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Influencer Marketing for B2B: Tips and Tricks [GUEST POST]

September 30, 2019/in B2B Marketing and Strategy /by Contributor

Marketing to business customers can be tricky. You have to target a specific audience group and utilize marketing instruments that suit the intended target audience. Unlike B2C marketing, where you can aim for extensive reach, B2B marketing needs to be highly targeted from the start. That poses a serious challenge to marketers, especially when it comes to the utilization of digital marketing instruments.

One of the digital marketing instruments that aren’t commonly used by B2B brands is influencer marketing. For B2C brands, influencer marketing is a powerful instrument for expanding reach and gaining exposure. For B2B brands, influencer marketing becomes a difficult instrument to fully utilize.

Fortunately, influencer marketing doesn’t have to be a complex digital marketing instrument to incorporate into your B2B marketing strategy. There are a lot of things you can do with influencers, and the tips and tricks we are about to discuss in this article will help you utilize influencer marketing to create a bigger B2B marketing impact.

Targeting Is Still Important

Just because you want to incorporate influencer marketing into your B2B marketing program, it doesn’t mean you have to adopt a B2C strategy. Among the elements that are still very important in your implementation of influencer marketing for B2B purposes is the specific targeting mentioned earlier. However, there is a slight shift in how you should map your target audience.

Instead of targeting business customers directly, there are two main targets to aim for: decision-makers and the potential end-users of your target businesses. These two audience segments can be reached using most B2C marketing instruments, including influencer marketing.

The next task is choosing influencers whose followers include your target audience segments. If the end-users of your business customers are teens who are into fashion, for instance, creating digital marketing activities with fashion influencers can be incredibly effective. You are boosting brand recognition among the end-users of your business customers.

Clarify Your Objectives

With a clear target in mind, the next challenge to tackle is setting objectives. You cannot expect to generate leads when using B2C marketing instruments; at least not immediately. What you’re trying to do is increasing brand exposure for the purpose of increasing the value of your brand. When end-users and decision-makers are familiar with your brand, the value of your brand – and your products – gets elevated as well.

Another objective that you can use as a focus is boosting product awareness. By exposing users to the benefits of your products and services – the indirect benefits they will be able to enjoy when your products and services are implemented by other businesses – you are increasing the possibilities of your products being seen by business customers as a viable solution.

Focus on Experience

Influencer marketing for B2B must always focus on experience. The communications programs that need to be implemented must center around a product- or brand-related experience. Boeing does this brilliantly with the company’s influencer marketing campaign. It takes travel influencers and their tangible experience to bring awareness about Boeing airplanes as products.

Bringing influencers to the company’s flight simulator, for instance, allow influencers to interact with Boeing products directly. Travelers who are used to using Boeing planes when traveling the world can now get their hands on flying one, albeit in a simulation. The campaign was incredibly effective, and a lot of awareness was generated from the experience.

B2B companies can use the same approach to put emphasis on the experience they can bring through the implementation of their products and services. An AI company that offers data analytics to business customers, for instance, can build a genuine relationship with influencers through mini experience hubs and by exposing those influencers to the benefits of using AI.

Integrate with Other Marketing Activities

The most important tip of them all, however, is integrating influencer marketing with other marketing activities, particularly activities that are designed to develop brand value and product awareness. Influencer marketing is the perfect instrument for boosting other marketing activities, including trade shows and offline activities.

This is where good campaign and project management comes in handy. What is agile project management? Well, a lot of marketers now utilize a digital Kanban board to get a visual view of different marketing activities at any given time. Agile tools like Kanbanize make managing multiple (concurrent) marketing activities easy, mainly because each activity is represented by a card or a section of the Kanban board.

Through visualization, message alignment and seamless integration of multiple marketing activities in a campaign can be achieved. At that point, influencer marketing will serve its primary purpose as an amplifier to other B2B marketing tactics, all while boosting brand awareness and value.

So, is influencer marketing a suitable instrument to use in a B2B marketing campaign? The answer still depends on how well you integrate influencer marketing with other activities. With the tips and tricks discussed in this article, however, you have more ways to leverage influencer marketing in a B2B environment.

B2B Lead Generation Channels and Tactics (and What Not To Do with Them)

September 25, 2019/in Lead Generation /by Katrina Chua

Lead generation is a unique way to uncover business needs and fire up interest in target customers by using relevant channels to shape up the sales pipeline. Over the years, marketers have relied on it in reaching their sales goals. However, some didn’t see the same effect in their marketing moves and reported the following as the worst lead generation tactics.

