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Monthly Archives: May 2019

A new age of data

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While data still sits at the heart of marketing, we have entered a new era where targeting specific prospects is more valid than volumized campaigns, and brand protection matters more than putting an extra 1% on sales numbers.

In the midst of all this talk about data, and metrics, what really makes the difference to competitive advantage is the human element that underlies the myriad of marketing disciplines. Too often businesses can fall into the trap of thinking about marketing in its more abstract form, devoid of the vast amount of differing personalities that play an integral part in every aspect, from the most esoteric to the most ubiquitous. Good marketing will always have people at is heart.

It’s tempting to think that in B2B database terms ‘big is beautiful’. However, this perception is loaded with peril and is completely out of date. After all, who wants to be treated like a record on a database? Back in 2013, advertising agency, Hill Holliday, and brand strategy consulting firm, Lippincott, released the “Welcome to the Human Era” report, which evaluates brands and separates those that are Human Era brands as opposed to Industrial Era. What exactly does it mean to be a Human Era brand? According to the report, being a Human Era brand goes beyond merely saying that one is more “human.” It requires an authentic story delivered consistently through an inspiring experience. It requires hard work — establishing organisational values and commitments that are customer driven, while also driving them toward daily leadership decision-making and employee behaviours. Those brands who fit the Human Era brand mould are creatively paving the way for a new world of marketing that sparks an emotional connection with the audience.

Success in business to business sales is all about uncovering and engaging the right buyers with a sensitive offer that is built around each buyer’s unique needs and wants. So approaching decision-makers with a standardised or shoehorned message of any kind is a fundamentally flawed way of tackling the task of B2B sales. Instead by approaching marketing using a practice commonly described as the ‘segment of one’, enables companies to treat every potential buyer as unique and tailor their messaging specifically around their needs.

This means you have to segment the data very carefully, and test on a small scale before upsizing your campaign to engage with potential buyers to understand more about what their needs are.  Increasingly, service and customer experience have become important as markets continue to become more saturated. Reach Force’ article ‘The 3 Most Popular Methods of Segmentation for B2B’ dissects the protocol for engaging with your potential buyers, segmenting customers by three specific means – firmographics, tiering and, finally, needs. They say “customer segmentation is powerful, because it allows the marketer to draw an accurate picture of their customers, group them according to similarities, and devise pinpointed messages to specific segments of their customer base. Inevitably, these messages are personalised and tailored, which results in a significantly higher number of Human-to Human conversions.

Only companies who can adapt around the needs of unique customers or prospects will really get the benefits that good customer experience, referrals, and repeat purchase can deliver. For the Human Era brand, two-way communication, focusing on the client’s unique needs and requirements is what sets a company apart. Blue Donkey has seen the benefits in this regard, by understanding that no brand is the same and each client needs that one-to-one experience, in order to forge lasting and mutually beneficial relationships.

Find out more about how you can focus on your clients unique needs by contacting Blue Donkey on 01353 724 880.

We object!

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Overcoming an objection can often seem like the stage in a call where you’re climbing a mountain and begin to lose your grip. You ask the right open questions, communicate eloquently about the innovative benefits you’re offering, you establish a desire and a need, then WHAM! You’re met with a wall of resistance. This is in fact one of the most common challenges that telemarketers and salespeople have to learn to deal with. Although it’s easier to give up in the face of objections, learning to handle objections – and turning negatives into positives – is one of the most important skills professionals need to succeed. In other words, resistance is one of the many tests of strength that we have to overcome in order to achieve the desired objective.

So, how exactly can you overcome objections to achieve your goals? Here’s how the team at Blue Donkey use resistance to our advantage.

Objections demonstrate interest

If the decision maker you’re talking to objects to some of the points raised, it shows they’re interested in your product or service and that they’ve been paying attention to what you have to say. A good telemarketer will welcome this resistance and use it as an opportunity to engage with the buyer, allaying their concerns and discussing any misgivings they may have.

Listening

When talking to a decision maker, it’s important to give them the space to explain their objections and really listen to what they’re saying. For example, if a buyer raises a common concern like cost, this may be masking their true objection so the telemarketer needs to probe and listen, understand and get to the bottom of their cause for concern. If a buyer becomes emotional, it’s important to look beyond this as it can be tempting to shut off when a subject arouses strong feelings.

Product benefits

Throughout a pitch, it’s important to emphasise the product’s features and benefits. When objections are raised, you can then use these advantages to counter objections and to gently assuage their concerns. This is especially true when an objection is raised over something like cost. A good telemarketer should be able to help the buyer understand how much value they’re getting for their money and how beneficial the product or service will be to their business. It’s important to remind decision makers that cheap rarely means good value or good quality.

