2 Secrets To Supercharge Your B2B Telemarketing

We all agree that B2B telemarketing is still a vital component of any B2B lead generation strategy. And that when it’s done badly, it produces poor results.

So, what have years of running B2B lead generation campaigns for companies all over the world taught us about effective telemarketing?

Here are two B2B telemarketing secrets we’ve learned that can have a powerful, positive effect on your outbound lead generation success.

- Secret #1

Throw away the script. Unless you are a professional voice actor, who also happens to have a sound product knowledge and well-developed sales skills, scripts are not going to help you. Scripts ignore one of the most vital components of B2B lead generation: SALES PROSPECTS ARE PEOPLE.

Imagine for a moment that you might be interested in a new car, but you’re not certain. You pop into your local dealer with some questions about the latest model of SUV. But instead of chatting to you about your life, how the vehicle will improve your daily routine, and answering queries, the salesperson insists on only reading from a script. It’s a comical B2C example, but not that far from the truth for a lot of B2B telemarketing conversations we’ve seen.

So, if there’s no script, how do you stop your telemarketers from freezing on calls, or losing focus on qualification, and having a nice chat, but one that won’t lead to a deal for your business?

The answer is prompts. By creating a prompt document that features:

• The goal of the call
• The proposition
• Key situation questions
• Key benefits and business needs
• Different types of stakeholder and their key pains
• A few points of clarification on the benefits
• and next steps (always allow for multiple outcomes)

you empower your telemarketers to have conversations with prospects and to treat them as the complex people they are. Conversations don’t only mean personal connections, but also trust, and in an early-stage sales scenario trust wins you information. The more pertinent information your telemarketers gain through having the prospect’s trust, the greater quality your sales leads will be.

- Secret #2

B2B telemarketers are not phone monkeys. They are often a potential customer’s first experience of dealing with your business; if they create a bad initial impression you’re unlikely to get another chance, and you may miss out on a lucrative deal. Wouldn’t you rather have everyone leave any engagement with your business feeling that they have been dealt with in the best possible way and to the highest standards. So:-

• Recruit experienced people where you can
• Give them realistic targets with structured bonuses and a career path
• Have a formalised initiation period where they spend time in different parts of your business: R&D, Product Management, Customer Service and Field Sales, so they absorb the culture, develop a broader understand of your solutions and a knowledge of the sales language of your business
• Create prompts for them, as above
• Give them processes: for capturing leads, tracking callbacks, tracking progress in the nurturing of leads, reporting, management, and for their own personal development
• Show them how valuable they are. Engage them in the whole sales cycle. Let them know when a lead they created has turned into a deal for the business and make sure they are financially recognised too. Then they can see and enjoy the contribution they make to your organisation.

Put these into practice and you’ll already be well on your way to having an effective telemarketing function to drive lead generation.

Next, click below to download our free eBook and learn about the changing face of B2B lead generation, and how you can get ahead of the curve to win new deals.