Telemarketing

Calling prospects to build up interest in a product or service may be over the hill, but for true-blue marketers, it remains to be one of the most effective lead generation practices until today. They find it a good way to proactively push an offer and receive immediate feedback from customers. Apparently, human interaction is one of its positive effects.

Worst when: running a campaign with a non-targeted database that could hold your chances of catching the right decision makers and end up chasing the wrong buyer.

Email Marketing

Among lead generation tactics, email marketing is hailed king. Lauded for its cost-effectiveness and versatility, email marketing enables you to reach, connect and engage a wide-scale targeted audience which helps build awareness for your brand and delivers measurable results. Like telemarketing, a well-profiled list is also key in lifting email KPIs. Thus, expanding your database aside from letting you create a deeper relationship with your target buyers.

Worst when: using an unhealthy contact list which may result in your email inbox crowned with bounces and invalids.

Content

There isn’t much required of content to be considered as converting other than it should contain a sufficient amount of data-backed information and setting expectations which brings in higher domain authority and increased conversion potential.

Worst when: your content missed to show substantial data that would address the needs and questions of your target buyers – not a single link clicked, no content shared or any form downloaded, which results in less product visibility in search engines and low web traffic.

Company Website

A website is sure to drive traffic if it’s visually appealing, easy to navigate, search engine optimized and geared towards actionable information.

Worst when: unresponsiveness and other reasons that cause your website’s underperformance can make your web visitors navigate away in 15 seconds after login.

Landing Page

Before you can revel in impressive conversions from your lead generation campaign, you must first learn the art of generating leads with your landing page. Creative and compelling content that would cause visitors to give up their information in exchange of valuable data will allow you to generate insights about your target market, grow your email list and establish a stronger connection with your target audience.

Worst when: your visitors don’t get enough answers and see no reason to navigate on your landing page. When this happens, you are likely to miss the 5-second chance to achieve 70% longer average sessions to convert visitors into possible buyers.

Events

73% of marketers who prioritize lead quality use in-person events for their lead generation initiatives. Whether it’s a masterclass or a trade fair, personally meeting your target customers will help you gain their trust, strengthen your brand message, boost visibility for your product and enable you to create a wider network of engaged customers, resulting in higher chances of conversion and a shaped-up sales pipeline.

Worst when: hosting an event without a solid objective, taking up topics that are not relevant to your brand and missing to create a detailed pre and post-event program that can cause an overrun on your budget and customer dissatisfaction.

Knowing which social media platforms are best suited for your business will open doors to better engagement with your target audience, induce social presence and enable you to cross promote from one platform to another. However, these successes cannot be achieved by simply posting or sharing content on any social media app. You need to identify your ideal customer profile, define your goals and find your audience – be where they are, join their circles and speak their language.

Worst when: opting to use an app without knowing the culture of each social media platform which could get you blocked or unfollowed.

There are three factors that could cause the worst on a lead generation campaign: a non-targeted list, a non-compelling content and a lack of insight. But, ensuring the quality of data, creating relevant content and acquiring sufficient knowledge about your target market will bring out the best.

Callbox Sales Prospecting Masterclass, The ABM Approach, Reached, Connected and Engaged

September 16, 2019/in Callbox News and Updates /by Katrina Chua

Callbox has just concluded another successful Sales Prospecting Masterclass!

The third leg of this year’s series happened last September 11 at JustCo, Robinson Road, Singapore. The event was attended by sales and marketing leaders from various industries who took away loads of knowledge about sales prospecting using the ABM approach.

The masterclass underscored the importance of an account-based marketing framework in the sales prospecting landscape, broke down its components and the crucial steps in implementing ABM, and its benefits.

Attendees were educated on how to select ideal accounts with the highest potential to turn into customers, identify contact personas to build complete profiles of individuals involved in the decision-making process, capture prospect information, score qualified prospects, nurture and convert prospects and measure success with ABM metrics.

After the discussion, attendees gained knowledge and understanding about ABM, its components and crucial implementation process, and are now able to build a clear understanding of what their target accounts are, navigate the organizational charts of each target company, map out relationships among stakeholders, gather insights to personalize their approach and manage opportunities better.

As the discussion narrowed from steps and processes down to significant tools and resources, participants became more keen to learn about the subject. They exchanged thoughts through small conversations, compare their current processes with ABM approach and threw questions that required practical answers. The event was capped with applause from the audience.

The duration of the session is just right. Points of the speaker were clear and concise.

