Telemarketing Archives

5 ways to improve your appointment setting success

Posted on 6 August 2020 by bluedonkey

Appointment setting is a key competence for most professional sales people. But while it’s critical to telemarketing success, appointment setting is notoriously difficult, and widely feared. Convincing a potential buyer to commit to a date in the diary requires skill. It’s incredibly important a sales team know how to approach calls in the best way for their brand. This means they have to echo the brand and business values whilst maximising their own personality traits. At Blue Donkey we’ve developed techniques to help our teams get the best appointment setting results for our client family. Read on to find out more.

1. Open questions

In previous posts, we’ve talked about the importance of beginning with an open question during telemarketing calls, and appointment setting is no different. Open questions usually begin with the words who what when why or how. They prompt expansive and detailed answers. Asking an open question will help you to connect with the person you’re speaking to. One of the best ways to build a relationship with anyone, whether it’s business or life, is to get them talking. Once you’ve got a two-way conversation going, it will be a lot easier for you to understand their requirements and needs. Only then are you in a position to win their confidence and secure a worthwhile meeting.

2. Cold calling works

Appointment setting calls are often completely cold. Getting decision makers to agree on a date on the first call is hard unless the call is really compelling. Having reliable data, flagship clients, and success stories to hand, will help sales people pepper their calls with reasons to meet. They should work with their marketing department to develop a profiled target list. If the list is robust, and there’s a compelling proposition, potential buyers will be interested enough to engage. The telephone is a great way of connecting buyers in a one-to-one about something which could improve their business. You can’t direct a mailing, email, or any other medium to ask questions and build a discussion around the unique needs of a buyer, telemarketing can do that.

3. Rapport

People are always more likely to make appointments with telemarketers that they like. Use your open question to get a conversation going and then ask insightful questions about the company and person you’re speaking with to build rapport. Once you’ve got a dialogue going, you should be able to bring up appointment setting fairly naturally. The ability to build rapport with others is increasingly becoming an important skill in business. In B2B environments, where companies differentiate on their relationship driven approach, the ability to deliver good experience is entwined with rapport-building.

According to Mind Tools It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in or what position you hold – knowing how to build rapport can bring you countless opportunities. After all, when you have a rapport with someone, he or she will usually want to help you to succeed. Some people might argue that this is all a natural gift – either you can build rapport with people or you can’t. However, this is not the whole story. Rapport can develop naturally, but anyone can also nurture and improve rapport, just as they can any other skill.

5. Nurture

Appointment setting with key decision makers won’t always be possible until a series of dialogs or actions have taken place. Nurturing the relationship gently over time might be necessary. Getting agreement and consent to speak again at a certain point, or sending follow up information will help. Gently nurturing and developing rapport and trust over time is helpful for building a relationship that endures. The great news is after all the hard work nurturing, these leads are often worth much more when they do convert to a sale.

Find out more about effective and innovative telemarketing techniques and appointment setting services by talking to us today.

Getting B2B leads from red-hot Cold Calls

Posted on 3 August 2020 by bluedonkey

Using cold calling to generate B2B leads is never easy. Even skilled telemarketers can struggle to get a rapport going with a stranger on the phone. In general, the key to success is warming your call up as quickly as possible. The faster you can get from disembodied voice to professional contact, the more chance you’ll have of achieving your goals.

The best organisational relationships have often begun with a phone call. So it’s worth investing time to learn the survival techniques used by professionals like Blue Donkey.

The role of the open question

Unless you can spike someone’s interest and draw them into a call, your cold call will feel like a cold call. Asking closed questions that can be answered with a simple yes or a no can give a decision maker an easy way to swerve your call. Instead, to improve your chances of successfully generating B2B leads, you should ask an intelligent question.

Open questions are an excellent device for drawing decision makers into a call. Usually beginning with the words who, what, when, why, or how, open questions will get a decision maker thinking. Their answers will be longer and more detailed as a result, depending on how strong the question was. Open questions are one of the best tools a telemarketer can have. As well as helping them achieve a good flow of B2B leads, they provide a valuable opportunity to learn more about the company, the decision maker, the market, and their competitors.

Before making your call, you should think of a couple of open questions that you can begin with. Try to make them insightful but uncomplicated, and pick questions that are relevant to the products, or services you’re offering.

