I'm currently in the middle of a campaign with one of my associates that reminds me how tough telemarketing can be at times.

It also underlines my view that you need different types of telemarketers for different campaigns (which is also one of the advantages our associate model).

Just like different sports, I think that there are different styles of campaigns that demand a different approach and temperament of telemarketer.

Using the analogy of cycling, since I've been following the Tour de France recently, in one camp you have the "sprinters".

These are people are best to deliver power over short distances, much like a short, very targeted telemarketing campaign. Think here about niche campaigns with a small list of targeted contacts that require a specialist touch.

Great sprinters, from a telemarketing perspective, are specialists with deep domain expertise. This enables them to maximise results over a short distance (which means a small list). It's all about power; they're typically referred to as "heavy hitters".

We've got a number of associates that fit into this bracket. Typically, though, they're not that good at longer campaigns which require more stamina to complete.

For that, you need an endurance expert.

These telemarketers are the ones that legends are written about. Calling into functions such as IT, HR & Marketing has become a herculean task.

Most of these people have put in place systems and protocols to stop you getting through. It's an often hostile environment that requires a think skin and determination to keep going. Dial rates of 120+ a day are not uncommon, and expect to only actually pitch less than 10 decision makers a day.

Attributes of telemarketers in this category include perseverance and a dogged determination to keep going. They know their numbers and watch metrics such as dial and pitch rates since they know that if they speak to enough people they will deliver.

Again, we have some excellent associates who are endurance specialists. They are a rare breed are are the real deal when it comes to old school cold calling.

So, as ever, it's all about horses for courses, as they say.

If you have a niche proposition with a small target universe, invest in a heavy-hitter who can make every call count. Just don't expect them to put in days on the phone or bother about how many dials they did.

If you have a more generic offering, possible targeting SME's or the mid-market, then you are going to need someone who can crank out the calls and keep going when others give up.

Occasionally, you can get people who can do both. Jonathan Vaughters, team manager of Garmin (in the Tour de France), says: "In athletics, you can turn a miler into a marathon runner, but you can't do it the other way round."

I'd agree with that in telemarketing too.

A heavy-hitter, which the right attitude, can pound the phones like the best of them. However, in my experience, the traditional endurance telemarketers struggles with the short campaign as their style often relies on a high % of blow-outs before they strike.

With small campaigns you just don't have that luxury.

Labels: b2b telemarketing, cold calling, outbound telemarketing

I've recently finished reading the excellent Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin.

In his book Seth maps out 14 trends that are shaping the business world and suggests that the winners will be the companies which align their business model with what he calls "New Marketing".

Unsurprisingly, since this book is from the guru of permission marketing, Seth says in the executive summary that Old Marketing tactics such as telemarketing and cold calling "are all in trouble"

I didn't exactly spit out my coffee at that point but it did make me sit up :-)

The thing is that Seth's talking about telemarketing as a "mass marketing" media, since he compares it with Network TV and newspapers.

And in that sense, he's absolutely right.

Mass-market telemarketing, which is typically B2C, is dead. As I've posted about previously (see Ethical Telemarketing Companies? Now I know we're in trouble!) unsolicited cold calling to consumers just doesn't work any more.

But let's not throw the baby out with the bath water.

Telemarketing can still be extremely effective as a marketing tactic and, in certain situations, can deliver far better results than other, often over-hyped, digital marketing tactics.

As long as it's highly targeted and relevant then outbound telemarketing can not only be effective but it can also be well received (I posted about this a year ago Google ads show us the future of cold-calling).

My view is that telemarketing is already shifting to higher value, more complex sales propositions where it can still deliver a strong ROI.

Will telemarketing ever become extinct as a marketing tactic?

I guess that if it no longer delivers a return-on-investment then the answer's yes. Or if legislation comes out to ban it's use in business-to-business.

At the moment, though, if you need to reach senior decision makers and key influencers in business, high-targeted telemarketing can still deliver.

Labels: b2b marketing, b2b telemarketing, cold calling, social media

Even though I've been in the telesales business for over 20 years (I ran a telesales team back in 1989 for an IT services company), I'm always interested in reading books on the subject. You never know, you just might pick up a real gem of an idea.

Anyway, I was looking Art Sobczak's Telesales Blog and saw a recommended book that's not in my library called Successful Sales Managers Guide to Telephone Sales.

Cool, I thought, let's have a look at this one. But, then, something stopped me dead in my tracks - it was published in 1999!

Now, in some ways, 1999 isn't that long ago. But in the world of telesales it's an eternity.

In a way, the title of the book gives it away - "Telephone Sales".

I was chatting the other day to one of our associates who worked in one of the first telemarketing companies back in the 80's. We were talking about how the game has changed so much in that time.

