When utilizing Teleprospecting as a sales strategy, whether internally or utilizing a 3rd party vendor, it is easy to fall into the trap of defining success strictly on the basis of qualified leads uncovered during a campaign. While qualified leads are an important aspect of determining your return on investment, it is important to analyze additional information gained from a campaign. Unfortunately, all contacts do not result in leads but their current status can provide you with important information. Here are a few outcomes that we use when tracking call results which may be useful as you analyze the data:
Known Business
These contacts had a conversation with an agent and it was discovered that he/she is already engaged in an activity with a sales representative. This information can be compared against your current sales pipeline, as in some cases, additional information may have been gathered that can prove valuable to the sales representative.
Information Gathering
These contacts engaged in conversation with an agent and described details regarding their current situation and discussed possible projects they were considering for the future. The timeframe may have been too far in the future to qualify as a lead or perhaps they were not quite sure when funding would be available for the project. In any case, this is valuable information for the sales representative that may be prospecting this particular account. It is also important to follow up with these contacts at a more appropriate time either through your internal sales force or utilizing your telemarketing partner to provide nurturing efforts for these contacts.
Customer Service
These contacts engaged in a conversation with an agent but had an unresolved issue with the company. Passing this information on to your customer service department or sales representatives sends a positive message that the company cares about the customer and was pro-active in discovering the issue. It also provides an opportunity for the company to reach out to the customer in order to be sure their needs are being met and the issue has been resolved appropriately.
Bad Phone Number
These records had invalid phone numbers and there was not a current number available upon further research. When analyzing a list for a campaign, this information can be helpful in determining the value and accuracy of the sources from which you acquire your lists. It also helps to identify companies that may have gone out of business or merged with another company, helping you keep your customer records and databases up to date.
Leveraging all the data uncovered on a Teleprospecting campaign will add value to your entire sales and marketing organization.