B2B lead generation has become more challenging - here's how you can use the comeback of telemarketing to generate quality sales leads.

To evoke the highest trust in potential leads telemarketing still plays an important role. This is especially true when selling high-ticket items or long-term services.

Research has shown that almost 60% of marketing managers in Fortune 500 companies agree that telemarketing is “very effective” for generating leads. When research results were expanded to include “effective” this percentage is over 90%.

Further research found that 57% of C-level (executive management) professionals prefer to be contacted over the phone. 51% of directors and 47% of managers also preferred to contacted by telephone.

In another study, 41.2% of sales professionals said their phone is the most effective sales tool available to them.

Any modern B2B marketer should consider using telemarketing for lead generation in order to chase new business.

B2B lead generation requires the personal touch

The main reason why many companies include telemarketing is because it allows them to establish a personal relationship with a prospect.

Research has shown that, according to buyers, the top ways to create a positive sales experience include:

• listening to their needs (69%),
• not being pushy (61%),
• providing relevant information (61%), and
• responding in a timely manner (51%).

Companies often have too much to focus on day to day nurturing the customers they already have. This leaves little or no time to create and build personal relationships with large numbers of prospects.

Most businesses can benefit from using telemarketing for:

• lead generation to get the attention of prospects, or
• follow up on other marketing messages such as emails and direct mail.

How to use telemarketing for lead generation

You can use lead generation telemarketing to:

• create and build a rapport with prospects and customers,
• generate leads and appointments for your sales team to follow up on, and
• gather market intelligence from existing and prospective customers.

Additionally, B2B buyers are often hidden behind gatekeepers, such as receptionists and assistants.

Content marketing, email marketing and direct mail are all easily ignored by these gatekeepers.

Telemarketing provides companies an edge over the competition.

Use an experienced lead generation company like More Than Words for your telemarketing to help get your message through to a potential customer.

You can find out more about the market as a whole as well as individual targets

It can be challenging to lead score prospects in order to turn a marketing qualified lead into a customer.

Adding telemarketing to your overall B2B lead generation strategy will allow you to find out more about your ideal clients.

This will help to improve your B2B marketing activity and the content you use.

Find your target audience

One of the main reasons businesses struggle with low response rates is that they are marketing to the wrong prospects.

Identifying prospects that are the best fit for your business, products and services is key to:

• stronger leads,
• increased sales, and
• improved inbound enquiries.

Telemarketing is a key tool for qualifying prospects.

It helps you to refine your prospect list over time and send marketing communications to the individuals most likely to convert.

You can use telemarketing to assess whether your contacts have:

• a need for your product or service,
• a budget that suits the cost of your products or services,
• the authority to make purchase decisions, and
• are at the right buying stage for your campaign.

Telemarketing offers you immediate responses from your prospects by allowing you to

• identify the contact you should be speaking to,
• ask questions,
• find out and overcome objections.

Getting first hand information about B2B buyers in your target market is invaluable.

Feedback can then be used to ensure that you direct your B2B lead generation activity towards a refined target market.

Two-way communication and B2B lead generation services

Unlike inbound marketing, a B2B lead generation service can establish a two-way communication channel with your target audience.

Many people prefer to talk to a real person when it comes to making buying decisions.

B2B lead generation through telemarketing can build trust and help you create a strong and consistent brand.

You can use it to

• follow up on leads generated when you went out networking, and
• promote your business to those who might not even have heard about it.

In short, telemarketing will give you a chance to establish trust and have meaningful communication with potential customers.

B2B lead generation – telemarketing offers measurable results

When you post an ad in the local magazine, you will find it hard to measure how many new customers or orders you are getting.

Telemarketing is different.

When outsourcing your lead generation you will get a full report of:

• how many potential customers they called,
• call notes and conversation specifics,
• how many were interested, and
• how many of them wanted to set up a meeting.

If you would like to monitor your return on investment, using a telemarketing for B2B lead generation is a good option.

A cost effective method for a qualified lead

Some telemarketing firms provide their services on a flexible basis making it easy for you to control your marketing budget.

The weekly or monthly reports will tell you how much it costs you to get a lead.

They will also show which types of potential customers are responding to the call and take on the offer.

Use the results to improve your marketing and lead generation strategy to achieve a higher ROI on your campaign.

B2B marketing that’s easy to scale

If you are unsure whether using telemarketing for lead gen would work for increasing B2B sales, you can start small.

Some companies offer a certain number of hours and give you detailed statistics about the calls and the results generated.

This will give you enough information to make an informed decision and plan your campaign accordingly.

Making telemarketing part of your sales funnel can also be a great way of scaling up your business.

How your B2B business benefits from telemarketing for lead generation

Businesses get their best results when they work with lead generation telemarketing companies on:

Market research

The B2B buying cycle is the journey that a business takes from becoming aware of another company to purchasing something from them.

This process is often lengthier than with business to consumer (B2C) sales and requires multiple interactions before prospects are ready to buy.

Telemarketing is a good way to begin personal relationships with other businesses and ask questions to help you to understand more about your prospects.

Most businesses will be open to discussing their current situation with suppliers if asked about it in the right way and a conversation along these lines has the dual benefit of making the prospect aware of your business and gathering intelligence about them to aid future campaigns.

Multi-channel integration

Whatever the return on investment is for a specific marketing channel such as telemarketing, it is almost always guaranteed to improve when used collaboratively with another.

This is known as multi-channel integration.

Telemarketing can be combined with digital marketing such as email or pay-per-click advertising to follow up on leads and strengthen the association a prospect has with your company.

Prospects are warmer to companies they have heard of and it creates an easier dialogue when you ask questions and deal with pain points in a proactive way.

Creating human connection

People trust people more than they trust faceless businesses – even in the B2B market.

In fact, the longer contracts and high-value deals associated with B2B almost always require some sort of personal relationship to close the deal.

Telemarketing lead generation services help to put a friendly ‘face’ to the products and services that you are offering and helps businesses to feel confident in choosing your company as their supplier.

Quality lead generation with More Than Words Marketing

Working with a B2B lead generation agency like More Than Words provides you with a quick and easy way to access experts to perform your telemarketing campaign.

Our lead generation telemarketing service is conducted in-house by our telemarketing team.

You will have access to:

An experienced telemarketer

You will be able to speak with your telemarketer in advance of your campaign to tell them more about the products and services you offer and the decision-makers you are targeting.

They will ask you any questions they have before beginning the campaign and throughout the process of telemarketing B2B lead generation to enable them to answer customer questions.

An account manager

You will be assigned an account manager to work closely with you and your telemarketer to develop scripts and provide feedback.

Your manager will also help the telemarketer to understand your company better, including the aims of this telemarketing campaign and the products and services you are selling.

Telemarketing lead generation – who do we contact?

As with most telemarketing lead generation companies we can use your existing customer and prospect database to make telemarketing lead generation calls.

If required, More Than Words Marketing can also provide a database of prospects related to your industry – or who have a need for the products or services your business supplies.

Many of our clients purchase a list from us when they are starting out in a new market, expanding in a location they do not know well or even just looking to maximise the leads they generate from their marketing campaigns.

You can choose a list of contacts selected from defined demographics including:

• purchasing responsibilities,
• line of business,
• geographical area, and
• size (based on turnover and/or number of employees).

Discuss your requirements with your account manager and they will provide you with a count and quote for a bespoke list of prospects within one working day.

Contacts can be selected from our UK business database, UK schools database or UK public sector database.

If working from your existing database, we recommend refining your customer list so that you are left with only the most valuable targets.

This makes every call we make for you as valuable as possible and increases the return on your investment.