Budgeting can be a stressful endeavor no matter what your role is. Marketing budgets seem to be a particularly good example of this.
In my experience there are a number of factors that go into setting and allocating money for marketing programs over the course of a quarter/year. (I am by no means an expert on this subject).
With that on the table one thing that I hear a number of my clients say as they prepare and submit budgeting requests is "I am in the process of putting together my budget for the year and I am taking a look at what programs had a strong ROI and what programs led directly to revenue for the organization".
When an integrated marketing plan is in place there are obliviously a number of channels that are explored for promoting brand awareness, enhancing customer experience, generating and qualifying leads for sales to follow-up on etc. This is everything from targeted whitepapers, webinars, tradeshows, teleprospecting programs, etc.
From my perspective, teleprospecting, when run correctly, can provide extremely valuable insight for both your organization and your budgeting allocation process.
Teleprospecting is generally viewed as a great vehicle to move marketing qualified leads (MQL's) that have been generated to Sales Qualified Leads (SQL's) for sales to engage with. I completely agree with this viewpoint. But I do want to draw attention to another very important element that sometimes can be lost when evaluating teleprospecting ROI - Market Intelligence.
When you are running a teleprospecting program not only should you be getting fully qualified sales opportunities to deliver to sales, but you should be receiving a series of reports that will provide insight into your target market, the competitive landscape that exists, the objections that are being raised in reaction to your value proposition, and the list could go on. Your primary objective with this investment is to convert MQL's to SQL's, but with all the outbound activity and touch points that teleprospecting has with your market, the return can grow exponentially as you digest and analyze the data that is being captured and reported on.
This data should be fed back to you on a weekly basis to help hone/enhance your conversions of MQL to SQL. It is also crucial that it is leveraged to help in the development of your integrated marketing plans and help you allocate budget where you will receive the biggest bang for your buck.
I came across an entry on B2B Ideas@Work Blog, shared by Craig Lindberg. Craig is Partner and Executive VP with B2B Marketing experts MLT Creative out of Atlanta GA. Craig's entry, entitled, "In BtoB Sales, There's No Time for Monkey Business," really made me laugh, but made me think, too.
This was my first visit to this particular blog and the first article by Craig that I have read. I am not sure if it was the title of the article or the picture posted that got me to read on - but I did and I like what was shared, and it made me start thinking about the message and the world I work in - B2B teleprospecting.
The story that the entry starts with produces a pretty funny visual in your head even if you do not know "Ken" the referenced main character. It reminded me of the scene in the Naked Gun when Leslie Neilson is in a office and it is a comedy of errors as he is trying to retrieve his pen from the fish tank.
Okay, so I did not just like the story that Craig told - but more importantly I agree with his four basic principles of B2B sales and can easily relate these principles to my day to day and the world of teleprospecting. Below is my take on the four principles with a very slight spin to relate them to the cold calling and teleprospecting.
Craig's first principle is come prepared. I would say this is critical in just about anything you want to be successful at, including making a cold call. How could you expect to begin the sales process with not only being prepared with what you are calling about but also what is going on in your target prospect's world? I am not saying that you need to do a large amount of research on your prospect (favorite color, etc) but you better know what the typical pains that prospect may be experiencing and just how you can help them. There also is a level of understanding you want to have as it relates to your targets industry (e.g. what does the marketplace look like today - growing/contracting, etc) before you pick the phone up to cold call them.
Perhaps the most important idea to keep in mind when using the telephone (any interaction really) and one that I look for while interviewing a potential new team member is the ability to listen. Craig's second principle, lead with questions, is one that is fundamental to any conversation, professional or personal. How can you listen if you don't get your prospect talking? With out getting someone talking you have nothing to listen too and then you have nothing to lead you to the next principal, follow with suggestions. This led my mind back to the first two principles, come prepared and lead with questions - how can you can you suggest something if you have not done your homework as well as listened intently to your prospect. I train the folks on my team a simple tactic in trying to ensure that they are both listening as well as continuing to uncover a potential sales opportunity for a client - ask a question about the answer you just received from your prospect - this not only brings the conversation along, but it also allows you to drill down into the specifics that are critical in moving any sales process forward.