Build a two-way dialog

The right open questions will lead you to a conversation with the decision maker about the needs of the organisation. Getting a real, two-way dialogue going will create rapport and engage them. If you’re not successful at generating B2B leads on some occasions, identifying needs, and gaining consent to speak again will help. This is because the next time you speak, you’ll have the information you need to progress those relationships appropriately.

A good call will also mean the decision maker is more likely to remember you when you get in touch. No one wants to be talked at, especially during a cold call, so do try to start the conversation as quickly as possible.

Listening

When we’re nervous, it’s actually quite hard to listen attentively. Telemarketers making cold calls can fall into the trap of talking too quickly. Especially so since generating B2B leads can be a little nerve wracking. They do this in an attempt to prevent decision makers from losing interest. As hard as this is, at Blue Donkey we recommend you ask your open question and then just listen. Seeing a face in your mind’s eye will help you listen and focus.

By listening carefully, you will pick up vital signs for whether you can help the decision maker. If there is a possible opportunity, you’ll hear about it, but only by listening carefully and letting them speak. Easier said than done, unfortunately.

According to Forbes, “Genuine listening has become a rare gift—the gift of time. It helps build relationships, solve problems, ensure understanding, resolve conflicts, and improve accuracy. At work, effective listening means fewer errors and less wasted time. At home, it helps develop resourceful, self-reliant kids who can solve their own problems. Listening builds friendships and careers.”

Focus on long term goals

If generating B2B leads is the be-all and end-all of your telemarketing calls, decision makers will be able to hear it in your voice. Instead of focusing on sales and targets, try to think of the conversation itself as the goal of your call. As well as helping the decision maker feel valued, this will help your call to stand out among your competition. By taking this approach, your calls will come across as professional, and your B2B leads will appear as your data gets warmer.

If you’d like more or better B2B leads or if your sales teams need appointments, take a look around our site. Better still, speak to a member of our team today.

What is a strong call opening in B2B telemarketing

Posted on 27 July 2020 by bluedonkey

The call opening is what happens in the first few moments of a B2B telemarketing call. For many people, this is the scariest part of the interaction, much like the blank piece of paper where you’re required to create something meaningful. If you get the opening right, the call goes well, if it’s wrong the call will struggle to engage the buyer.

At Blue Donkey the analogy we use to describe the call opening is a dive. When a swimmer dives, they make a hole in the water with their hands, for the body to move through. If the dive is good, the body glides beautifully and effortlessly into the deep. If the swimmer should belly-flop, the water slapping the swimmer stings, they scramble for control, it’s unseemly and embarrassing. In B2B telemarketing terms, the belly-flop is the feeling that teams work hard to avoid.

First impressions last

As ever, the first impression a person makes is key to forming a lasting relationship. B2B telemarketing is particularly sensitive to first impressions. This is because most value propositions in B2B will place a special emphasis on their relationship based services. For market leaders, with premium B2B products or services, the quality of an organisation’s relationships will be a differentiating factor. So getting it right from the get go is important.

Who you are

The first item of information in the call opening is who you are. OK, maybe that goes without saying. However, it’s quite possible to create a poor impression just by getting this not wrong exactly, just not-quite-right. For example “hello, it’s Sam here from XYZ” would fall into the not-quite-right category. The use of just a first name is unwittingly telling a story. And that story isn’t great in B2B telemarketing terms. It’s saying, I’m not important, you don’t need to take my call. A better version would be “hello, my name is Sam Jones from XYZ”. Using both first and last names is far more appropriate for a business call. This is especially the case if the person being called is not known to the caller.

Where you are calling from

Again, in B2B telemarketing there’s a right way to say where you’re calling from. And there’s a not-so-right way. The difference is quite subtle but it’s real. You should use the company name in a way that shows pride. If you listen to how company names are used in broadcast media, you can hear the difference. Saying something with meaning needs you to breathe well, and be sat upright in your seat. This is essentially about enunciation. According to Wikihow, “enunciation is a skill everyone could benefit from practicing, especially before a public speech, a singing performance, or just a crowded, noisy gathering. With enough practice, anyone can change, mumbling, mispronunciations, or lightning-speed chatter into a clear, vibrant voice”. Since a B2B telemarketing phone call is a performance, we think it’s worth getting it right.

