Digital marketing methods have become quite popular; however, telemarketing continues to be relevant than ever. According to various studies, this marketing method is a vital component of the marketing mix for various businesses. It is not only beneficial but also cost-effective and provides a great way of reaching prospects.
What is B2B (business to business) telemarketing? B2B is a form of telemarketing in which one company sells to another company. Calls are not made to the final customer but to decision makers in another company. Compared to the B2C or business to consumer market, there are less consumers in the B2B market. Since the market is smaller, the possibility of finding new customers is lower. Closing a deal or a client means long term benefits for a business because value for each transaction is quite high. If handled in the right manner, telemarketing as a marketing tool can offer good returns on investment. B2B telemarketing has become a very popular method marketing in almost all business sectors, be it engineering, IT, legal or even sports). There are several ways in which telemarketing can be used for supporting a company’s B2B marketing strategy. •It not only helps in getting quality leads but also in creating awareness. This awareness helps in engaging potential prospects and also in up-selling new products and services to existing clients. •By integrating telemarketing in the marketing strategy, businesses can create dialogs. Through telemarketing, it becomes easy to build relationships and interact with prospects in a way that is not possible with other marketing techniques. Prospects can ask questions over the phone and telemarketers can easily gauge their reactions and hear feedback. Since there is a two-way dialog, telemarketing becomes a powerful marketing channel. •Through telemarketing, businesses get ‘warmer’ leads as the initial prospecting is done via the telephone and then the warmer leads are chosen and handed over to the sales team for the next stage. Compared to leaving this task to sales executives, telemarketing is more cost-effective. •With the right telemarketing strategies, businesses can nurture existing relationships. Some of the methods through which telemarketing can help foster relationships include, brand reinforcement, up-selling and market research. With effective B2B telesales and telemarketing, you can take your business message further and also uncover new business leads. Here are some of the strategies that you can consider for being successful at B2B telemarketing: It is very important that your business has hired expert telemarketing agents. They should have the experience and the expertise to encourage prospects to talk. They should not only listen carefully and be patient but also be honest on call. Key metrics to consider At times, business organisations find themselves in a situation where their telemarketing efforts don’t produce the desired results. Whether they have outsourced B2B telemarketing services to a third party or handling it in-house, there are several key metrics that they need to evaluate in order to understand whether or not telemarketing has been successful. For instance, in order to identify whether or not the database you have is right for your offering, you need to measure the response rate from different companies. In B2B telemarketing, many a times agents make a call to people who aren’t the decision makers. By eliminating these gatekeepers, your business can improve the existing data and also enhance the productivity of the agents. Second key metric is related to sales and ROI. Sales is the key performance metric if the business is generating leads through phone calls. It is also important to evaluate the marketing return on investment and learn whether or not telemarketing is costing your business more than what you are making. A list of all costs related to telemarketing needs to be prepared against the number of sales your business has made. Once done, you need to assess if the ROI warrants the investment. Third metric is related to conversion rate. Success of telemarketing is defined by the number of calls that are converting into leads. However, this is a tricky process because telemarketing doesn’t always generate leads. Some leads also come from interactive platforms and websites. To know if you have had successful telemarketing months, you need to use monthly or weekly call records including conversion rate as a benchmark. When compared to regular telemarketing, B2B telemarketing is more focused. This is because at the heart of B2B is a generated targeted contact list. In this context, there is a carefully thought-out and well-generated list of companies. This list consists of businesses that will have use with the products and services that your business has to offer. The focus in regular telemarketing is on selling and closing the deal successfully. Whereas B2B isn’t focused on selling. The main objective behind it is to generate leads. Leads are of great importance in B2B businesses and telemarketing is one of the best ways to generate those leads. This is the reason why many businesses hire B2B lead generation companies and invest in telemarketing. There are many companies that don’t have the necessary resources to conduct successful telemarketing campaigns. So in order to ensure a steady stream of qualified leads in their sales pipeline, they prefer hiring a telemarketing agency. If you are also planning to do the same, then make sure that you are doing some research and comparison. Shortlist at least two to three service provider names, compare their charges and services and make a final choice. Telemarketing continues to be an effective medium for businesses; however, it cannot stand alone. It needs to be used in conjunction with other nurturing campaigns. It is a part of the marketing mix that is used for qualifying, educating as well as nurturing prospects. So if you want telemarketing to bring you results, then make sure it is being conducted with a highly defined set of rules and procedures. You need to have an expert telemarketing team working for you.
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