The rise of Artificial Intelligence and automation is becoming increasingly popular in today’s society and it certainly does have its benefits. However, how many times have you called a company to make a simple enquiry and been met with an Automated Voice Response System (AVR), jumping through multiple hoops just to try and reach another human who can empathise with your problems?
Your answer is probably too many times to count.
With this in mind, why do so many companies rely on social media, and other digital methods to generate leads?
This is not to say that you cannot generate high-quality leads through these methods, you certainly can. Although people very much underestimate the power of incorporating humans as part of their lead generation strategy in the modern world and assume that digital platforms and automation are the only way forward.
In this article, The Lead Gen Specialists will discuss five reasons why outsourced telemarketing remains a successful strategy for lead generation and why businesses should consider incorporating the human touch into their B2B lead generation strategies.
What Does Lead Qualification Look Like to You?
Before you start to implement lead generation strategies, you first need to identify and recognise what a lead looks like to your business. To begin with, you need to define your ideal customer profile (ICP). Create a detailed profile of what your target audience looks like, and be sure to investigate factors such as demographics, interests, pain points and purchasing behaviour.
After you’ve discovered your ICP, it’s time to start looking at your buyer’s journey. Are your customers people who are looking to buy your product or service right now? Or is the journey longer, where you need to focus on capturing the prospect at an early stage and then nurture them until they are sales-ready?
Implementing a lead-scoring mechanism will really help you with prioritising leads based on their engagement and level of interest. To set up a lead scoring process, assign numerical values based on how prospects interact with your content or website. For example, if they download a whitepaper, you would score them a higher number than somebody who liked your social post as they are demonstrating they are further along in the buyer’s journey.
So, with this in mind, let’s get into the five reasons why telemarketing will always be a successful strategy for lead generation.
Expand Your Sales Territory with Telemarketing Services
B2B telemarketing offers a unique approach to expanding your sales territory and reaching untapped audiences, surpassing the capabilities of other lead generation methods. It allows you to effortlessly connect with customers from anywhere without having to consider travel time and expense costs that are frequently associated with expanding into new geographic locations. As a result, you’re able to acquire even more rewarding business opportunities.
In addition to generating leads from new locations, talented telemarketers possess the ability to conduct comprehensive market research, providing valuable insights into specific areas. Through meaningful conversations with prospects, telemarketers gain a deep understanding of the prospect’s needs, preferences and pain points. After obtaining this information, you are then equipped with the knowledge required to tailor your messaging to cater to the specific demands of your target market, offering your business as a viable solution to the prospect’s problems.
Telemarketing presents the opportunity to enter new markets swiftly and cost-effectively. As opposed to establishing physical locations or hiring a new sales team in every location, you can leverage telemarketing to make initial connections, gauge interest and assess the viability of expanding your operations further, as well as, allowing you to refine your offerings and improve your marketing strategies.
Cost-Effective Solutions for B2B Lead Generation
If your business operates within the B2B arena, you are well aware that every penny counts. Budgets are constantly changing, and maximising your return on investment is always the top priority. Outsourced telemarketing services can be a cost-effective solution for your B2B lead generation strategy.
By outsourcing your telemarketing services to a professional lead generation company, you will make a saving in a multitude of areas, including:
- Recruitment drives
- Training and upskilling
- Software and hardware
- Infrastructure
- Salaries
As opposed to investing time and money in finding and training an in-house team, you gain instant access to a team of talented telemarketers who possess the skills and knowledge needed to pique prospects’ interests and generate high-quality sales-qualified leads ready for your sales team to swoop in and convert.
In addition, outsourcing your telemarketing services offers flexibility and reliability. You can scale up or scale down your services based on your current requirements. This flexibility ensures that you always have a dedicated resource focused solely on producing a consistent flow of both marketing and sales-qualified leads.
Enhance Your Customer’s Experience
It is increasingly important to demonstrate to your client base that you are not a ‘faceless’ corporation run by automation and robots. Despite individuals being on their phones now more than ever before, people still want to see and deal with people.
Telemarketing has evolved significantly over recent years and has become an effective tool for enhancing the customer experience. While many view telemarketing as intrusive, when executed thoughtfully and professionally, it can provide value to customers.
A study conducted by RAIN Group revealed that 57% of C-level executives across industries prefer and value information given over the phone.
If your business operates within an over-saturated industry and you’re trying to find ways to set yourself apart from your competitors, telemarketing enables you to offer bespoke, customised solutions to your prospects. By offering bespoke solutions to those you speak to over the phone, your prospects will feel as though you truly listen to and understand their pain points, which will eventually increase trust, brand loyalty, and in turn, generate more leads.
Telemarketers Build Your Brand
Telemarketing allows for proactive communication between businesses. Instead of waiting for prospective clients to reach out with queries or concerns, B2B telemarketers can take the initiative to address potential issues, offer support, and provide timely information. This proactive approach demonstrates a commitment to customer service which in turn helps to build trust and loyalty within your brand.
Telemarketing can offer a human touch in an increasingly digital world. While automated systems certainly do have their benefits, customers often appreciate the opportuntity to speak with a real person who can empathise, understand their specific requirements, and provide a personal touch. This human connection can go a long way when building rapport and fostering positive customer relationships.
Another benefit of outsourced telemarketing for lead generation is that your brand will stand out from your sea of competitors. People are more likely to remember a phone conversation with your brand as opposed to an advert they have seen from your competitor on Instagram.
Whilst telemarketing is a great method for lead generation, the longer-term growth of your business will greatly depend on how you nurture your relationships with your leads. If you prioritise strong customer relations, you can increase retention. Retaining customers makes it significantly easier to cross-sell in the future. Aside from that, if you have a strong customer nurturing strategy, you may achieve new customers by word-of-mouth! If you’re not sure where to begin with prospect nurturing, maybe you should consider outsourcing your lead generation strategy.
Build a Pipeline of Sales Qualified Leads
Before you can begin any successful lead generation campaign, you’re going to need to have access to the right prospect database. To better understand who you should be targeting with your outbound lead generation campaign, you should analyse your existing customers, their sectors and who the likely members of the Decision-Making Unit are.
A well-thought-out B2B telemarketing campaign that maximises each conversation with a buyer can lead to significant business growth. This is achieved through developing a robust lead-scoring strategy. By understanding your buyer persona and customer profiles, as well as assessing your existing customer base, you should be able to define a clear lead-scoring process which will qualify a prospect into either a marketing qualified lead, a sales qualified lead or someone who is not interested in your service. From here, you can segment your audience and tailor your messaging in your email marketing campaigns accordingly dependent on what stage your prospects are at in their buyer’s journey.
Outsourced telemarketing is a fantastic way to build a pipeline of sales qualified leads. For example, at The Lead Gen Specialists, our dedicated team of telemarketers undertake a ‘non-scripted’ approach to our telemarketing calls which helps to drive growth and provide quality contact solutions. Not only does our tried and tested telemarketing service generate immediate sales opportunities, but we also enhance and enrich your database to allow for ongoing lead nurturing.
In conclusion, telemarketing, when executed with consideration and professionalism, can significantly enhance the customer experience. By delivering personalised interactions, proactive communication and a human touch, telemarketers are able to create meaningful connections with customers, which will, in turn, accelerate your business growth and increase your ROI.
If your business is interested in generating high-quality, industry relevant leads, get in touch today by calling 03332 400 054 or emailing enquiries@leadgenspecialists.co.uk to find out how our telemarketing services can accelerate your business.