The reason for your call

The call opening is three things. All very basic items of information. Your name, your company, and finally the reason for your call. Here’s where it gets a little harder. The reason for your call is just that. It’s the reason. It’s not the whole call, it’s not the entire B2B telemarketing sales pitch. It’s not a chance to say everything about a product that comes to mind, yet this is what some do. So if you’re calling to discuss the company phone system, say that. Only that. Because at this point, you’re trying to get your potential buyer to engage. They will only do so at the point where you get them talking. Before they talk, everything you say is to some extent at least, wasted. So save it for when you get a proper two-way dialog going and you know what they actually want.

After me, you’re next

The general rule is you should open the call, then get the buyer speaking first, second, and maybe even third. Then you can speak. You do this by asking intelligent open questions and listening carefully to the answers. In B2B telemarketing, as in life, people are attracted to those who get them talking easily. More than those people who talk easily. So getting the potential buyer talking is a priority after the opening. That’s why open questions are such a key skill in telemarketing.

Find out more about open questions, first impressions, or how Blue Donkey can improve your B2B telemarketing results by exploring our site or getting in touch today.

5 ways to help your B2B telesales create a positive impression

Posted on 23 July 2020 by bluedonkey

Generating a positive brand image is the objective of most marketing activities, and, most companies spend a fortune on it. Furthermore, a negative brand impression can be very hard to recover from, especially if it’s the first impression you gave. As your B2B telesales team is often the first contact a company has with its prospective clients, ensuring your team knows how to avoid making a bad impression is essential if you want your telemarketing campaigns to succeed.

Coming on too strong

If there’s one thing that decision makers dislike more than anything else, it’s B2B telesales people who come on too strong. Diving headfirst into a sales pitch before you’ve taken the time to build up a rapport with the decision maker will make your telemarketers seem pushy. This could easily lead someone to a negative impression of your brand. Callers should always take care to put the needs of the buyer uppermost in their call. Ask questions, and communicate the things that are important to them, not you.

Do some homework

Decision makers and gatekeepers are busy people, so if they think your B2B telesales team is wasting their time, they won’t see your brand in a positive light. To prevent this, make sure your telemarketers do the right groundwork before they pick up the phone. They should be clear about what they can offer and how it stacks up against alternatives in the market. Having a list of differentiating factors in their minds, using open questions to fuel conversations, and listening. These will all help create a mutual two-way dialog that’s all about the potential customers, their business, and needs. Having stats, benchmarks and examples are all helpful for peppering the call with intelligent insight to inspire the buyer.

Open questions

Asking questions plays an important role in your B2B telesales building a positive brand impression. If your team fails to engage with the prospect and create authentic two-way dialogue, they risk alienating the decision maker.

In addition to helping to create a productive conversation, asking questions gives telemarketers a valuable opportunity to find out more about the prospect and to demonstrate that they have the potential client’s interests at heart. Well selected and profiled data will help ensure you have a compelling reason to call a particular type of organisation. This may be the sector, the size, or the type, but begin by creating a well profiled target list first. This will help ensure the businesses you’re contacting have potential needs for the products or services you offer.

Work at the buyer’s pace

A good connection with a strong product or service offered to the right organisation and buyer will help influence people to act. If they don’t act then they may agree to a further call at a more relevant time for their business or buying cycles. If the data is right, and the calls are informative, you can expect to generate positive outcomes on the whole. But your B2B telesales needs to respect the buyer’s timelines and not be pushy. Add information to the database that will help fuel your next call, and agree on a follow up call date. Be happy to have a detailed conversation, exchange information, and gain consent to speak again when the time is right. By taking this approach your database will grow richer with opportunities that will gradually convert to happy customers. Those that you strong-arm may convert quickly but they won’t stay. In our experience, the most valuable relationships take time to nurture.

Be knowledgeable

B2B telesales teams need to be able to answer all of the questions that decision makers throw at them. This means they need to have an in-depth knowledge of the company, products, and services. They should be able to discuss the benefits of what you offer and make a compelling case for why you’re the best option out there.