How to Score Your Leads for Better Conversion

September 13, 2019/in Lead Generation /by Katrina Chua

Lead scoring prevents your sales team from wasting their energy on wasteful leads. Furthermore, a good lead scoring system helps your team understand if a particular prospect is most likely to buy, how much they’re going to buy, and when they are going to buy.

Aside from this, you can also use lead scoring to:

Identify and focus on the leads that need nurturing
Understand your customers’ behavioral patterns and characteristics
Track your customer engagement and identify who are the most satisfied
Refine your messages for each segment

Is Lead Scoring Really for My Business?

As much as lead scoring has a lot of advantages, it does not necessarily mean that it is beneficial for every business.

How do you know if it is what you need at this point?

If the following elements are present, then you need to have a lead scoring system in place.

You have enough leads — It doesn’t make sense to create a program if you don’t even have enough leads.
You already have a service level agreement in place — That means your marketing team already knows how much leads they need to pass on to sale every month, and your sales team knows how many leads they should follow up within the same time frame.
You have enough data — You need two types of data to create a lead scoring program — behavioral and demographic. Behavioral data comes from your analytics and lead management platform. It shows how each lead interacts with your website. Demographic data comes from your lead gen or conversion forms.

Creating a Lead Scoring System that Works

If the assessment above indicates you need a lead scoring system in place, then you need to create one. Let’s start by listing the steps and ingredients for an effective lead scoring program.

Criteria

How do you know if a lead becomes a customer? You should have a list of qualifications that will serve as your guideline. The qualifications might include their age, gender, region, etc. Once you create them, these criteria are already set in stone.

Target Market

These are more specific because they include the qualities and characteristics of your target market. For example, if you are targeting teenagers, what kind of teenagers are they? Are they outgoing? What type of fashion do they like – emo, chic, sporty?

Your goal is to find people who fit the bill of your ideal customer, or people who look like your existing customers.

Your marketing and sales teams most probably have valuable insight to help you draft these qualities. After all, your marketing team does the research who they are while your sales team talks to them every day.

Perfect Lead

What makes one lead better than the other? Is it because they belong to upper management? Is it because they have a certain budget size? Or is it because they arrive at a buying decision much faster than the others? This information allows you to determine how much score each lead should get.

Lead Behavior

How does each lead behave when they visit your website or in your various channels? What do they do before they arrive at a buying decision? List down all the behaviors based on the data you have and assign a point value for each of them.

Lead Scoring System

Once you have identified the characteristics and behaviors of your ideal lead, it’s time to decide what system to use. It can be as simple as using a 1 – 100 scoring scale or something that has additional options but the point is, you have to stick to one system.

Adjustments

A lead system that works gives room for improvement. You should have a regular schedule to review and evaluate your system. Some point worth considering are:

Low scoring leads that end up converting – what were the steps that led to this?
High scoring leads but did not convert – what adjustments are needed to prevent this?

These situations are not consistently the same but your goal is to fine-tune your system so you can identify your best leads better. You will always find something new when you take the time to examine these leads closely.

It is also unlikely to create a perfect lead scoring program immediately. But as long as the percentage of prospects who convert are higher than those who do not, that is enough proof that your system is working.

We’re Halfway to Callbox Sales Prospecting Masterclass (The Account-Based Marketing Approach)

August 28, 2019/in Callbox News and Updates /by Katrina Chua

Yes, we’re frenzied about Singapore Grand Prix in September, but we’re more excited about seeing you at Callbox Sales Prospecting Masterclass (The Account-Based Marketing Approach) on September 11, from 2:00 – 4:00 PM at JustCo, Robinson Road.

The event is going to gather sales and marketing decision makers from different industries who are keen to gain new and better insights on what works best in the B2B buying landscape and enable them to achieve a one-on-one connection with key decision makers that drive the purchase process.

The sales prospecting masterclass will accent on the proper way of implementing account-based marketing on your sales prospecting efforts, and the effects it brings to your sales and marketing workflow.

The team prepared a comprehensive portfolio of relevant topics on sales prospecting, following an account-based marketing process that will address challenges on customer acquisition, personalized messaging and proper lead scoring.

After the masterclass, attendees are assured of the following takeaways:

Selecting Ideal Accounts, to size up market opportunities, and define your ideal account profile or IAP.
Identifying Contact Personas by mapping out the relationship between decision makers.
Capturing Prospect Information and identifying types of prospect data to help you determine whether you are reaching out to the right prospect or not, and their behavioural patterns.
Scoring Qualified Prospects, to help you identify the best decision maker/s among your qualified prospects.
Nurturing and Converting Prospects, to help you gather the maximum number of possible contacts within your target companies, personalize your approach, maximize several appropriate channels, establishing touchpoints and timing.

