerations as you are designing your sales process include:
- Should the responsibility of lead generation land on the plates of your sales team?
- What is the cost of your salespeople’s time in terms of administrative and time-consuming tasks?
- Would it be motivating to have telemarketing type tasks fall under someone else’s responsibility so that they can focus on only one thing – closing the sale!
- Should you bring the responsibility of telemarketing in-house or outsource these task?
- Do you have the years of experience and right skill set among your in-house staff to effectively perform telemarketing campaigns?
It may be more cost-effective to deploy a highly experienced outside resources who acts as extended members of your internal sales team to manage the telemarketing campaigns in your overall sales process. It is more than likely motivating to salespeople to be able to concentrate on closing sales exclusively and moving administrative and time-consuming tasks to other members of the team.
How can B2BAppointmentSetting.com help you with your telemarketing efforts and free your sales team from time-consuming tasks so that they can focus on closing sales and generating revenue? We are a skilled, expert B2B appointment setting services company which includes telemarketing services in our offering. We deploy only the highest quality, experienced B2B appointment setters. Contact us today!