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Monthly Archives: January 2020

What’s Mindshare when it’s at home?

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What’s Mindshare when it’s at home

Telemarketing companies are engaged by clients to find the right key decision makers and communicate compelling messages. Most telemarketing companies would say they stand or fall on their ability to achieve this task well. But does this always mean a sales lead is generated? You might think so. However, the answer is almost certainly no.

Why bother!

What’s the point of going through the agony of finding decision maker names, dialling numerous attempts to catch them, mustering the pluck to get your message out, asking open questions, and phew… finally the close… if you’re not even going to get a sale at the end of it all. Some might say this is a waste of time if you don’t actually make a marketshare gain, like winning the sale or taking an order away from the competition. The truth is, telemarketing companies will not just be concerned with generating tangible, measurable results, whether they’re sales leads, meetings or sales transactions. In fact, the work of telemarketing companies is more often about having a series of two-way conversations with potential buyers that are simple enough to challenge the way they think. The premise being that if you do this often enough, and well enough, eventually sales or marketshare if you like, will follow.

Selling and sales

These days the task of selling is rarely about just winning orders. As more markets become saturated, the differentiating factor between one product and its competitors becomes harder to define. Everything starts to look broadly the same. When this happens, people and their collective personalities and attitudes become the main factor making a company stand out from the crowd. In the same way that we all remember great service, those calls that stick out in our mind because someone was charismatic, knowledgeable, demonstrated understanding of our business, will be the ones that stand out for us. And that’s what we call mindshare! It’s not just about being ‘nice’ it’s about truly connecting with people, and building an army of supporters as we go through our day.

It’s all in the mind

When mindshare works, it means that clients, customers, or prospects connect with your business and its values. Yes, it’s likely to create marketshare at some point, but on its own, it’s not a tangible sale. So where marketshare is measurable as the amount of revenue you generate, mindshare is about how well people remember your brand or business which is much harder to define.

Thought leadership publishers Future of Customer Engagement and Experience describe a failure to create this warm mindshare factor as the Chewbacca Syndrome. They explain the effect. ‘It happens frequently to those who are completely neck deep in their company lingo and have a unilaterally inside-out view of the world. The customer’s reality and the market situation might as well be on a disconnected parallel universe, for all the consideration it’s given’. One of their key recommendations to avoid Chewbacca syndrome is to put the customer at the centre of your universe. In other words, take the trouble to reflect on their needs and wants before diving into your remit to sell.

So why care?

Telemarketing companies consider mindshare to be as important as marketshare. Quite simply because the leads we generate this month might be a measure of marketshare, but the value we deliver in six months is attributable to mindshare, and depends on how we influence people today. When organisations are only concerned with winning sales, the culture within the sales team will be self-serving and flawed. Like the Chewbacca Syndrome, it’s a bit cheesy and repellent and definitely isn’t for organisations with an eye on long-term sustainability.

To find out more about how Blue Donkey can help you create positive mindshare for your brand contact us on 01353 724 880.

Why clever marketers outsource to lead generation companies

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Why clever marketers outsource to lead generation companies

These days, more and more aspects of business are being outsourced to specialist firms. B2B telemarketing is just one of the many activities that are being passed to lead generation companies who have the skills and systems to get results quicker, or better, compared with an in-house team.

Designing, development and business strategy all work more effectively when tackled by specialists who know their stuff and have the support systems in place to manage metrics in a granular way. This element alone is far more exacting than in previous years for two reasons. Firstly, most markets now have at least some level of saturation, so only those making the best use of limited resources will survive and continue to win market share. Secondly, customer experience and data usage are an absolute priority now, so if you are reaching out to customers, that communication needs to be pretty darn hot! The right outsourced telemarketing teams will offer energy, experience, and dexterity, and frankly, where lead generation companies fail to impress, they’re out!

Specialist skills

Like you wouldn’t put your health in the hands of someone who wasn’t specially trained, neither should your telemarketing be considered an entry level competence. Good lead generation companies will have decades of experience making brands shine. Their client list should be key to your selection criteria, and as ever, if they are working for companies you’re impressed by, you can feel safe adding them to your auditioning process. Similarly, check their Google reviews. The good ones will have client comments, as well as contributions from staff who’ve gone on to bigger and better as a result.

To achieve consistent, high-quality results from lead generation companies you need to be open about the challenges your sales process faces as well as the business strengths. The more knowledge and experience you pass on, the quicker lead generation companies can get momentum and start generating results. On the other hand, paint a too-rosy picture and the brief will be flawed so the telemarketing team will worry unduly about their performance. Having realistic, shared metrics means objectives can be aligned so everyone is pulling towards the best goals.

Key competencies

If you’ve ever made a telemarketing call, you’ll know how much of a challenge it can be. From getting past the gatekeeper and communicating your message to the right decision maker, to building a rapport and getting consistent output, telemarketing is a tough shout. Highly trained communicators, in well run lead generation companies, will have the necessary skills to achieve your targets while growing your brand appeal across more potential customers. By reporting on each and every dial made in your name, monthly, weekly, daily and hourly, success can be compared month on month to make sure the key competencies within your telemarketing team keep getting stronger and stronger.

