TeleNet has compiled our “Top 10” lead development tips for a successful 2023.
10. Increase Communication with Customers
We encourage marketers and customer managers to proactively look for ways to add human touchpoints to the customer experience. Having a conversation makes customers feel valued. There are plenty of perks for you, too, because an open dialogue allows sharing of information leading to new opportunities and expanding customer longevity. In addition, give customers communication options and employ an expansion strategy.
- Customer Renewal/Expansion – Utilize your lead development team to target accounts that haven’t made a purchase recently, are up for renewal, or would be a good target for additional services. Focus on benefits of your most recent innovations, special offers and competitive positioning. The human touch via tele will give your customers the warm and fuzzy feel.
- Manage/monitor online chat – Your team can monitor chat in addition to their outreach. Customers navigating your website will get instantaneous access to support and service. For customers, providing multiple options for outreach is key to maintaining satisfaction. Lead development agents, trained to spot “buying questions,” can engage in 1:1 conversation with prospects and customers. Early engagement leads to a higher conversion to pipeline.
9. Assess your Approach.
Take some time to review your outreach in detail and look for ways to optimize and improve upon what you have in place. Some examples include:
- Understand your metrics – Know what it takes for your lead development team to be successful. Understand all relevant metrics, including per day touches, right-party connections, interviews and qualified leads. Don’t forget data usability statistics and referral rates!
- Listen to your callers. Set aside time to listen to audio recordings of your team’s conversations. Assess their skills, the messaging, and the market’s reaction. Adjust your approach accordingly.
- React to your source and asset performance – Examine your results from last year to know which sources (content syndication, events, etc.) and assets are worth further investment this year.
8. Make your Messaging (more) Magical.
Spend time reviewing your value propositions, probing questions, and marketing collateral. Identify what needs to be changed, removed, or added in order to strengthen your messaging.
- Align messaging with top verticals – Incorporate precise, industry-focused messaging to the unique business situations of your target prospect’s industry.
- Build a marketing matrix – Improve your nurturing results by creating a marketing matrix aligning your content and assets to business issues/situations. Your lead development representatives will use this matrix to provide relevant and valuable communication to your nurtured prospect, avoiding the “just checking in.”
7. Make sure your Data Delivers.
Create valuable data and leverage it for strategic outreach throughout the customer journey, boosting your investment.
- Revitalize your marketing data and past leads – Renew past marketing leads and inactive marketing and sales data. Tele will effectively update your account and contact data, identify low-hanging fruit and lay the groundwork for an ongoing nurturing.
- Augment your data – Look closely at your data usability – are you setting your tele team up for success? Seek ways to effectively augment your data, including leveraging your tele vendor’s data sources and a reliable third party.
- Optimize your ABM data – Overlay teleprospecting lists with your ABM data to tee-up accounts most likely to purchase. Prioritize teleprospecting targets, optimizing your contact strategy.
6. Increase Outreach into your Whitespace.
Capitalize on unrealized opportunities by targeting net-new accounts using special offers & competitive differentiators.
- Incorporate human-touch into your overall strategy. Make sure your proactive and nurturing outreach has a “human-touch” element. One to one conversations move prospects into the sales funnel. Don’t rely solely on digital nurturing – buyers want and need to TALK with you!
- Gear up human-touch nurturing to realize the full potential of your whitespace.
5. Strengthen Interdepartmental Efficiencies.
Take this time to evaluate the strengths of your inter-team communication and recognize opportunities for improvement.
- Set expectations with your sales team – Conduct an in-person or virtual introduction between your sales representatives and your tele team to set expectations, provide helpful MQL follow-up tips, and supply a central point of contact. If you’ve done this in the past, do it again. Start the year with a round-table discussion between key members of your lead development and sales teams.
- Create a feedback loop with sales – Obtain feedback on a formal and regular basis from your sales team to help ensure long-term success and high pipeline conversion. Implement “tweaks” to your MQL definition, as appropriate, based on feedback.
4. Schedule Ongoing Training Sessions.
Take advantage of the blank calendar and plan for success. Engage your product marketing experts to provide a training session at the beginning of each quarter, focusing on what’s new, what’s hot, and what’s not. Arm your lead development team with the latest product knowledge, messaging and offers.
3. Employ or Refine an Appointment Setting Model.
Allow your lead development representatives easy access to your sales team’s calendar for appointment scheduling. Adhere to a two-week scheduling window to improve the attendance rate. Employ a warm hand-off for the best customer experience.
2. Plan for success.
Define your goals and identify who will be responsible for contributing to them.
- (Re)Define your measurement of success – Ensure you have a clear definition of success, which is measurable and achievable. What will make your lead development efforts successful? Opportunity conversion, pipeline achievement, return on investment? Make sure everyone understands what constitutes success.
- Hold EVERYONE accountable (including yourself!) – Implement service level agreements with your marketing team (relevant content, messaging, contact/account data), lead development team (MQL quality, turn-around-time) and the sales team (follow-up cadence, CRM documentation, feedback)
1. Hire TeleNet!
If you’re not already one of our customers, it’s time to jump on board. With 23 years of experience, TeleNet has a wealth of best practices focused on optimizing results at every step, positively impacting the E2E lead lifecycle and increasing your marketing-generated revenue. Contact TeleNet today!