I am a believer that when it comes time to "close" on the deal or actionable next step in the sales process, that if you have followed the first three principles the fourth principle that Craig discusses, always be closing, will come with much less stress and in fact just fall right in line!
I want to thank Craig for his post and specifically getting me to smile at my computer as I pictured the "monkey business" that he described.
What's your opinion? Do the four principles correlate to teleprospecting, or am I off here?
Over the past few weeks I have been asked a number of times by my boss - "so what is the story with ABC client and renewal?"
For anyone with clients of their own, you know that is a question that can cause a high level of anxiety as you begin to remember that, yes, in fact, contracts DO expire.
I am not going to say that what I am going to share is going to lead to 100% customer retention, but it is a roadmap/checklist that I make sure I have a handle on as I embark on running a program for a client, and a list that I check in on a regular basis over the course of the program.
You might say, "well, the easiest way to retain a client is to make sure you are exceeding there goals on a weekly/monthly basis." This is very true - but I believe there are a few other items that can assist in the retention process.
Below is a list of 4 items that I believe lead to a greater likelihood of a client sticking around! (Outside of factors that you can not control that is - e.g. Client goes out of business, etc)
1. Clearly defined expectations of the engagement (from both sides)
2. Open lines of communication throughout the process
3. Transparency into the process
4. Refinement of the process for increased levels of success
I think the list is pretty straightforward but to expand a bit on one of these and perhaps the most important and why I have it listed first on the list - clearly defined expectations of the engagement. One of the most long-term, productive and mutually beneficial client engagements I have had, is one where both the client and I sat down and not only outlined how success would be measured, but also how we like to communicate and the types of things that are important to communicate about. These parameters were all established in order for us to achieve the goals of our relationship (e.g. generating sales opportunities that result in forecastable revenue with a high conversion to close) - after all we are all in the business of being successful!
Here is another way to look at it, if I am selling you a bottle of wine in a store and you ask me for a recommendation - and I ask you what you are looking for - you state "a red wine" - and I proceed with "here is a red wine that will knock your socks off" - and the transaction is done. What do you think the likelihood is that you are completely satisfied with the bottle I recomended? Maybe I get lucky and it was a perfect match, but more than likely it served its purpose but you will not drive back out of your way to get another recommendation from me.
This could have been much more of a win-win for both of us if we took a brief moment to expand on our goals and expectations for the purchase. For example I could have recommended a bottle of wine by matching it specifically to what you were eating or the price range you were looking to spend...a good match...and chances are you would drive back to see me the next time you needed a bottle of wine!
Second and third on the list, are to make sure that the lines of communication are always open in both directions and that the process is extremely transparent to your client so that you are in touch with just how one another are viewing the success/failure of the program.
The final item on the list is to make sure you are not afraid to refine the process to ensure you are continuing to strive for higher levels of success for your clients.
As I said above this list is not the magic answer to 100% customer retention but it is a list that will keep everyone involved in the relationship on the same page and in the end lead to a more successful and long term engagement.
As we all know - keeping a customer is less costly than acquiring a new one!
How do you view customer retention? Please share your thoughts.
It is my turn to share some thoughts with you - so I figured I would draw from an experience I had this weekend.
On Friday night I was out having dinner with some friends and as the night went on we ran into a group of folks that I had not met before but who knew the people I was having dinner with. We ended up inviting them to join us, and as the story goes in most settings with folks you are just meeting, inevitably the question arose, "Matt, what do you do?"
I began to share that I worked at AG Salesworks and was responsible for managing client relationships and managing teams of teleprospectors that supported those clients.
Next question, "What do you do for your clients?" I went on to tell this new acquaintance that, "AG Salesworks works with software/hardware firms supporting there sales/marketing departments in providing forecastable sales opportunities."
As you can imagine, this led to a number of follow-up questions and further expansion of my answer as we got into the nuts and bolts of AG Salesworks Marketing Services and Sales Opportunity Generation services.
One comment that was said during the conversation that stuck in my head:
"So, you're a Telemarketing firm?"
My answer was a resounding, "No." Of course, needing to further clarify myself, I wanted to share with you today just how I did that.