The role and contribution of the outsourcing industry to the UK economy has been growing for decades. Outsourcing shouldn’t be confused with ‘offshoring’, where certain functions are placed overseas to save money. The outsourcing industry is an increasingly important driver of the UK economy. According to the Business Services Association (BSA), almost 10 percent of the UK’s workforce is employed in outsourcing, accounting for 3.3 million jobs.

It may be cheaper to outsource

It used to be a general rule of thumb that outsourcing key business functions cost more money. In recent times, however, this view has begun to shift, particularly in areas such as payroll, accounts, and IT. This is because, with increased pressure for efficiency, some things are less onerous, complex or time consuming when they are carried out by trained individuals who do them all the time. Additionally, software and other support systems have become more integral to business survival, so only companies successful enough to afford them will survive competitive forces. Good lead generation companies will have to make significant investments in both systems and training to ensure every moment of the time you engage in is delivering a unit of value that you will be happy with.

Hence it may actually be cheaper pound for pound to outsource compared with having an in-house team who won’t benefit from the training, coaching, or systems lead generation companies have and will, therefore, take longer to get results. Furthermore, lead generation companies usually only get paid for the time they are spending on your project, where retained staff typically spend less time on the phone. And if you only run major telemarketing campaigns a few times a year, you also have the benefit of scaling up or down quickly. All in all, it’s increasingly likely that having your in-house team focus on core activities and outsourcing your telemarketing to the right lead generation companies will tick more boxes for you now than in years gone by.

To find out more about the benefits of outsourcing your telemarketing, or to learn about the high quality services Blue Donkey offer, explore our site or give us a call today.

Why B2B Telemarketing companies use open questions

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Why B2B Telemarketing companies use open questions

B2B telemarketing companies love open questions, in fact, they are the single most important tool in our armoury. This is because, for a telemarketing call to be successful, we need to get people talking to us about what’s important to them and their business. The faster we can get someone talking, the easier it is to build rapport and begin laying the foundations for a business relationship. Of course, decision makers are busy, so getting them to sit down and talk isn’t always easy.

We’ve tried out lots of different ways of getting telemarketing calls off of the ground and like most good B2B telemarketing companies we find the best method is the open question. Simple but effective – this tried and tested technique has been helping the Blue Donkey team to achieve outstanding results year after year.

What makes an open question?

An open question is a question that can’t be answered with a simple, single word, such as yes or no. B2B telemarketing companies need to get people talking, dial after dial, as compellingly as possible. Asking questions that engage and capture a buyer’s imagination will get them contributing to a conversation quickly and attentively. Usually starting with words such as what, when, how, where or why, an open question is one that gets people thinking and draws them into a dialog. For example, a question beginning ‘how do you achieve…’ takes focus and concentration, so you’re likely to get some useful detail in the answer. Once you’ve got them talking, you can direct the dialogue, begin to introduce your business and get your relationship underway.

Open questions increase our likability

We all want to be liked. Engaging a complete stranger on the phone is never an easy thing to achieve. Coupled with the fact that at B2B telemarketing companies, we know the people we’re calling are NOT interested. How do we know that? Well, we’re calling them, and they’re not calling us.

Asking open questions, that engage and get people talking is a human skill that’s as useful in life as it is in business. By showing genuine interest and learning to listen attentively to others helps us build more enduring relationships, and helps us find meaning in our work (as in life). New research from a team of Harvard psychological scientists suggests that asking more questions and in particular, asking more follow-up questions —increases people’s positive impressions.

Open questions Do’s and Don’ts

B2B telemarketing companies invariably use open questions to gently probe decision makers about specific challenges their business faces. These are always in relation to the product or solution they are calling about. Here’s what we think.

Do keep your questions simple and focus on one thing at a time. Don’t try and double-barrel your questions so you’re asking about lots of things at once, as the decision maker will generally answer the last one only. Do be clear about what you’re asking if you’re not clear how can someone else be expected to understand? Don’t use the same question over and over again, like anything you’re repeating endlessly, it will eventually sound robotic. Do listen to the answer, most of us find listening hardest when we’re nervous. Finally, don’t ask someone you don’t know how they are today (nuff said).

Use open questions to gain insight

As well as helping B2B telemarketing companies get the decision maker talking, open questions are used to gain insight and build a mosaic about each organisation we call. This helps by both opening up new potential opportunities, and as a means of powering up our client databases, so that over time they can become a valuable business asset in their own right. Not only does a good database provide sales, it will also become an ‘intangible asset’ in company valuations if overtime open questions are used regularly to keep building insight and intelligence about prospect companies.

A bit of research before you pick up the phone, or as you’re dialling can help you identify questions that could lead to something more. A few moments looking at a website could arm you with a better understanding of who they are and what they do so you can ask the right questions when you’re speaking.

Don’t ask if you can ask!