Acknowledge objections

Occasionally, the objections that buyers make will be legitimate. In these instances, it’s important that telemarketers back off and don’t try to talk the buyer down. No one is right all the time, so simply restate the benefits and features of a product and accept when a buyer has made their decision. To ensure objections aren’t all voiced at once, it’s also a good idea to make space for decision makers to raise concerns throughout a conversation so they can be tackled one by one.

When done properly, objection handling helps us build trust with potential buyers. Only when all obstacles to the sale are removed are we able to move on to the next stage in the relationship; that of building the prospect into a customer and beginning the journey to become a brand advocate.

To find out more about the work we do, or to discuss a project of your own, get in touch with Blue Donkey today.

 

 

In For A Penny, In For A Pound

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Marketing is a risky business. Blowing your budget on the new big fad could be expensive and embarrassing. Since few of us have a crystal ball capable of reliable predictions about how much of which media or stream to employ, all we have at best is a bit of experience and a bit of luck.

When choosing whether telemarking has a relevance for your business, we suggest you avoid the In For A Penny In For A Pound approach. Telemarketing is one of the few channels that offers the opportunity and means to test, refine, and try again.

Kolb’s experiential cycle

Kolb’s experiential learning theory (Kolb, 1984) is a four-stage cycle of using the experience of learning through testing. Kolb maintains that learning involves the acquisition of abstract concepts that can be applied flexibly in a range of situations. In Kolb’s theory, the impetus for the development of new concepts comes by testing a set of ideas and learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience.

So what does that mean to telemarketing

Testing small data segments and different messaging will help you make a value judgment based on sound rationale. What message resonates with particular buyers, or against certain backdrops can be tested using small low risk data sets. This is as simple telling a prospective client: Who you are, What you do, and Why its special. Follow this with the right open questions and product proof points and you have a formula ready to test.

Message testing

How well does your message condense into a pithy non cheesy opening introduction, what are the key questions that can get your potential buyers talking, how much time do you need to expend the learning curve. All these questions can be ironed out with a small segment of test calls before you’re ready to scale-up.

Getting some of your tested records through the various stages of gestation, from cold call, to relationship and rapport building, to getting the meeting or sale will help you map a potential journey and time line for the rest of your data. Testing with a small segment or selection will not only help you upscale successfully and set fair and viable targets, it will help you brief your telemarketing team or agency with the right information for them to get off to a good start.

Be brave but don’t jump in blind. In For A Penny In For A Pound may be sage advice for some aspects of life, but it’s not for your telemarking. Upscaling mistakes can take a long time to recover from.

Talk to Blue Donkey today about a free mini test. If we think your project has potential, we’ll test for free and give you some sound basics about how telemarking can work for you.

 

 

How sales and selling continues to adapt

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The profession of sales and selling as a commercial activity has seen many interesting changes, from the Victorian model of service, to self-service, to the wonders of mobile and web shopping. Telemarketing joined the race to win customer spend around 60 years ago with the notion that one human speaking with another human can provide a compelling and persuasive way to win sales.

Salespeople across the world now have a number of powerful tools and techniques at their fingertips making the sales industry a lot more complex. The methods employed by salespeople are now informed by huge amounts of research, allowing them to better understand the needs, concerns, and buying patterns of customers, as well as helping them to get the most out of every contact.

The team at Blue Donkey is continually working to improve its techniques and make calls as productive as possible, we’re a driving force in the evolution of sales techniques. Our intelligent approach allows us to use technology to make a personal connection, transforming standard sales calls into powerful selling opportunities.

Innovation

Today’s technology is unrecognisable to the technology of 50 years ago. According to Statista, just 35% of UK households owned a landline in 1970. By 2000, 95% of households had landlines and today, according to Ofcom, 93% of UK adults have a phone of their own.

This, combined with the 82% of adults who use the internet on a daily basis, has made it a lot easier for businesses to get in touch with their customer base.

Companies can now employ sales techniques across a range of platforms; they use a combination of methods to sell to clients, understand their needs, and turn them into loyal customers.

Psychology of sales

Over the last 50 years, there have been countless studies conducted on the psychology of sales and the effects that different approaches have on a sales call. Though some salespeople don’t take advantage of this wealth of research, the team at Blue Donkey use it to their benefit every day. Understanding how simple ideas and approaches can impact on a sales call will help to improve success rates and build stronger relationships between customers and companies.

Effective communication

Thanks to the prevalence of technology and the advances made in psychology in the last five decades, salespeople are now much better placed to communicate effectively and efficiently when they’re on a call. Good salespeople are also able to treat each and every person they speak to individually, avoiding the robotic, scripted calls that plagued the industry in years gone by. By approaching each call on an individual level, salespeople can work together with the person they’re speaking with, to understand their needs and offer solutions. By being effective communicators, telemarketers are much more likely to create meaningful contacts and achieve the results they need.

