B2B telemarketing is here to stay, there is no doubt about it. You have to accept this fact if you want to be totally prepared for the challenges of generating qualified B2B leads. The problem with this kind marketing medium would be the negative outlook that people give it, which is something that could not be avoided. Considering the past performance (and over-aggressiveness) of B2B lead generation teams that used this medium, you can safely say that a lot of people are not happy with this. But you can make this better. You can improve this medium. What you need to do is to understand its nature and make it work to your advantage. Now that is the challenging part. How will you make that happen? Well, here is how you do it:
- Review old plans – sometimes, the most brilliant marketing solutions can be the ones that failed you in the past. Reminds me of Zenith Corporation, who were among the pioneers in Hi-Def television. The problem here is that the time was the 1980’s. People are not exactly interested in owning an HD television then. That resulted to the company to fold up. But look at today’s market, where HD TV’s are the king.
- Focus on the results, not on the author – you see, some of us take pride in the sales leads plans that we have thought of, and that is not a bad idea at all. The problem here is when we take it too seriously and use as some sort of cudgel during our marketing meeting. Now that is not a good idea at all. If you want your team to be successful, get everyone in as team players. Focus more on getting results, not on who created the best plans or whatever. That would be a more productive practice.
- Consider timing – while some would think that a marketing plan is a failure because it did not live up to expectations, others would ask if the timing for it was right. For example, you wanted to do a telemarketing campaign for winter time tourist destinations, but you offered it during the winter season itself. While there is nothing really wrong about selling in advance, would it not be more practical to offer it to your prospects at summer time? You do not have to think much about it.
- Always improve – that is the one rule that every marketer must remember. Markets change over time and the tools needed for it must adapt to these changes quickly as well. You know just how important that would be if you start losing B2B leads while still using the same marketing strategy. You have to change it, and you have to change it for the better. That is how you survive this highly competitive business environment.
There are other things that you have to remember to keep your B2B telemarketing campaigns as profitable as ever, but if you can follow these pointers, then you would be in a good spot.