The masterclass will be facilitated by Callbox’s two top sales and marketing experts: Creative Director for Marketing, Charmaine Española, and Director for Business Development, Sharifa Aljunied.

Few seats are remaining, so book yours now. Learn and network with industry peers, and be among the 84% who say that account-based marketing brings a 208% higher ROI, at Callbox Sales Prospecting Masterclass (The Account-Based Marketing Approach).

Event Marketing in Singapore: Trends to Expect in 2022

August 14, 2019/in B2B Marketing and Strategy /by Katrina Chua

Event marketing is one of the best ways to get your brand out there – especially for B2B marketers and their products. It helps you network and strategically connect with potential customers. In this short article, we examine the growing trends in event marketing in Singapore and how you can properly position yourself for growth!

Let’s check out how Singapore and the APAC region are hacking out event marketing for maximum results.

What Events to Plan For

As long as it’s the technology we’re talking about

There is no doubt that the biggest trend in event marketing is and will continue to be technology. We have been making larger strides in what were once concepts and big ideas such as AI. These technologies are becoming more practical as pioneers are constantly finding ways to integrate foundational versions of it into our daily lives.

This is also due to the quick adoption rates and rising levels of disposable income.

The consensus with event marketing not only in Singapore but in the rest of Asia is that technology will continue to sell and sell out.

Cybersecurity

Internet security is a growing concern in a large part of the region – even in developing countries such as the Philippines – where security is constantly being tested and occasionally breached for malice. Given that we are in an ever-growing connected world, cybersecurity is such a hot topic for everyone.

From privacy protection, and legal and ethical debates, to improving security frameworks on corporate and individual levels. Events on security have always amassed a great following and we see it gaining an even bigger following in the future.

AI

Artificial intelligence is still the talk of the region and this is partly because we see it being quickly being implemented on a massive scale. We are now seeing AI being implemented on things such as the camera software of smartphones, that are now priced for more consumers to buy.

Artificial intelligence isn’t what we imagined it to be with fully cognitive talking robots, but the way we’ve been adapting to the advancements and applying technology today brings into light how much of a big deal it is in the future.

Any event with AI will rock the region.

Check out our Latest Blog: AI-Powered Sales and Marketing: Customer Acquisition in the Modern Era

IoT

We love the Internet-of-Things because it brings to our attention the different innovations in the world today, from “smart” contact lenses to self-healing appliances, there is just so much innovation going on to keep you captivated for hours.

These types of events attract crowds from all types of sectors, whether it’s engineers or scientists, the academe, and even normal people looking to get into the latest things in the market. There is always something for everyone in an IoT event.

Webinars

Another factor that held most event marketers awake at night was the fact that the event mix had drastically altered. In-person events had previously played a prominent part in generating leads, but that slice of the pie vanished abruptly.

There were worries not just about lead amount, but also about lead quality. How will marketers compensate for the valuable in-person interactions which were also highly qualified leads?

As a response, event planners reimagined virtual event forms, particularly webinars.

When contrasted to in-person meetings, webinars have traditionally not been regarded as the most effective conversion medium for most businesses. As a result, event organizers had to rely largely on intelligent webinar interaction with high-quality production to tell a unified tale. Part of using your own brand voice and providing relevant webinars that are far more than just giving a PowerPoint presentation will be one method to achieve it in 2022.

Explore Our Services: Webinar and Virtual Event Marketing in Singapore and APAC

Hybrid Events

Leveraging Ways for Your Visitors to Engage

With the growth of virtual and hybrid events, marketers now have access to a cross, multiformat events environment that allows them to interact with their consumers at every stage of the marketing funnel.

It also enabled event planners to start strategically using the three event forms in order to gather and convert leads. Planners might use virtual events for top-of-the-funnel leads since they assist fast broaden outreach to new prospects. Similarly, for middle-of-the-funnel communications, they might use in-person or hybrid events to engage their consumers with relevant material that leads to more leads and conversions.

Technology has also progressed to provide for deeper and longer connections with various audiences. On-demand content’s interactivity and immersion have enabled planners and marketers to significantly prolong their engagement cycle.

You no longer have to choose between reach and engagement by utilizing each one of the major event forms and their unique benefits.

Streamlined Memorability

A growing trend in event marketing in Singapore is the holistic experience of the attendee. This is why major event organizers have started to customize every part of the attendee’s experience with the event.