For a start, there was no voicemail. Not to mention the fact that people were actually happy to chat with you :-) No email. No web.

Today, at some levels within an organisation, you can call all day and not reach anyone. And that's exactly why the tactics that worked in the 80's, and even back in 1999, just don't cut it anymore.

Back in 1999 I was a regional sales manager for a company selling IT solutions for manufacturing (the fact we were selling to manufacturing dates the story for a start!) In those days, you would ask a prospect, "do you have an email address?".

The game has changed.

The description "Telephone Sales" just isn't accurate any more.

Telephone, voicemail and email are all daily tools. Today, we set up as many appointments by email as we do by phone. Social networking sites like LinkedIn and web based research tools have become critical in positioning your approach. Web demos have become the norm for software telesales.

But in a few years time we may be saying... that's so 2009!

Labels: b2b telemarketing, cold calling, social media, telesales

I was recently interviewed for a podcast on Telemarketing & New Business Development by Michael Beale.

Michael runs a UK training company and, in the past, I've attended a number of his excellent NLP training courses.

Anyway, as a trainer and consultant, Michael found the interview useful to think through the process of starting a telemarketing campaign, so I thought I'd post a link to the podcast and transcript.

You can either download the podcast here or read the transcript of the interview.

Labels: b2b telemarketing, cold calling, new business development

This is really something that annoys me about telemarketers that use scripts; I'm sure you've had this happen to you too.

The phone rings, I answer "Hello, David Regler" and they start "Can I speak with Mr David Regler please?"

Did they not hear what I just said?

If find this happens in both B2C and B2B telemarketing and it comes down to the simple fact that they're more interested in reading the script than actually opening their ears and listening to what the prospect is saying.

This is one of the reasons why we don't use scripts.

Somewhere there's a book that every telemarketing company has read that says you have to start a call with "May I speak with Mr X, please?". So, guess what, that's what every telemarketing company says when the start the call.

Think about it, you've probably been called a thousand times with that same line. So, when you hear it you just know what's coming, right? Shields up!

The trouble is that they might very well have something of interest but when they start out like this you just stop listening and start thinking "how do I get out of this call?

So you've got this bizarre situation where the telemarketer isn't listening, he's just trying to grind through the script and complete "another call". The prospect on the phone isn't listening because they're sat there trying to figure out what to say to get out of the call (which they'll do once the telemarketer finally takes a breath!).

Two people on the phone, neither wants to be there and neither is listening to the other.

Strange world, isn't it?

Labels: b2b telemarketing, cold calling, telemarketing services

Telemarketing, like all direct marketing disciplines, has a strong tradition of measurement.

The number of dials you make, number of DMC's (Decision Maker Contacts), number of appointments you book, it's all about the numbers.

But sometimes you need to look a little deeper at the numbers to see what's happening.

For example, many telemarketers will say something like, "I make 120 calls a day"; as if that's the only metric that matters. Because if you focus just on the number of dials, you're missing something really important - the actual conversations.

If you think about it, when you're getting through to the right people and having a quality dialogue with them, then that takes time. If you pitch, say, 15 prospects in a day, that's pretty good going. Add to that the fact that you'll probably need to do some fulfilment with each one (prepare and send an email, for example) then you can see that it's not all about the dials.

In the film Boiler Room, (which is for telemarketing what Glengarry Glenross is for sales) when the new recruit is being trained he's told "this entire business revolves around the phone. A good broker makes over three hundred calls a day."

Now, when you watch the film, you see these guys pitching prospects, wrangling with them and using every rebuttal available to reel 'em in - and they're still supposed to be making three hundred calls a day? I don't think so!

It's like the sales manager who told his new recruit to make ten appointments per day. When they meet up in the field after his first day the new recruit proudly tells his boss that he did it, he completed ten sales appointments in the day. "Great", the sales manager says, "How many did you close".

"Close?", says the new recruit, "I didn't have time to actually sell them anything!"

It's like all management tools, the activity itself shouldn't be the goal. In telemarketing it's about sales leads and appointments.

Measuring activity gives you an understanding of what's happening, but the focus should always be on results.

Labels: appointment setting services, b2b telemarketing, cold calling

For me, one of the interesting things I picked up at the Being Digital event I attended yesterday (excellent event btw) was that consumers don't mind adverts as long as they're relevant.

OK, that may seem obvious, but it came out of a lengthy panel discussion on how to monetise content in a fragmented market without upsetting your audience.

When adverts as relevant (or targeted), such as with Google Adwords, then people don't object to them. In a way, there's this serendipitous effect that the advert appears to reach you just when you were looking.