Over the past 50 years, sales techniques have become more intelligent, more personal, and more effective. By learning from this wealth of experience, Blue Donkey can make our sales calls as productive, positive, and professional as possible.

Targeting and segmentation

No doubt one of the most profound developments over the last 50 years is the way companies decide which buyers are important to them. Modern marketers learn all about Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning (STP). This clever approach to marketing is where companies group potential customers into segments based on similar needs and buying behaviours. They then evaluate each segment and decide which one is most important to them, usually on the basis of potential spend. Positioning is where companies decide how to position their brand in the mind of the buyer, this could be on price, on the number of features, on desirability, etc.

So, in theory we should only be approached by companies promoting products or services that are relevant to us to a greater or lesser extent.

Databases

Data and data collection methods have also become one of the big innovations of our time. Now every time you tick a box for information, accept a free gift, or make an online purchase you find yourself on a database that is likely to lead to further contact. The ‘Internet of things’ takes this even further, so your mobile phone, your fridge, and any number of devices can tell the world something about you.

Numbers

One of the many repercussions of this is buyers now have less tolerance for mass messages, or limp messaging which doesn’t stand out as unique in some way. So, far from the old adage that marketing is ‘a numbers game’, we can safely say the better your list the more marketing success you get. Furthermore, lots of competing products and services vying for our attention as well as our pounds and pennies tells us that most markets are saturated. So, in a world where there is no such thing as a USP anymore, organisations are having to work harder, smarter and more intelligently to secure that loyalty and spend of buyers. This is especially true in B2B environments where successful companies are linked more and more to good service. And ultimately service comes from people.

In the telemarketing world, this boils down to an increased demand for intelligent calls, made by sensitive, intelligent and commercially savvy individuals. The impact of the first impression has never been more important. Talk to Blue Donkey today on 01353 724 880 about how we can make your impact compelling.

Left and right brain thinking

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Brain, Mind, Psychology, Idea, Hearts

 

Home to everything from our imagination and memories to our sense of empathy and reason, the brain is a truly remarkable organ. One of the most fascinating things about the brain is that it’s split in two. The right half is thought to primarily control our creative side, while the left half is said to be responsible for logical thought such as understanding facts, science and maths.

Though we don’t realise it, many people rely more on one side of their brain than the other. Many modern jobs encourage left brain activity, with data, metrics and facts all important in the world of business. Here at Blue Donkey, we believe that engaging both sides of the brain makes us better communicators and better marketers. Allowing us to apply creative ideas to our rational process, it’s just one of the things that helps us to stand out from the crowd.

Left brain/right brain

Although scientists aren’t sure why we’ve evolved to have two such distinct hemispheres, a lot of research has been carried out into identifying the individual functions each half of the brain is responsible for. This has suggested that, as well as managing the right hand side of our bodies, the left hemisphere is where logical, sequential, rational, analytical and objective thought takes place.

The right hemisphere, as well as managing the left hand side of the body, is thought to be in charge of random, creative and subjective thought. It’s where our intuition comes from and it’s the area of the brain that allows us to take in the bigger picture and come up with imaginative solutions to a problem. However, the two halves of the brain are not independent of each other and we of course need to draw on elements of both hemispheres for creative and analytical thought.

Using the whole brain in telemarketing

Although many people who work in business rely heavily on the left side of their brain, engaging the right side can do wonders when making telemarketing calls and connecting with clients. By using our intuition, imagination and creativity, as well as our logic and reasoning, we can bring a holistic approach to telemarketing and get great results in the process. Being creative and imaginative on the phone, also helps us to get more from our interactions by allowing us to be more sensitive to buyers’ needs.

Right brain methods

One of the techniques we use when making telemarketing calls is ‘visualisation’. By using your imagination to ‘see’ the person you’re talking to in your mind’s eye, you can overcome some of the communication barriers talking over the phone can present. Many of our highly skilled telemarketers also use the right side of their brain to help them paint pictures with their words and bring a product or service to life. Another technique we use is the ‘benefit star’. A useful way to map the attributes of a product or service, the star works out from open questions at the centre, to key features and benefits relevant to what the decision makers have told us are important or unique to them. Conversely, when we try to help people grasp the intricacies of a new product we use facts, numbers and proof points. Drawing more on the left hand side of their brain, this analytical approach helps to give prospects the full picture.

By using both sides of the brain in our telemarketing calls, we’re able to better empathise with buyers. This helps us to understand their mood, their needs and their motivations, something that’s crucial for a successful telemarketing call.

By using all of the tools available to us, we’re able to employ a comprehensive approach that uses the best that the left and right sides of the brain have to offer. To find out more about our training, techniques and high-quality services, take a look around our site today or contact us on 01353 724 880.