This includes, and is not limited to, the very first moment a potential attendee stumbles upon a touchpoint, to hotel choices, to how they are ferried to the venue, up to how the venue smells like.

Here’s what.

Every single touchpoint has to be memorable for your attendee.

There is an increasing number of partnerships being made between transport companies and various other hospitality groups into creating an experience that won’t be easily forgettable.

Psychologically speaking it’s a great way of running things, if you can attach a memory to emotion it makes it harder to forget. They’re definitely on to something!

Hosting an event soon? Seize the ultimate key to triumph with our latest free ebook. Elevate your game, boost registrations, and skyrocket turnout effortlessly. Get your copy for free.

Shareability and Technology

Lastly, let’s not forget that we live in a connected world and we need to be able to provide anybody that attends our events a way for them to share their experiences with the rest of the world. Whether you have to live stream, provide Wi-Fi, or charge docks, you have to position your event in a way that allows your attendees to take advantage of current technology.

Make sure you’re always on the lookout to stretch your imagination while taking advantage of the tech that’s available.

Conclusion

There are a lot of ways you can harness the power of event marketing, and as you can see from our examples, all it takes is a little creativity and a little finesse. Do not underestimate the power of connecting with your customers in person, it’s one of the best forms of lead nurturing there is!

The Little Red Dot with a Big Mark in the Global Market

August 7, 2019/in B2B Marketing and Strategy /by jayden

Singapore’s rapid growth rates and global market reach made it as one of the four “tigers” of Asia, along with Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan. Its economic prowess emanates from being keen on exports, an educated populace and high savings rate, which makes it the center of trade and financial business in the Asian region. Although these economic potentialities were not inherent to the people, a leadership so motivated to rise from the aftermath of colonization and recession brought Singapore to its global stature.

From a poor fishing town, Singapore opened its doors to industrialization in the 70s which paved the way for economic, cultural and political globalization. The government’s thrust on economic growth, support on business and limitations on democracy, transformed the city-state into a core nation that is safe, free of corruption and low taxes, and the main attraction to foreign investors.

As it started to embrace technology innovations in the 2000s, the city state’s business sector boomed. It was a breakthrough which drew giant players like Facebook, Alibaba and Google, and many other big-time players to open regional offices in the lion city. On the other hand, local brands found their way to take a leap across continents in a wide range of industries including food and beverages, retail, financial, hospitality, tourism, healthcare, and business professional services.

Out of the waves and vacant lands, Singapore now cradles beautiful skyscrapers and grandiose architectures that are mostly headquarters to many global industries.

Marina Bay, then and now.

Benefits of Expanding Your SG Business in the US

Singapore was recognized by The World Bank as the second easiest place to do business in the world in 2018. Such high standing enticed first world countries, like the United States, to consider the lion city as a strategic partner. The following attributes are the main reasons why they welcome Singapore brands in their respective markets:

Open and corrupt-free business environment
Prudent monetary and fiscal policies
Transparent legal framework
Active industrial policy that targets fiscal incentives, increase public investment, promotes the development of skill sets attractive to foreign investors.
Focuses on economic diversification
Well-secured property rights
A good trading post

Singapore’s keen economic freedom score of 89.4 is the second-highest among 43 countries in the APAC region in the 2019 index, which sums up its financial success.

Tapping into the US Market

Expanding business operations in foreign markets is invaluable. It lets you create a direct relationship with your target customers, efficiently provide after-sales support, control pricing, and distribution, and gain accurate market insights. On the contrary, direct exposure to the market’s rules, profit repatriation restrictions and corruption may impact expected results.

But for the fearless and more creative, having the right tools and strategies are weapons that can battle the torments of business expansion in foreign markets. VeganBurg, CreAtive, Grab, Omni and Millenium Hotel and Resorts are just a few of the Singaporean companies that made America great again.

Callbox, one of Singapore’s top telemarketing firms, is also a trusted B2B lead generation company in the United States and has a wide range of database in Canada, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and the Middle East.

