In a world dominated by digital communication, email, and instant messaging, telemarketing doesn’t seem to make any sense. In case you may not know, telemarketing is a process of marketing products and services over the phone. This is a traditional tactic used by individuals or software in sales, with entire companies called “call centers” dedicated to the practice.
In broad terms, there are two main types of telemarketing known as cold and warm calling. Cold calling refers to when a sales rep contacts a prospect who has not solicited the contact. It’s these cold calls and so-called “robocalls” that have resulted in people’s aversion to answering their phones, and they have generated the stereotypical image of telemarketing as being pushy, salesy, unwanted, and often irrelevant.
Warm calling, on the other hand, refers to a phone call after the prospect has already engaged with the brand in one form or another or was a result of a referral.
B2B Telemarketing
That said, telemarketing still holds an important place in business. When used appropriately, it can be an extremely useful tool for B2Bs in terms of qualifying leads, building relationships, and encouraging prospects to advance through the sales funnel.
B2B marketing and telemarketing will go exceptionally well together. By incorporating these into the overall marketing strategy, B2B companies will see a steady stream of leads and increased revenue. In their ongoing attempt to generate as many qualified leads as possible, marketing and sales teams need to opt for multi-channel campaigns that will be able to provide long-term relationships which can sustain the all-important sales pipelines.
When it comes to B2B telemarketing as a support to your other marketing efforts, it can have the following benefits:
- Create awareness of your product or service to existing and potential customers.
- Telemarketing will allow sales reps to initiate a dialogue by communicating your message, as well as allow the prospect the opportunity to ask questions, in return. This two-way dialogue is a far better and more efficient marketing channel to foster a better relationship and a buyer’s journey for the customer.
- If any complex technical issues arise, sales reps will be able to immediately bridge the gap, helping prospects to make more informed and quick decisions, which will also help shorten the sales cycle.
- In terms of brand reinforcement, telemarketing can make use of market research to help nurture customer relationships, thus retaining important clients that were acquired in the past.
- Together with your other marketing efforts, telemarketing will offer the opportunity to uncover new business leads. It will also help the organization move forwards from a cold lead status and lay the groundwork for a better rapport with the initial telephone communication.
In short, B2B telemarketing is a great way to nurture business leads by communicating to them critical information which will help make more informed decisions.
How To Use Telemarketing For Your B2B Company?
Telemarketing works best when it’s used in combination with other marketing strategies. By having a robust digital marketing strategy, it will be far easier to connect with prospects after they’ve been engaged on your company website or social media, which is a far more effective approach than using the often-dreaded cold calling and reading them a scripted pitch.
Another great example is when companies use telemarketing in combination with event marketing. Hosting and participating in various events will help you build your telemarketing lists, often serving as better choices than purchasing these lists from third-party vendors.
Taking telemarketing to the next level, however, involves using a Marketing Automation Platform (MAP). This will help telemarketers identify contacts in their database that have visited their website and landing pages. MAPs will also score a prospect’s online behavior, allowing marketers to call upon those who are already more familiar with the brand and product, eliminating the risk of cold calling.
These behavioral scores work by assigning a value for every interaction a lead will have with the brand. For instance, a brand can assign 2 points for every web page visit, 10 points for subscribing to the newsletter, and 15 points for downloading a piece of gated content or watching a product demonstration video. Regardless of the lead scoring methodology used, these lead scores will help marketers and sales reps prioritize their calls and focus on those which show the most interest in making a purchase. Also, this will allow them to tailor their messaging better and improve the customer’s overall experience.
In short, B2B telemarketing is a great way to nurture leads and help guide them through the sales funnel. It should be used in combination with other marketing efforts to avoid cold calling altogether. A good example of how to use telemarketing is to call prospects with the intention to leave a voice message letting them know you will be sending them an email with some information they might find valuable. After sending the email follow up a day later with another phone call. Repeat this process until you get some sort of feedback good, bad or indifferent. If you are consistent enough you will get a response. In essence you are forcing a response which is the goal. Often these responses can be turned into conversations and possible opportunities.
For more information on how to implement telemarketing in your strategy, feel free to contact us directly or subscribe to our newsletter.