Always make sure you check out the latest rules for compliant telemarketing. There are some great free tools and services available via the ICO website.

Find out more about improving the quality of your telemarketing calls by taking a look around our site or getting in touch with a member of our expert B2B telesales team.

How B2B telemarketing companies get attention in seconds

Posted on 22 July 2020 by bluedonkey

B2B telemarketing companies have to capture someone’s attention within the first few seconds of a call. They know that you’ll have a much higher chance of achieving your goals if you can manage this successfully. If you currently struggle to capture your prospect’s attention quickly and effectively, take a look at these tips.

Different

A good way to capture someone’s attention quickly over the phone is to be different from the other calls they get. By giving them something they’re not expecting, you can disrupt their routine and ensure their focus is entirely on you. B2B telemarketing companies develop effective opening techniques so the start of your call is original, informative, and captivating. Then they ask an open question to try and engage the potential buyer as quickly as possible. Once they’re speaking about the things that are important to them, rapport begins to develop.

Make it personal

If a decision maker thinks your telemarketing call is generic or irrelevant to them, they’re very unlikely to pay attention. However, if you tailor your call to make it personal to them and their business, you’ll get further faster. For example, using their company name in your opening. Or having the website open so you have a clearer understanding of their business, customer, or market will help. B2B telemarketing companies routinely get a website up as they are dialling, in order to help them ask more intelligent questions. It’s also useful for helping telemarketers visualise someone in their own environment. This is a good technique for making calls more compelling and less subservient sounding.

Open question

The quicker b2b telemarketing companies get their prospects talking, the greater their chance of success. Asking questions demonstrates not only that you care about their needs and requirements, but also that you’re a good listener. Open questions are always a good way to begin a telemarketing call. If you can make that question insightful and interesting, you’ll have a good chance of capturing your prospect’s attention.

Keep it simple

Few things can cause a telemarketing call to wither and fade faster than technical jargon and business speak. Instead of trying to impress your contact with buzzwords and long, complex phrases, keep your conversation simple. B2B telemarketing companies always make a point of using short sentences and ensuring references are accessible and universal. If you can, begin your conversation with a few statistics or facts that concisely demonstrate why your brand is worth paying attention to.

Focus

Make sure you don’t become distracted during your call. Having asked an open question, people often forget to listen to the answer. Try to make sure you listen carefully instead of trying to think ahead to what comes next. As well as helping you to build rapport with the person you’re speaking to, giving them your complete attention could help you to gain valuable insight into their needs and requirements, something that may help you to build a lasting rapport.

Capturing someone’s attention quickly and effectively is an essential telemarketing skill that takes practice. B2B telemarketing companies spend years mastering the techniques they need to produce efficient and reliable outcomes month after month. Always adopt a best practice approach. You can check out the latest rules for compliance at the ICO’s website and download materials to help you.

To find out more about one of the best b2b telemarketing companies around, take a look around our site or speak to one of our team today.

The meaning of metrics in B2B lead generation

Posted on 21 July 2020 by bluedonkey

When you’re talking about marketing performance, it’s all in the numbers. B2B lead generation is no different. Getting as many potential sales for as little budget as possible is the ultimate name of the game. In fact, in many respects, B2B lead generation has an element of painting by numbers about it. An intelligent formula of activities managed sensitively and carefully will create something that just works. The right actions, at the right point, making the perfect picture of progress, for a brand and the customer experience.

Creating campaigns that work, however, is not simple. Understanding how different metrics work together in harmony, contrast, or clash with counter-productive impacts, all comes with experience.

There’s only one number – the sales

Err, nope! Good B2B lead generation is definitely not just about the sales that occur as a result of an activity. It’s not about the money, not about the conversion from data touched, and not about the skills of key people. Good B2B lead generation is about the overall positive impact of the brand and how it affects the experience of those touched by it. In 2008 we all learned some alarming lessons about the financial crisis and its underlying causes. Arguably, one contributor was the so called ‘over goal seeking behaviours’ of people who were too eager to sell. Now we know that in order to survive, attract the best staff, and continue to grow, companies must care. So how do B2B lead generation specialists manage metrics so they perform, for the organisations concerned, and the prospective customer.

