Home   About   Services   Client Testimonials   Contact   Blog  
 
Wednesday, September 24, 2008


I've posted often about our approach to lead generation and appointment setting and how it's different the the way most telemarketing companies work.

But a recent conversation with an associate who's probably written the book on cold-calling made me wonder whether telemarketing as a stand-alone marketing tactic has finally had it's day.

Certainly, in the b2c sector it's days are well and truly numbered, evidenced by the growth of TPS and the Do Not Call Registry in the US. As far as business-to-business telemarketing is concerned, I think the time is also running out.

Now, let me be clear, I'm not saying that prospecting for new business by phone is dead, far from it. But, I do believe that telemarketing on its own is no longer effective.

This typically applies to larger telemarketing agencies and outbound call centres than smaller telemarketing companies, as their entire business model is based upon volume and scripts. Their approach is to keep dialling until they finally reach someone and then deliver a killer script designed to "trick" them into saying "yes".

Excuse me, but that simply doesn't work any more.

For many senior decision makers, telephone is no longer the preferred method of communication. Partly due to the telemarketing industry and partly due to the nature of work (mobility, home-working, meetings, time pressures, etc) business people today avoid incoming phone calls as much as possible.

And if you do get them on the phone, will they really sit through a six-minute scripted pitch? I don't think so.

In business-to-business, lead generation today is about one-on-one marketing, opening a dialogue and using a mix of communication methods.

Here's an example of how large call centres have got it so wrong:

I received a call a while back from a utility company (it was already my utility company as it happens) wanting to get me to switch my electricity to them.

Now, as it happens, I was interested in doing this, but I wanted to see something in writing before I made any decision ("decision strategies" are a whole other area to blog about but basically, many people want to see something before they can make a decision). So, I asked them to send me something. "Sorry, can't do that" was the reply.

If you're from the old school of sales you'd probably chalk up my request as a "time waster" or a delaying tactic and simply move on. But, I don't subscribe to all those "buyers are liars" sales cliches.

No, the reason they couldn't send me anything was because they were sitting in an office in Chennai or Glasgow and were not in anyway joined up with the whole sales process.

So they didn't send me anything. Wasted call, wasted opportunity.

When we work on new business campaigns for our clients we operate as part of their team. We hold collateral, send emails from our clients' domain, and nurture leads through the pipeline.

When we initially approach someone (by phone or email) and they ask for info, what does it tell them when we send it to them and then follow-up? It tells them that we're interested in starting a dialogue.

It may (and often does) take several phone calls, emails & voice-mails over a period of weeks or months until they're ready. Over that period we're demonstrating that we're not a pushy salesperson, we value their time and we want to do business.

When the timing is right, we'll book a meeting (or conference call, or whatever the appropriate next step is).

To me this is simple. Why have most telemarketing companies got it so wrong?

I guess, lucky for us, they have :-)

Labels: , , , , , ,

Posted by: David Regler @ 12:29 pm |  0 comments  | Links to this post  

Bookmark and Share



Tuesday, September 02, 2008


The guys over at RainToday are running an interesting webinar by Dana VanDen Heuvel called "How to Create a Web 2.0/Social Media Marketing Strategy for Your Firm".

Aimed at professional services firms, the webinar promises to "provide you with ideas, examples, and a plan of action for immediately putting these technologies [Web 2.0 & Social Media] to work to attract new clients."

I've been using social networking tools, such as LinkedIn for a number of years now. Back in January 2007 I posted "Is 2007 the year for Business Social Networking sites?"... maybe I was a year early :-)

Certainly social media marketing is getting more and more attention. Recently, I noticed that this year's adtech conference in London is being sponsored by Xing.

For me, LinkedIn remains the key social networking site for any professional service firm; I use it daily.

If you want to know how to use social media, and LinkedIn in particular, to develop new business, read this post on LinkedIn's own blog "From startup mode to being acquired by Yahoo! - The MyBlogLog story". Here's an interesting quote from the post:
"It occurred to me how they did what they did, and I reached out to Eric via LinkedIn - we had Sean Bonner of metro blogging in common. I called him up; he got Todd on the phone"
The key phrase for me is "I called him up; he got Todd on the phone".

You see, social media has changed the game, but it doesn't mean the old rules don't apply.

Sites like LinkedIn help you make a more intelligent approach. You can understand whether your proposition will be of interest before you contact them. This means that you can phrase your message so it doesn't appear as spam or just another cold call. And, where relevant, you can reference other people that you both know.

Essentially, you can warm up a cold call.

Labels: , , ,

Posted by: David Regler @ 6:11 pm |  1 comments  | Links to this post  

Bookmark and Share



Key challenges for today's Entrepreneurs

Is LinkedIn rolling out social spam now?

Re-thinking the B2B sales model

Is social media now just a blur?

Sales Trends for 2012

So, who's doing "sales"?

Where's the hidden revenue in your business?

Does your business have an austerity plan for growth?

Outbound marketing is evil and useless

B2B lead generation survey on tactics and trends


November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
September 2009
October 2009
November 2009
December 2009
January 2010
March 2010
September 2010
October 2010
November 2010
December 2010
January 2011
February 2011
March 2011
May 2011
July 2011
September 2011
October 2011
November 2011
December 2011
January 2012
February 2012

Current Posts

Powered by Blogger





2003.
All content © Maine Associates Ltd 2010 All rights reserved. Read our privacy policy