MarketingSherpa has created a great new case study that we have decided to pass on over the next 5 posts.
Marketers have so many fancy online options at their fingertips, they forget how useful (and successful) telemarketing can be for lead generation. So many don’t follow the right rules or give up too soon.
We have exclusive new data and strategies to help you to make the right calls in your next campaign. Business-to-business telemarketing has survived every technology that’s come along in recent years. Even with the development of the Web, email and now Web 2.0 as marketing tools, the telephone still remains a crucial piece of a B-to-B lead generation strategy.
Why? Telemarketing works. Business prospects surveyed by MarketingSherpa earlier this year were surprisingly positive about the telemarketing experience:
o 53% said they added a technology vendor to their database for consideration after receiving a cold call
o 40% said they invited vendors to provide additional information by phone or electronically
It’s clear that prospects respond to a well-conducted telemarketing effort. But with so much pressure to try sexy new lead generation tools, some marketers might not be paying enough attention to this old-school tactic. “People are using telemarketing, so how can you make sure you’re doing it right?” asks Kathy Rizzo, VP Marketing, TeleNet Marketing Solutions. “What are some things you need to look at to make sure you’re not becoming complacent?”
To answer these questions, Rizzo and her team conducted a survey of 205 B-to-B marketers in Q4 2006-Q1 2007 and analyzed thousands of telemarketing campaign records in their database. Based on some key findings of this research, we have identified five tips to help you tweak your own telemarketing campaigns for maximum effectiveness.
-> Tip #1. More calls to fewer, more targeted contacts
Conventional wisdom in the telemarketing industry says that failing to connect with a prospect within three or four calls means it’s time to move on. But Rizzo says marketers who give up after three calls are missing out on prime opportunities.
Analyzing their database of completed telemarketing records, Rizzo’s team found:
- The average number of telemarketing attempts required to complete a conversation is 3.68.
- For C-level executives, it takes roughly seven calls to connect.
What’s more, the rate at which return on investment starts to diminish for call attempts (and getting completed interviews) is higher than most people expect:
- The average number of telemarketing attempts for the daily call returns to start dropping is 5.76.
- For C-level executives, it’s not until 12 call attempts that daily call returns start dropping.
This means that it takes an average of four calls to connect for most contacts. Yet, many marketers still start with a large list and try to touch every name on it — often by limiting the number of attempts per name to only two or three calls.
Instead, given tight marketing budgets, Rizzo suggests that marketers spend more up-front time analyzing their list of names to find the best prospects, then making a minimum of four calls. “It’s the difference between taking a shotgun approach — calling all names one or two times — and being really more strategic about your contact list.”
Useful links related to this article
TeleNet Marketing Solutions:
http://www.telenetmarketing.com
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