If you’re targeting the US to market your SG business like Hyflux, Raoul, TWG and all other locals who made it big in America, here are some steps:

Figure out the reason why you want to become a global brand by developing a literal “playbook” of ideas of what you are trying to achieve and what expectations do you have for the future.
Come up with a strategic plan on how to achieve real results which may be done in five different approaches. One is Local or Concentric, a process which starts with thinking within 100 miles radius around your home base, and widens 100 more times eventually.
Develop a precise timetable for necessary approvals, meeting the distributors, complying with legal and federal regulations and getting all the paperwork done.
Put together a portfolio of products you can offer.
Pick the right distributor by doing a market survey of who does the job well. Look into their portfolios, what are their national accounts, and familiarize yourself with the language that they use
Choose your accounts by taking into consideration your on-premise and off-premise strategies. Know your business partners and what business will you be doing with them.
Tell your story via roll-out events, social media, local press and at the point of sale

The road to success was not easy for the lion city to trek, but perseverance, respect, and compassion drove Singapore to survive the inequities of life, gain economic repute and become a global brand.

Callbox to Hold 3rd Sales Prospecting Masterclass for Sales and Marketing Leaders

July 31, 2019/in Callbox News and Updates /by Katrina Chua

While shopaholics were flocking the Great Singapore Sale, splurging on some top clothing and jewelry brands, ICT sales and marketing workaholics rounded up at Callbox’s Sales Prospecting Masterclass for Information and Communications Technology at JustCo Marina Square last June 21, 2019, and engaged with some sales prospecting techniques.

The event was the second leg of a quarterly workshop project designed to help sales and marketing leaders learn new B2B sales prospecting tactics. And as Callbox continues its thought leadership position in Singapore by laying out a lucent roadmap of the modern sales and marketing industry buying landscape, preparations for the third sales prospecting masterclass is underway.

Callbox’s Sales Prospecting Masterclass is set to happen on September 11, 2019, from 2:00 to 4:00 PM at JustCo, 120 Robinson Road. The free event will be hosted by the dynamic Callbox event team, headed by Charmaine Española, Callbox’s Creative Director for Marketing and masterclass speaker, along with Sharifa Aljuneid, Callbox’s Director for Business Development.

The team is back to share a new set of topics that will holistically address the needs of sales and marketing leaders from all industries to develop an account-based marketing approach that works best in today’s buying landscape.

Callbox aims that at the end of the workshop, sales and marketing leaders will be able to improve their customer acquisition process, create a more personalized messaging, align sales with marketing strategies, expedite the sales process, efficiently use marketing tools and have a clearer view of the ROI.

Join us, and take your prospecting skills to a different level and your goals to new heights. Callbox’s Sales Prospecting Masterclass on September 11, 2019, from 2:00 to 4:00 PM, at JustCo, 120 Robinson Road.

The Greatest Challenges Facing B2B Sales in Singapore (Featured Image)

Power through Singapore’s Biggest B2B Sales Challenges

July 24, 2019/in B2B Marketing and Strategy /by Katrina Chua

The B2B (Business-to-Business) industry is one of the biggest and most vital markets available in the world today, providing tailored solutions, products, and services to other businesses. The sector is a key driver of economic growth and collaboration among different enterprises as it offers opportunities for strategic partnerships, revenue generation, and expansion.

Compared to B2C (Business-to-Consumer) interactions, B2B transactions have more complex processes, longer sales cycles, larger order volumes, and more intricate decision-making processes.

Despite the potential for significant sales and quality of products in B2B sales, still, plenty of challenges persist. Modern-day buyers, equipped with easier access to data and resources, have now become knowledgeable and more informed. Technological advancements and globalization provided them with more options and choices.

The fast-paced and increasingly competitive nature of the industry has also contributed to the heightened standards of modern buyers, who now expect immediate responses to their inquiries. These factors have undeniably made the B2B landscape more sophisticated compared to than in the past.

The B2B has its fair share of opportunities and challenges. Its changing landscape and customer dynamics make it quite challenging to navigate. As we move forward in this blog, let’s explore how the rich Singapore market takes on the realm of B2B selling.

Explore our Services: B2B Lead and Sales Generation Services in Singapore and APAC

B2B selling in the Singapore market

Singapore’s strategic location and notoriety as a global business hub make it a highly-attractive location for companies looking for bankable B2B sales opportunities. This fertile ground for business growth is enhanced by the presence of multinational corporations, regional headquarters, and a diverse business community which amplifies the opportunities for partnership and collaboration.

Despite having numerous advantages, Singapore’s B2B market is not immune to challenges. Let’s explore the specific obstacles that Singapore companies need to overcome to tackle the current B2B challenges in the Asian market.

Identifying Qualified Leads

Reports reveal that 40% of salespeople see sales prospecting as one of the biggest difficulties in the B2B sales process. This involves the identification of potential customers and reaching out to them to convert them into buyers.

Overcoming this challenge requires the combination of targeted research, effective communication skills, and the capacity to establish relationships based on value and trust.