The important numbers and what they tell us

Certain metrics speak volumes about the efficacy of a particular B2B lead generation campaign. The ‘number of dials it takes to reach a decision maker’ is chief among them. Often you need numerous dials to cold call senior decision makers of large organisations. The average for finance director type contacts is between 8 to 13 dials. So a useful metric is how many dials it takes per decision maker discussion. A well-researched, profiled database will pay dividends here, as it will reduce the number of wasted dials.

As a general rule of thumb, a new project, and a cold database will take longer, and cost more to reach. A warm database will take less time and cost less to reach. And you can only warm the data through sensitive, patient hard work. For example, by using wasted dials to check decision maker names and contact details. Reception-level information such as how many sites and turnover will add weight to your record, and value to your database.

Positive outcomes

A positive outcome is where someone was reached and they responded in a way that invites further or future dialog. They want to know more, or they need something, we’ve spiked an interest, or uncovered a need to be met. Sometimes this can be defined as a B2B lead generation success, an appointment booked, a meeting arranged, etc. Other times it can be a request for written information to be followed up with a view to a meeting.

Number of dials per decision maker reached

The metric, number of dials per decision maker, must be viewed through the lens of what happened when they’re reached. If it took 13 dials per decision maker and you reached 100 – that’s 1,300 dials. Probably 3 weeks’ work for a full-time telemarketer. If from your 100 decision maker conversations, 85 could be deemed a positive outcome – that’s good B2B lead generation. Conversely, if 1,300 dials gave you 100 decision maker conversations, and 85 said they’re not interested, that’s bad. In fact, Blue Donkey would have stopped that campaign pretty quickly after it began to refine data profiling.

Stand back and look at the picture forming

So it’s not the big numbers that make a difference to good B2B lead generation. It’s the ability to stand back, and check the granular detail, and look at the picture as it evolves. Make a value judgement about how well the objective is being met. Do people want these calls, and the product and services? At Blue Donkey, if there is more than a small handful of ‘not interested’ outcomes a project will be stopped. Our process of reflective practice means we’ll review outcomes to check what the calls are telling us. If prospects are tied into contracts, if there’s a strong incumbent supplier, if competitive forces are compelling, we’ll carefully review. This insight is then shared with our clients, in detail, with recommendations about how to move forward.

New contacts sourced

Other helpful metrics include the number of new decision makers added to the database. These are new potential buyers that have been researched and added to the database for targeting. The greater the number of qualified new prospects added, the more promising the future of the campaign. Month by month, this new contacts sourced metric should get bigger. While for example, the number of dials needed to reach each decision maker gets smaller. In fact, the more emphasis placed on the database and the integrity of its contents, the better the long term prospects of the B2B lead generation campaign.

As ever, it’s important to ensure your B2B lead generation isn’t just compliant but adopts a position of best practice. To check out the rules for telemarketing consent, see the latest ICO guidelines. There are many resources on their website that will help you get the most from your marketing.

Over our 22 years, Blue Donkey have become one of the most respected and successful B2B lead generation companies around. Talk to us today about how our expert teams can help you.

Why b2b lead generation companies think posture matters

Posted on 15 July 2020 by bluedonkey

B2B lead generation companies have one major human tool that can make or break a call. The voice! A good strong deserving voice will get respect and earn the right to be listened to and taken seriously. A little squeaky mouse voice won’t. And you’d have to work much harder to get past receptionists or win attention from buyers. Communicating effectively over the phone is reliant on many factors. They include intelligence, quick thinking, and an ability to put the needs of others first. In fact, b2b lead generation companies will be more attracted to candidates with a strong voice. These people will have the ability to create a presence with their voice more easily. A candidate who’s too softly spoken or passive will require a lot more training.

Surprisingly however there are some effective techniques to help strengthen that squeak. From posture to positive thinking, b2b lead generation companies have discovered some great ways you can influence the tone, feel, and success of a call. Working on these elements will improve the quality of the voice and therefore the telemarketing, helping your company to connect with existing and potential clients and boosting the chances of success. Read on to find out more.

Posture

People with good posture sweep into a room. Shoulders back, chin up, and back straight, they automatically come across as confident and commanding. This can have a big impact on how others perceive them. For b2b lead generation companies, this effect has to somehow be translated to the telephone. Although we can’t see the person we’re speaking to, and they can’t see us, certain attributes can be heard in the voice, very clearly.

