Getting Consistent Results from a Long Term Teleprospecting Campaign
I always enjoy working to get a new calling campaign out the gates. Everyday you're tweaking the message, identifying trends you're seeing in the industry, determining what materials to send to interested prospects, navigating through each new company to uncover interest..the list goes on. Typically it should take a month or two to feel that you are fully at altitude and have an accurate picture of what the market has to bear. The next 3 months after that are smooth sailing- you've got the messaging nailed, you know who to target, you know what materials the prospect is most likely going to read...but then, for some unknown, reason you hit a brick wall. Leads are much harder to come by than previous months and you're left scratching your head trying to figure out why.
At AG and previous employers, I've been lucky to have been exposed to a variety of technology companies offering their own range of unique challenges over the years. This has conditioned me to expect the unexpected, or as we like to call it the "ebb & flow". The primary challenge for me during my years working on inside sales teams, and even here at AG was remaining consistent with my numbers from month-to-month. From what I've seen, even a company's top producer will have difficulty remaining consistent if they're grinding away at the same calling campaign for extended period of time.
You could have the hottest product in market but there will be times when the positive response is much lower than you would hope or expect. The question is what are you doing to anticipate that?
Here are few preventative maintenance tips to keep your telepropsecting team at the top of their game:
1) THE LIST!:
If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times- Your team's performance is driven on the quality of the list they are working with. Ongoing list development is necessary for your teleprospectors to be successful
2) Ongoing Training:
Just because they are strong out of the gates on a campaign, doesn't mean they will maintain that lead volume. I'm not suggesting you micro-manage your reps, but I've found you need to work with them regularly in order to see that consistent output.
3) Weekly meetings with inside and outside reps:
It's always helpful for the team to meet on a regular basis to strategize on where they want the inside rep focused on that week. Direction can be provided on how to handle an objection, who to call on in a particular target account or general feedback on leads passed. They can also discuss which days are best to schedule meetings which can help to eliminate re-booking or double booking of appointments.
4) Devise focused mass-emails:
Assuming you've been calling on a campaign for an extended period, divide up your prospects into different buckets- Interested/Nurturing/Contact Identified- and devise a mass e-mail based upon those dispositions. This should get you a few quick hits.
5) Provide additional incentives:
If you feel the team is doing all that you ask of them, then why not dangle a little something extra to keep them motivated. Gift cards or time-off incentives aren't a huge expense, but could potentially provide your team with the added boost you were hoping for.