What’s Hot in Teleprospecting for 2011
2010 has been a huge year for technology firms. It is safe to say that we have seen a big bounce back year with one big trend – doing more with less. As we move into 2011, B2B customers need to focus their new budgets on building a more efficient business. Bottomline, customers have been saving their acorns and compromising their quality of life for so long, they are going to be far more deliberate with every purchase, ensuring that they get maximum value on many levels. So beware - they are smarter than ever. It is crucial that your teleprospecting team is keeping up with the trends and customer’s challenges as we roll into the New Year. Before you unleash your team on your targeted prospects, make sure they are ready.
HOT: How Will you Save your Prospect Time??
We have been so focused on ROI and cost savings. While this is extremely important, we are finding a significant increase in positive response by focusing on how to save time. It is important to realize your prospect has been swamped with additional mundane tasks, working long hours, and finding it virtually impossible to stay ahead of the curve over the past year. While it is necessary for them to eventually understand how you will save them money - when prospecting, try opening the conversation with how you can actually save them time. That sounds refreshing, doesn’t it?
HOT: Bridging the Gap between Marketing and Sales
More than ever, it is inexcusable to let any prospect or lead “slip through the cracks.” Create tailored sales teleprospecting campaigns around each and every marketing campaign, tradeshow, webinar, etc. Use marketing leads to help build targeted lists and messaging for each and every prospect captured in your database. Focus on building an unavoidable call and email plan that elicits response and contains a defined next step with your prospect. Remember, they are sick and tired of being so busy, help them make time for you!
HOT: Response Driven Messaging
When creating your call plan, it is crucial to include multiple methods of communicating to your prospect. This isn’t the only important thing to keep in mind anymore. Every one of your competitors is calling your prospects and glorifying their product or service – and guess what, they increase ROI too. Crazy huh?! This isn’t enough anymore. Set clear expectations from the beginning of your voicemail and email. The purpose of your call is to learn about their environment, how you fit into the marketing place, and always end with well defined next step. Keep it short they are likely reading this email on their Blackberry or IPhone. Again, help them to make time for you. Help them to know that you will not talk about yourself the entire time. Your prospect is smart and sick of wasting time. Designing a short message about your intentions with a defined action step is the best way to elicit response.
I know my team is ready for another strong year with big goals to reach. We are planning for success by getting into the mindset of our prospect, leveraging marketing and targeted campaigns in order to cover our target market, and launching a message that delivers response from these prospects. These are only a handful of examples, I would love to share ideas on how are you preparing for 2011?