"Well, no we are a lot more then a 'Telemarketing' Firm. Depending on what lens you are viewing the B2B services market, this may be an accurate adjective to describe the AG Salesworks business. In the marketplace in which we fit, we are much more than what would historically be defined as a 'Telemarketing' - (define: Telemarketing)
AG Salesworks works very closely with businesses as a partner to assist in everything from providing Marketing Services (outbound campaign creation/execution, collateral creation, etc.) to the generation of sales forecast in the form of Qualified Sales Opportunity Generation. We apply our best practices in penetrating target accounts, holding business conversations with target prospects within in the accounts, to uncover a Qualified Sales Opportunity with an actionable next step." The conversation then got very detailed, so check this out for the long and short of what makes up a Qualified Sales Opportunity.
See, I told you AG Salesworks was more than just a "Telemarketing" firm!
Shoot me an email if you would like to understand and explore the differences in more detail!
There are a number of items that a teleprospector needs to be equipped with in order to be successful.
If you are responsible for a teleprospecting team you might say to me, "tell me what they are, I will provide them for my team and then success is guaranteed. Right?"
Unfortunately it is not that simple.
Sure I could provide you with a list of things that you will need:
A strong CRM with clean information (historical account data, etc), call center software, comprehensive Sales Training for the team, a clear value proposition for them to relay. On the employee side - a motivated, hard working employee, that is a good listener and a quick thinker.
All very important items.
But the key to success is to ensure that the teleprospector is leveraging all of these tools on every call.
What do I mean?
In the world of managing a teleprospecting team, to uncover qualified opportunities you have to make sure that on every call your teleprospectors are aware of the situation going in (leveraging the historical data within the CRM, taking a look at the target organizations website, etc) and that with every connect they are not only using every tactic/skill they have to uncover a qualified opportunity but also draw as much information out of the prospect as possible. This idea is not just relevant to conversations with contacts you have identified as the person you want to talk with, but also, and maybe even more importantly, to conversations you are having with folks as you navigate an organization.
What do I mean?
Let's say I make a phone call into an organization for which I have one contact on my list and it turns out that contact is no longer with the organization - I could take a few paths:
- I could hang-up and do some research to find another contact (in my book this is the last resort)
- I could ask the operator who replaced the contact
- I could explain to the operator the reason for my call and attempt to get passed to the appropriate contact (the organization may have a policy in place that makes this choice not work)
- I could ask for the IT help desk and leverage them as an avenue to the correct contact
All reasonable choices.
So the question I ask my team members is why would you not try them all while navigating this organization when you have a person live on the phone.
My motto - use every arrow in your quiver! What do you think?
Anything "successful" is directed by a process. Look at the human body and the process of blood circulation or look at installing an underground sprinkler system. These are two things that work very efficiently and successfully when every step in the process is connected and working together for the end goal they are aimed at achieving.
Creating opportunities that generate forecastable revenue is no different.
An organization must not only have a process for creating opportunities in place that creates a framework for success but they must manage that process. I do understand that each organization is different (product/service sold, target markets, sales team structure, marketing spend, etc) and this is something that must be recognized first and foremost. That said, although each organization is different, there are "best practice" approaches that can be learned from studying other organizations both similar to yours and vastly different. The critical piece is the creation of a process that is sustainable and measurable and then managing the pieces of that process.
In my experience I have found that the most successful organizations that I work with are ones that take a look at the entire process and evaluate each piece of the puzzle. Below are a few of the steps in the process of creating opportunities that generate forecastable revenue.
- Messaging
- Marketplace Awareness
- Lists of Prospects
- Marketing to the lists
- Tracking and Nurturing of MQL's (marketing qualified leads)
- Following-up on MQL's (teleprospecting)
- Determining when the MQL is ready for transition to sales
- Transitioning MQL's to sales as SQL's (sales qualified leads)
- Feedback on SQL's
- Conversion %'s of SQL's to forecastable revenue
- Sales Process/Cycle
This is a list of items off the top of my head, each one of these has a number of moving pieces that need to be planned for and evaluated as well.
I believe the bottom line is this, if you want to employ a successful process around opportunity generation you need to look at every piece of the puzzle and make sure they are all lined up to support and drive the success of the process.
In this case, producing forecastable revenue!