Sit-up

Sitting straight delivers the biggest single impact you can have on your voice. As well as being better for the back, and throat, it helps in other ways. Consider how a wind instrument makes a good sound. It’s the long straight lines that make a difference to how the sound resonates. The human body is similar. Blue Donkey trainers can ‘hear’ a slouch when they are monitoring call recordings. Honest! Our favourite bit of witchcraft is phoning a telemarketer, from another part of the building to suggest they sit-up. Telemarketers also find their work easier and more rewarding when they maintain good posture throughout the working day.

Confidence

Good posture will make the telemarketer seem more confident, more focused, and more engaged in the call. This has a big impact on the impression made on the prospect. For b2b lead generation companies, this instant improvement in quality literally translates to ROI. If a telemarketer slouches when they make a call, the prospect will be able to hear it in their voice. It comes across as a lack of confidence or conviction and will impair outcomes. This would mean fewer calls achieve a positive result than they might otherwise have done. So you can see why b2b lead generation companies think its important people recognise and correct poor posture immediately. As well as impacting the confidence and energy, posture can affect the tone of the telemarketer’s voice. This can prevent them from connecting with the prospect and will affect the chances of success.

Wellbeing

It’s not by accident that granny used to say ‘chin-up’ if you were feeling a little glum. It’s long been claimed that being upright and looking upward is good for you. Experts at joint.com say “By overseeing their body pressure, mood, and stress levels, scientists found that people who sat upright appeared to feel greater emotionally than those slumped. Another finding from the study was that people who sat upward had increased self-esteem, in addition to positive thoughts.”

… And breathe

Breathing is much easier when your posture is upright (try it). So calls flow better and sound clearer with the benefit of good breathing. Breathing deeply also helps us to stay calm, and manage complex emotions. So before picking up the phone, b2b lead generation companies make sure telemarketers pay attention to their posture and take a moment to sit up straight. This will instantly make them feel more energetic, more confident, and more focused, all things that will come across in their voice when they speak to the prospect.

To understand how b2b lead generation companies use body language, speak to one of the best around. Call a member of the Blue Donkey team to find out how we can help you raise the bar for your telemarketing and put our award winning techniques to work for you.

What lead generation companies do about leaving messages

Posted on 14 July 2020 by bluedonkey

We’ve all been there. Call after call of reaching nobody. Lead generation companies have thrived from the frustration this causes sales professionals and their organisations. After all, they can’t even begin to do their job until they’ve got the attention of a potential buyer or decision maker.

In fact, lack of efficiency has been one of the main drivers for companies deciding to outsource their telemarketing to specialists like Blue Donkey. Gatekeeper skills, databases, QA systems, and voice techniques, all help lead generation companies to generate better contact rates than their clients. However, it’s absolutely the case that they have barriers which stop them from reaching their targets too. And frustrations are equally felt, if not more since outsourced providers are on the phone 100% of the time.

It’s a phone, not a magic wand

Lead generation companies have the same limitations as inhouse teams where getting through to the right people is concerned. There are certain facts that have to be faced. Firstly, there is no technique that can get you through to someone who’s not at their desk, or at the receiving end of a phone. And secondly, there’s no magic that you can deploy to get someone off the phone if they’re already engaged in another conversation. So, should you leave a message and let them come back to you when they’re ready.

Leave a message for them to return your call?

In a word, no. Expert lead generation companies like Blue Donkey would not ordinarily leave a message for a decision maker to call them back. At Blue Donkey we certainly don’t advocate it.

Even if they did return the call, there’s a risk they’d be annoyed at being asked to return a marketing call. Especially if it wasn’t clear that it was a marketing call. And who leaves a message saying ‘can x call me back because I want to sell him something’. There is one exception. For certain campaigns, where the limit for how many dials can be made to a number has been reached. In such instances, some clients using lead generation companies may suggest they leave a message as a last touch. In this case, the message needs to be clear and gentle.

How many times should you attempt someone?

You may or may not be surprised to know that it can take between 8 to 13 dials to reach some decision makers. The best lead generation companies will have systems in place to carefully measure and limit the number and frequency of attempts. This is designed to prevent any risk of nuisance caused by repeat attempts.

