Many marketers face the decision of whether to outsource teleprospecting on a campaign by campaign basis or to invest in a dedicated agent (or team of agents) on an ongoing basis. Assuming your overall teleprospecting volume warrants it, utilizing a dedicated team on a consistent, ongoing basis has noticeable benefits. Some of those advantages are as follows:
Improved Knowledge – Dedicated agent(s) become a true extension of your marketing and sales team. They receive initial training before the launch, and build upon that knowledge through ongoing monthly/quarterly training sessions, as well as ongoing interaction with your market and buyers. You can also entrench your agents into your corporate culture by having them attend annual/quarterly sales and marketing meetings, engage directly with your sales team, and take part in your certification programs. Alternatively, when you outsource sporadically on a campaign by campaign basis, in many cases your outsource agency will need to assign a different agent to each campaign, increasing the training and ramp up required.
Consistent Lead Volume– After a pilot period, benchmarks and baselines for productivity are determined, typically allowing you to rely on a fairly consistent volume of leads. This makes monthly/quarterly projections possible. A dedicated consistent model eliminates the unpredictability of lead volume. Conversely, if you engage in ad-hoc campaign work, you will experience inconsistent lead flow and slower ramp up periods with each campaign.
More In-Depth Analysis– With a dedicated model, you can more easily spot “big-picture” trends in the market, your messaging, your competition, etc., allowing you to make intelligent decisions to positively impact your results. Alternatively, stand-alone campaigns are many times isolated and “big picture” trends are lost.
Sales Buy-in– A dedicated model provides consistent lead quality to the Sales organization, which in turn results in more leads moving into pipeline. When sales representatives receive consistently high-quality leads, they’re more likely to aggressively work them. Conversely, if quality is different with each campaign and/or lead volume is sporadic, the sales team is more likely to place leads on the back-burner. We have found that it is highly beneficial to facilitate consistent dialogue between sales and your dedicated teleprospectors. This allows your sales team to directly provide feedback on the leads, thus further improving quality and solidifying collaboration.
Easier Approval– Going back to the “well” to get more funding and/or have new contracts signed usually has its challenges. Thus, you may find it is easier to obtain buy-in from senior management to fund a dedicated team on quarterly or annual basis, than it is to gain approval numerous times throughout the year for campaign based work.