If one of your top priorities in 2022 is increasing the volume of qualified, sales-ready leads in your funnel, adding bandwidth via a teleservices provider is likely on your radar. It’s usually wise to engage in a B2B tele pilot with a new marketing partner to help ensure a successful long-term investment. We recommend focusing on these four key areas to get the biggest bang for your buck.
Dedicated Representation
The people that will be on the frontlines, representing your company, should be dedicated agents instead of part-time or non-dedicated, here’s why:
- To achieve relevant conversations and quality leads that result in opportunities, you need a tele team that masters outreach, understands your products/services, and becomes a true extension of your company.
- A dedicated team builds relationships with your sales organization, understanding what information is critical to producing leads that stick.
Collaboration
The critical period begins once the pilot is up and rolling. Your vendor should encourage regular status update meetings and request your feedback. Call calibrations allow you to hear the messaging, the market’s response and provide an open forum for team discussions. Make sure you select a vendor committed to helping adjust if something unexpected happens.
Patience
Running a pilot too briefly– perhaps only four or eight weeks – can provide inaccurate or inconclusive results. Instead, plan to invest 12 to 24 weeks into your pilot. The longer a B2B tele pilot program, the more accurate the results and the more likely you are to create leads your sales organization wants.
- Ramp-up takes time. During the ramp-up period, the agents learn the best ways to utilize your unique messaging and value propositions. They need time to gain confidence with their new product knowledge and uncover the layers of decision-making at each targeted organization.
- Early spikes should be scrutinized. If your results are much higher than anticipated, consider the data source and whether it can be replicated on an ongoing basis. If it cannot, you will be doing yourself a disservice by not testing additional sources and prospect segments.
- Integrating sales feedback sets up success. The best way to ensure leads convert to opportunities is to work closely with your sales team, gain their feedback and insights once they engage with leads/appointments from the pilot’s initial days, and make proactive adjustments accordingly. Continual feedback over several weeks will allow the right tweaking to build a pipeline that sticks.
Forward Thinking
Select a vendor that focuses on your long-term success by analyzing trends and sharing feedback that will help you refine your marketing strategy. Having an experienced partner that can provide you with recommendations will allow you to navigate any rough waters you run into, either upstream (i.e., quality of inbound inquiries) or downstream (i.e., sales buy-in). Thinking long-term allows you to exponentially increase your return on investment.
Looking for ideas to improve your teleprospecting efforts beyond the pilot? Here are several strategic ways to drive ROI long-term:
- Perfect the Lead to Sales Handoff
- Implement Lead Revitalization
- Improve Data Quality
Interested in brainstorming about a lead generation, teleprospecting pilot for your company? Contact TeleNet. We leverage over two decades of B2B teleservices expertise and will work with you to sketch out a pilot based on your 2022 goals.