You should never dial the same number more than 3 times in a week. So if the receptionist recognises your voice, you’re dialling them too often. And never ever, ever, just keep hitting redial. Getting the attention of a senior decision maker is a privilege, not a right. So good lead generation companies will invest the time and effort required to reach them.

Retain the control element

If you’ve left a message asking for a callback, you’ve handed control of the relationship over to the potential buyer. You might suppose that you’ve nothing to lose, someone might call you back. However, that’s very like sending a message in a bottle. There is a possibility someone will respond, but it’s remote. Not a great survival plan.

Retaining control of the call or contact record is important for managing your potential customer universe. The number of well profiled prospects in your B2B database is likely to be limited. So why give control away when you can just try again another day. Lead generation companies view data as a precious resource. At Blue Donkey we believe every record could turn into a gamechanger relationship for our clients. So we treasure the record and take careful steps to maximise the experience that’s propagated from it.

Data is the lifeblood of any B2B marketing campaign. So, it’s important to respect the principles of best practice in the way you manage and control records. From the number of dials, to where and how you create messaging or leave messages. According to Forbes “not only is it important to have a clean database with high-quality information so that you have accurate contact information, but also so you can create targeted segments for a better chance of actually connecting with your audience in a meaningful and fruitful way”.

Our 22 years make Blue Donkey are one of the most established lead generation companies around. Talk to us today about how our expert teams can help you reach your next gamechanger client.

What do great appointment setting services look like

Posted on 29 June 2020 by bluedonkey

Appointment setting services can be an excellent route to achieving an important aspect of sales. Often this is the key to meeting broader business objectives. It’s all about putting your sales force and your potential new clients in the same room (all be it virtually these days). As well as being one of the most essential parts of telemarketing, appointment setting is probably one of the most difficult to master.

However, since few relationships in business can begin without first speaking directly to a prospect, Blue Donkey’s 22 years successfully delivering appointment setting services, means we understand what control levers work best.

Specialist skill

Like payroll, accounts, and IT, some business functions have become more and more specialist. Telemarketing is definitely one of those. You can do it inhouse, and actually, whether you buy in appointment setting services or not, you should always make sure your sales team is ready and happy to pick up the phone. However, systematic, effective, and efficient use of the telephone as a marketing tool is harder to achieve inhouse now.

GDPR, gatekeepers, and incoming calls are just some of the reasons why companies find it harder than ever to have dedicated telemarketers. Couple that with the need for complex systems, databases, and metrics, and the business case for staying inhouse looks weak. Furthermore, telemarketing is a tough gig, you need trainers on tap because, at some point, even your best contributor to success will hit the wall. And when that happens, they need the right support.

Align objectives

When working towards making an appointment, it’s important that appointment setting services resolutely put the customer experience at the centre of the call. For agencies with business models heavily reliant on results, if they don’t get appointments, they don’t get paid. For clients using these kinds of appointment setting services, don’t be surprised if your brand is damaged by over-goal seeking behaviours.

Ask the right questions

Agencies with a strong client list have the experience to protect and grow your brand. Best in breed clients will generally levitate towards best in breed appointment setting services so asking questions about their experience, client base and successes will provide you with the agency equivalent of ‘situational interview questions’. These are ‘what have you done’ and ‘how did you’. Rather than the more theoretical ‘what would you do’ or ‘what do you do’.

Compelling messaging

Telemarketers should be commercially savvy, and able to understand and articulate the benefits of complex products. They should know the product well and have excellent training around asking questions, using benefits, and meeting needs. Potential clients will be a lot more likely to make an appointment with the sales force, and the subsequent meeting will be fruitful for both parties if your appointment setting services are exceptional to begin with.

Calls will win over hearts and minds if they are geared towards meeting the prospect’s needs in a gentle, sensitive way that say nice things about your business and brand. And, as ever, ensuring the highest level of best practice, not just mere compliance will pay dividends for your brand’s security. Remember to keep an eye on the latest ICO rules.