Finally, B2B telemarketing companies probably spend as much time weeding out bad habits as they do teaching good ones. One of our pet peeves is the temptation to ask if you can ask. It serves no purpose other than to make a question longer and more cumbersome. Listen carefully and you’ll hear someone doing it in your office today. It’s when a question is preceded by the words ‘And can I just ask’.

Open questions are a vital and powerful telemarketing tool. To learn more about how B2B telemarketing companies craft telemarketing techniques, or to find out more about what we can do to help you, contact a member of the Blue Donkey team today.

The importance of influencers in B2B telemarketing

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The importance of influencers in B2B telemarketing

Influencer marketing is having a big impact in B2B telemarketing and marketing generally. Understanding the important role played by influencers in business can help marketers power up their brands like never before.

The rise of influencer marketing

To some extent influencer marketing has been around for a long time. As soon as one business recommends a product or service to another business, they’re influencing decisions and acting as brand ambassadors. These days, influencer marketing is used in a much more deliberate way and on a larger scale. From recruiting selected online ‘influencers’, to designing online and offline campaigns to encourage recommendations from person to person, companies have now embraced different influencer marketing techniques.

Data

Like influencer marketing, data driven marketing has long been used by B2B telemarketing companies to identify potential customers, target campaigns and drive marketing. However, the introduction of big data is now providing organisations with an unprecedented level of information about their customers, to help feed marketing decisions and success. According to data experts Search Data Management, the ever-growing volume of internal and external data flooding into businesses, means educated data management strategies are essential. Companies use the big data accumulated in their systems to improve operations, provide better customer service, create personalised marketing campaigns based on specific customer preferences and, ultimately, increase profitability. Businesses that utilise big data hold a potential competitive advantage over those that don’t since they’re able to make faster and more informed business decisions, provided they use the data effectively.

Data & influencer marketing

Combining data driven marketing with influencer marketing will help organisations achieve better results from their campaigns. Gathering key metrics about potential and existing clients means marketers can understand their target audience better. This, in turn, enables them to mould campaigns around specific needs and wants, and ensure their marketing message is always responsive to changes in mood, so it’s on point and relevant. In B2B telemarketing having informed and relevant content is vital to the success of metrics around engagement and conversion because you only get one chance to make a strong impression on the phone. Unless telemarketers come from a position of having sound informed marketing insight and can demonstrate an understanding about why customers decide to buy from one business rather than another, their campaigns won’t be as effective. Additionally, good quality data about buying habits, customer needs, and competitive offerings, can also boost future product and service development for the demographic they’re targeting.

Multi-platform approaches

The more a business knows about its customers, the easier it is to find appropriate platforms on which to promote and raise brand awareness. Using multiple platforms in a marketing campaign can help to reinforce the message and achieve maximum exposure. For example, a business could work with relevant influencers to promote products or services and then follow up the initial influencer campaign using telemarketing. If the call list used in the telemarketing campaign is created with the help of such data, it’s likely to be relevant, accurate and productive.

Taking full advantage of all tools and techniques available can help businesses to improve the results of their marketing campaigns. Find out more about telemarketing and successful marketing techniques by taking a look around our site.

Is it time to STOP opening B2B Telemarketing calls Happy New Year?

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Is it time to STOP opening B2B Telemarketing calls Happy New Year

At the right time of year, opening B2B telemarketing calls with the phrase ‘Happy New Year’ is a great way to set a positive tone for your conversation. Unlike the many religious festivals and events that take place over the same period, New Year is pretty much universal so applies to anyone.

However, as a lot of telemarketers begin their calls with ‘Happy New Year’ around this time, people can get bored of hearing it fast. And in fact, if you persevere with the opener for too long, you could end up irritating people rather than disarming them. So, when exactly is the right time to stop wishing everyone a happy New Year? And should you set your telemarketing team a clear cut-off point?

First week back in the office

The first week back in the office in January is generally an acceptable time to begin every call by wishing the prospect a happy New Year. Most people will be speaking to colleagues, telemarketers and B2B contacts for the first time since before Christmas so it won’t come as a surprise if they’re wished a happy New Year several times a day.

According to a poll carried out by Cambridge News, 22% of people stop using the phrase after the 1st January. Luckily for telemarketers, however, the same study found that a whopping 63% of people continue to wish colleagues, friends and B2B contacts a happy New Year until the end of the first week of the month.

Into January and beyond

The Cambridge News poll found that just 15% of people believe it’s appropriate to drag New Year pleasantries out for the whole of January. Most people will have done their fair share of well-wishing by the middle of the month and some may find the phrase a little jarring as January draws to a close.

In fact, wishing prospects and contacts a happy New Year long after the celebrations are done and dusted can make your telemarketers seem like they’re trying a little too hard to be friendly. It could also give decision makers and gatekeepers the impression that they’re low on ideas or poor innovators.

Getting it right

If you want to ensure your team gets their calls off on the right foot and doesn’t irritate anyone with their New Year greetings, it’s important to train them in effective and productive opening techniques. If they’re able to tackle a range of situations, they won’t have to rely on clichés and will be able to use seasonal greetings only when they’re really appropriate.

To find out more about improving the quality of your B2B telemarketing calls, contact a member of our team or take a look around our site.