OK, maybe that's over egging it, but there's no doubt that the more targeted your ads the higher the conversion, or CPR, or whatever metric you're using plus (and here's the real thing) the less you upset your target market.

This is what I've always said about targeted cold-calling for new business.

When you really target your audience, then your hit rate goes up, plus the people you are calling will respect the fact that your call was relevant to them. Even if they're not interested today, they will agree that they could have been.

Think about it. For most telemarketers they're calling you just because you're the next person on their list. How does that make you feel? Now, how different does it feel if someone contacts you because they've actually thought about whether you might be interested before they called you?

Perhaps they've done some research about your business or competitors. Or they've noticed a trigger event that makes them believe you would respond positively to their message.

Approaching any new business campaign in this way is essential to starting a relationship that you can build on for the future.

It's about mutual respect, really.

Labels: appointment setting services, cold calling, lead generation agency, lead generation company, new business development, telemarketing agency, telemarketing company, telemarketing services

Adding to what I said on my previous post, I came across this blog "The Ultimate Revenge On A Telemarketer".

This really is the best! Have fun.

I found it on an Ecademy blog which was talking about how to avoid telemarketers.

It seems the word "telemarketer" is not a label someone wants to have; it's signifies someone who's a low-level, scripted, call-centre...well, "telemarketer"

The reality is that I know many big-ticket "telemarketers" who have been doing this for a long time and have made a lot of money (and still do).

Generally they focus on business-to-business and very high level work. Calling on CEO's is completely different to calling someone's home in the evening (CEO's are soooo much easier)

Consider this...there are some industries where the "big-billers" do all their business on the phone. They make cold-calls, they cut high-value deals on the phone and make a lot of money.

Generally they're in some kind of "broker" activity, such as recruiting, or executive search.

Think about that, recruiting's an industry that thrives on cold-calling. One veteran once told me "recruiting is cold-calling"

I personally do about 50% of my work by phone. It's nearly always "cold-calling" - whether it's research or lead generation. But then again, I also use email a lot and online networks such as LinkedIn

There's two main reasons I don't call myself a "telemarketer":

1) It limits what I do, as I say, the phone is only one way in.
2) It devalues what I do, when people are looking for telemarketers they want to pay next-to-nothing.

That, and the social stigma, public humiliation and verbal abuse ;-)

Labels: cold calling, telemarketing agency, telemarketing company, telemarketing services

I was chatting to a fellow business developer the other day and we discussed the concept of "the wall" in cold-calling.

Hitting the Wall is a term from marathon running (also called "bonking") where the runner experiences dramatic fatigue.

From a cold-calling perspective, it's a very similar experience. It's something that few people (and most call centres) appreciate because they forget that cold-calling is essentially a human activity.

What do I mean by that?

With other methods of direct marketing, such as direct mail or email marketing, it's easy to play the numbers game. For a start, there's a lot of consistency in the medium used and message delivered. With telemarketing, the message is delivered by a human being.

Remember that.

Most new business developers, the experienced ones that have been in the game a long time, will tell you that they like to alternate projects. For me, 3 hours is a good length of time to work on the same job. It's long enough to get some momentum, but short enough to keep you fresh.

When I get calls from potential clients and they start talking about, "I want 20 leads per week, based on 60 hours of calling", etc, I know that they've never actually done the job themselves.

Now, those metrics could actually be correct. But the idea that one person can stay chained to the desk and deliver the same message again & again without getting bored, tired or clinically depressed... I don't think so.

What did The Prisoner say? "I am not a number..."

To me, this is one of the key aspects of understanding whether I can deliver on a campaign - bandwidth.

As always, it's all a matter of quality vs quantity.

Labels: cold calling, telemarketing agency, telemarketing company, telemarketing services

I read an interesting article on RainToday.com called "Does Email Cold Calling Work?". The article's written by Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies. (I'm a big fan of Jill)

Reading Jill's article reminded me of my blog back in May, Email vs Cold Calling, which looked at exactly the same topic.

Jill says: -

"When I talk about email cold calling, I'm not talking about huge email blasts to everyone on your mailing list. I'm talking about targeted, focused, and totally personalized emails. That's what captures the attention of prospective clients.

Because it's virtually impossible to connect with decision makers on the phone, you need to immediately start thinking about how you can include e-mail in your account entry campaigns."

I wonder how many telemarketing companies have realised this?

Of course, most telemarketing companies are just not set up for doing this, and their people wouldn't know how to construct a targeted email that works. In a way, the majority of telemarketing companies are focused purely on one thing...the phone; they've built their whole business model around it.

Meanwhile, the corporate world has rapidly adopted email as a preferred method of communication. Think of all those executives with their Blackberry's.

To me, it's pretty obvious. If you can't get them by phone...try something else.