Sales Data Overload

One of the major challenges in B2B sales is handling large amounts of data. Extracting insights, ensuring data accuracy, and using it for personalized strategies would need advanced analytics tools and effective data management processes. Tackling this challenge allows businesses to optimize sales strategies and stay ahead of the competition.

Catching the lead’s attention in cold calls

One of the major difficulties in B2B and B2C sales is piquing the prospect’s interest during a cold call and converting them successfully. What makes cold calling particularly challenging is the fact that sales teams contact individuals with who they don’t have prior interaction. The prospect may not be able to decide at that moment and since there is no established rapport yet, the chances of rejection are high.

Check out our Latest Blog: Cold Calling: How to Do it Right in 2023

Lengthy Transactions

Truth be told, the prices at which products and services are sold in B2B transactions are much higher than in B2C ones. This is one of the most significant factors that drag the sales process longer than usual. There are a lot of stakeholders involved, complex technicalities to consider, and the presence of customized options add up to the complexities as well.

The Gatekeepers

Gatekeepers are the ones who prevent direct communication with an organization’s decision-maker, who might be a director, supervisor, manager, president, or executive. Acting as a first line of defense, it is the gatekeeper’s job to filter out unwanted calls so that the decision-maker doesn’t get interrupted.

Locating the right decision-maker in a business is initially a difficult task, but thanks to platforms like LinkedIn, it’s now easier to sift through the network of professionals and find relevant contacts.
Some people have tried to make friends with gatekeepers to get through and some don’t even make it to the first volley of employees. However, without the decision maker, the sale is next to nothing.

The Sales Forecast

Sales forecasting refers to the process of predicting or estimating future sales performance through the analysis of historical sales data, market conditions, customer behavior, industry trends, marketing campaigns, and competitor analysis. These variables are used by businesses to predict future customer demand, sales volumes, and revenues.

Forecasting is already difficult as it is with B2C industries but combining that with longer sales cycles and sometimes even custom requirements can make B2B forecasting such an incredible headache. There are reports that companies are now even factoring in the accuracy of the sales forecasts of their salesmen when it comes to B2B sales.

It is often hard to play the soothsayer in determining which sales lead to fruition but is harder when you are at a scale where there are too many factors involved in the process.

The “Limited” Number of Potential Customers

B2B and B2C mainly differ in customer base size. B2C typically caters to more customers, while B2B has a limited number of potential leads.

Most B2B sales fail because they neglect the limited customer base and rely on a generic approach. Marketers need to understand that successfully penetrating this market entails clear communication and a specific, tailored approach.

Doing so involves effective B2B lead generation, more targeted strategies, and establishing client relationships. Nurturing and qualifying leads are equally important for successful conversions and sustainable growth.

Background Check

In this age of communication, anyone can easily do a quick background check and gather pertinent details about your business and how you transact with your clients.

Conducting thorough background checks on B2B businesses is crucial for successful sales since they provide insights into business history, reputation, legal standing, and financial stability. Ensuring transparency and trust safeguards your interests, minimizes your risks against unethical practices, fraudulent activities, and unreliable partnerships, and helps you arrive at informed decisions. Thus, increasing the likelihood of successful sales relationships.

Streamline your success, outsource today!

B2B selling is a tough job, especially in the diverse and competitive markets of Singapore. In the complex process of B2B sales, the difficulty of finding and nurturing leads, the lengthy transactions, and the bureaucratic communication, are only some of the challenges you’ll face. Trying to overcome these challenges can take a lot of energy, time, and money for marketers.

In the competitive Singapore market landscape, standing out may seem challenging. However, success is within reach if you’re armed with the right strategies, tools, and resources. A crucial factor in achieving this goal is by partnering with a trusted B2B lead generation service provider like Callbox.

Callbox is the trusted partner of B2B businesses in Singapore, across APAC, and other global regions aiming to gain leads and drive impressive revenue and growth results.

With our expertise in telemarketing and appointment setting services, empowered by our multi-touch multi-channel strategy and AI-powered technologies, our team helps generate high-quality leads, nurture relationships, and drive sales growth. Our experience and expertise which have spanned since 2004 allowed us to deliver over 20,000 successful campaigns.