Attitude to data is illuminating

Some appointment setting services use their own databases and data. This may seem attractive, after all, why would you pay for data if you can have use of it for free? However, let’s be clear, data costs money. An agency, like any other business, will want to exploit the full potential of anything they spend money on. But the database is one place where you really don’t want to ‘sweat the asset’. Having the same source of data used for every campaign means you can’t take advantage of the best data available. And since data is probably the cheapest component in your marketing cycle, it’s worth making sure you only put the best quality data in.

Plan act review cycles

Using an agency like Blue Donkey that research, audition, test, and buy data for you specifically, will mean your campaign will have a better chance of success. Appointment setting services that purchase profiled data in small segments like this, will ensure a constant cycle of plan, act, and review pre-empts for every record that your project is touched by. So this delivers good value while maximising the performance of your appointment setting services.

Furthermore, the ‘rights’ to the data should always revert to the client. So every piece of intelligence or insight that’s gathered on each dial, forms part of the intellectual property that’s automatically transferred to the client buying the appointment setting services.

It’s not entry level work!

Finally, it’s important to know that appointment setting services are really not entry level work. In the 80’s and 90’s you could get university or college leavers, wind them up with some exciting messages, and let them go! Many excellent telemarketers started very successful business development careers this way. Nowadays it’s too much to ask. It takes years of training to be good at delivering appointment setting services. The profile of callers is everything. And anyway, would you want your kids given that kind of baptism of fire after 3 hard years at uni? Probably not.

Appointment setting is a fine art and getting it right has huge rewards. So talk to Blue Donkey today about how our 22 years providing appointment setting services can help you.

Make a positive impression with telemarketing

Posted on 25 June 2020 by bluedonkey

A telemarketing campaign can sometimes be the first contact between a company and a potential buyer. So the tone, messaging, and success of the telemarketing call may well shape the relationship between a brand and its customer base long in to the future. So, telemarketers need to start things off on the right foot.

Getting things right on the phone can feel intimidating, especially for inexperienced cold callers. Being unable to see a person, read their body language or their expressions can be a barrier to success. As a result, people often become so consumed by nerves, pressure, or blindsided by thoughts about what to say next, that they forget to actually tune-in to what their prospect needs. Over our 22 years at Blue Donkey, we’ve developed some simple strategies that will help make your calls flow beautifully.

Paint on your best smile

It’s absolutely true that smiling when you’re on the phone makes a difference to the quality of your call. In fact, if there’s only one thing you can do to perform better instantly, it’s a smile. There’s some good science behind this too! According to experts “Each time you smile your brain feels really happy. … When a smile flashes across your face; dopamine, endorphins, and serotonin are all released into your bloodstream, making not only your body relax but also work to lower your heart rate and blood pressure. Smiling activates the release of feel-good-messengers that work towards fighting stress”.

A smile not only makes you feel better, it improves your professional state. So, you’re more relaxed about asking questions and you have the headspace to listen and respond sensitively to answers. Furthermore (this is a biggie) you sound nicer; more cheerful, charismatic, and confident to the person receiving your calls.

Have the customer at heart

Telemarketing calls should be all about the customer. By placing them at the heart of the call, their needs and priorities can be probed with intelligent questions that draw them into a call quickly and effectively. Getting buyers talking is an excellent method for creating a positive impression because it puts them in the driver seat straight away. Once a buyer’s needs are explored and discussed, the telemarketer can begin to explain the features and benefits that can help them.

Sensitive targeting

Telemarketing works best when it’s built around an appropriately qualified target list, and designed to solve certain problems or exploit particular opportunities. It should never be a situation where anyone, anywhere is targeted. Where telemarketing teams reach the right buyers and show they value them, and are keen to meet their needs, a campaign will be a success. This strategy also provides telemarketers with the perfect opportunity to find out more and to handle any objections or questions the potential customer might have. By approaching calls in this way, telemarketers can create a positive first impression, build the foundations of a solid relationship, and get a real two-way conversation going.

People like to do business with people they like

As most professionals know, people do business with people they like. If telemarketers can create a positive impression, it will reflect well on the brand and make it more likely the prospect will do business with the telemarketer’s company. By being positive, compelling, and informative throughout a call, and by ensuring the call doesn’t become too pushy, telemarketing can help a brand to grow.

To find out more about Blue Donkey’s unique approach to telemarketing, explore our site, or speak to a member of our team today.