Labels: appointment setting services, cold calling, telemarketing agency, telemarketing company, telemarketing services

I've been following an interesting discussion on the Electronic Recruiting Exchange about whether cold calling or emails are most effective for sourcing candidates.

Whilst the discussion has a recruiting focus, it's equally valid for sales & business development.

Reading the emerging discussion posts, what became apparent was that there seems to be a polarised view on this. Some people say email, some say cold-call..with each citing outstanding results they've had from their respective method.

To me, this isn't a case of "either or"...more like "and both".

Cold calling, sending unsolicited emails, using online networks such as LinkedIn are all valid strategies. Each has it's advantages and disadvantages and, guess what, none of them work 100% of the time with 100% of people.

In my experience, different management levels, and different industries have their own particular quirks. And, of course, it all depends on how compelling your proposition is...and what the outcome is that you're after; appointment, qualified opportunity, passive candidate sourcing...they all put a different spin on your approach.

Truth is, for some client's I've set up great high-level meetings without ever speaking directly to an executive. For others I've accurately sourced passive candidates through LinkedIn. Sometimes it's all been by phone...it's like they didn't know email even exists :-)

Email is certainly not going away, and with the rise of Blackberry's and mobile email devices it's often the only way you'll reach someone for a time-sensitive project.

To me, the quality of your approach counts more than how it's delivered. If it's targeted, simple and compelling (and, of course, the timing's in your favour) then you'll get good results.

The secret is to remain flexible and try something different until you get the results you want.

Much like life, really.

Labels: cold calling, marketing, sales lead generation

I was chatting with a good friend of mine, Michael Beale, who has an interest in, amongst other things, the use of language patterns for seduction.

We were discussing a book we both own called "The Full Facts Book Of Cold Reading" by Ian Rowland.

It is, incidentally, the only book on the subject endorsed by the excellent Derren Brown.

Cold reading is (my definition) the art of convincing people that you can read their mind, tell their future, etc. It's done by making vaguely specific statements and then adjusting to the responses you get. In my opinion, there's nothing super-natural in it.

Anyway, there's an excellent section on how you can apply techniques from cold-reading to making cold-calls.

Now, I've got to say, these techniques carry a potential risk of blow-back (they're more appropriate with low-level "blockers") but, if you really need to get that information, and you've tried other approaches...they're worth a go.

And, our course, if you want to learn an interesting party trick...

Labels: cold calling, telemarketing agency, telemarketing company, telemarketing services

The other day I had an amusing cold-call from a recruitment company. I'll not mention their name, but they bill themselves as "specialising in placing and training graduates for high-profile sales and marketing jobs". Yeah, right.

Anyway, this guy calls me up, let's call him James, and from the start he's not listening.

ME: Hello, David Regler.

JAMES: Can I speak with Mr Regler please?

ME: This is Mr Regler.

JAMES: Er...er...(He recovers and launches into his pitch) We're a UK Recruitment company specialising in placing and training graduates for high-profile sales and marketing jobs. I want to arrange a meeting with you...yadda, yadda....synergies....explore relationships...yadda, yadda....

He goes on for a couple of minutes and I don't say a word (apparantly the more he talks the more I'm convinced). His pitch is just the usual canned waffle. Eventually, he closes me for an appointment with probably the oldest one in the book.

JAMES: I'm going to be in your area either May 8th or 11th, which is best for you?

ME: James, I don't understand why you want to meet me (I ignored the fact that he obviously didn't know where my area was and I seriously doubt whether he was going to ever be in it).

JAMES: Er...er....

ME: You're a recruitment company right?

JAMES: Yes

ME: Well...we don't employ anyone.

JAMES: Er...er...(this was obviously not an objection on his script)...I don't understand...er...

ME: We work on an associate model, that means we don't employ anyone. So why would you want to waste your time meeting me?

Talk about lack of qualification. If he'd taken one minute to look at my website he'd have found that out. I mean, the clue is in the name: Maine Associates ;-)

I went on to question James about his company, got to find out that he'd been there 6 months and had been through their intensive sales training which included, wait for it, cold calling. His target was to make 6 appointments a week; obviously it didn't matter what appointment it was - the company didn't have to meet some basic criteria, such as do they hire sales people ;-). If he just wanted an appointment he should have gone to the doctor.

I emailed his MD and suggested that if they wanted to run a real training course on "cold calling" they should give me a call. I'll not hold my breath on that one.

Needless to say, James' approach is not unique. In fact, it's pretty much the standard out there. And while people like James are doing such a bad job, our life is so much easier.

When we contact prospects they instantly know that we are different - and that's what makes the difference.

Labels: appointment setting services, cold calling, sales lead generation, telemarketing agency, telemarketing company, telemarketing services