Outsourcing to Callbox can help address the challenges in Singapore B2B sales in several ways:

Strong focus on APAC markets: Callbox has in-depth knowledge and understanding of the local markets, business practices, cultural nuances, and customer preferences in the said region, particularly in Singapore. This expertise enables our team to craft personalized strategies that resonate with APAC audiences and drive impressive outcomes.
AI-Powered Lead Generation and Appointment Setting Services: Our expertise lies in AI-driven lead generation and appointment-setting, which lessens the burden of prospecting and reaching out to prospective clients. We have a Multi-touch, Multi-channel approach that enables our clients to identify and engage with qualified leads at any time and platform.
Multi-channel Reach: Given APAC’s mobile-first population and youthful demographics, we are able to maximize audience and market reach through various channels including Voice, Email, Web, Chat, Social Media, and Webinars. This saves valuable time, effort, and resources for the sales team.
Telemarketing expertise that drives effective conversations: Callbox’s agents excel in telemarketing and can navigate through gatekeepers seamlessly, reach the right decision-makers, and deliver persuasive sales pitches. Our personalized approach increases the chances of effectively capturing a prospect’s attention and initiating meaningful conversations that convert to sales.

Our lead generation services can be availed with flexible and tailored pricing according to your business needs (request for pricing).

Leverage our expertise, technology, and resources to generate quality leads, increase sales efficiency, and achieve business growth as you strive in the Singapore market.

Partner with Callbox and start your journey to success. Contact us now!

Telemarketing in Singapore: Best Practices for Sales Prospecting Calls

July 16, 2019/in Telemarketing /by Laura Angiela Salazar

Sales prospecting calls will still be a major mainstay in the world of B2B lead generation and it does not look like it has hit its demise anytime soon. Outbound telemarketing has been integral to the lead-generation strategies of many large companies in Singapore, but how do you really go about it with your own business? In this article, we will be examining the best practices for sales prospecting calls in the B2B sales process and how they impact B2B lead generation in Singapore.

Explore our Services: B2B Telemarketing Services in Singapore and APAC

Before we delve deeper into this topic, let’s first discuss what a sales call is.

What is a sales call?

A conversation over the phone where a sales agent persuades a customer to consider and eventually purchase their company’s products and services is referred to as a sales call. The purpose of these calls is not just to acquire new customers, but also to upsell or cross-sell to existing customers.

Different types of sales calls

When we talk about sales calls, what typically comes to mind is cold calling or the act of contacting a potential customer before they show interest in your products or services. By making cold calls, sales representatives can recognize and cultivate potential leads who may not have otherwise heard about their company.

Check out our Latest Blog: Cold Calling: How to Do it Right in 2023

Sales calls come in handy, especially in discovering, prospecting, and handling objections. Here are the different types of sales calls:

Warm calls (or delivery calls)

These calls are made to potential leads who have displayed interest in your offers and wanted to know more about them. This is an opportunity to determine if the lead is a good match for what you are selling.

Sales appointments

A sales appointment call’s goal is to discuss the prospect’s concerns and how the brand can help resolve them. These types of calls provide the chance to convince the prospect to move forward in the sales funnel by sharing details about why your offers are the best options to solve their needs.

Follow-up calls

These calls are the most crucial ones for closing deals. Follow-up calls are used to identify the lead’s stage in the sales process.

Setting yourself up for sales call success: Tips and tricks

Sales calls play a huge role in educating leads about your product or service, building connections with potential customers, and ultimately sealing the deal. To excel in sales talk, it is vital to understand your clients and connect with them at various stages of the sales process.

Keep reading to learn about several tips and techniques that can make your sales calls more effective.

Establish Rapport

“You were never that close to your spouse when you first met, but now you share a family together.”

There are many tips and tricks that telemarketers use, but the first one we’re going to tackle is establishing rapport.

Establishing rapport is conversing with someone on the phone to the point that they can trust you to a certain degree. We know that it can be difficult at times, but people who are generally happy or pleased that they are speaking with you can generally help drive sales higher. It has become a term in outbound contact centers because of how effective it is when dealing with a client.

Do Your Research

Do you want to succeed in business? Then, you better understand that knowledge is power. Before you even go about calling your list of prospects, you have to understand that you have to do your research beforehand. Communicating on a sales prospecting call is more effective if you know who you are talking to and what that person is generally interested in.

Doing your research allows you a competitive edge in any type of situation.

Stay Focused on What You Are Doing

A lot of contact agents get easily distracted when they do sales prospecting calls because the scripts can be easily memorized and sometimes it becomes a habit to just talk. However, being laser-focused on what you are doing allows you to be able to be more effective in generating leads that you can really rely on.

Avoid being on Facebook or communicating with other people when you are cold calling because your main goal is to communicate effectively with your prospect. It’s not that hard to do when you already have the habit in place.

Prospecting in batches

Set aside a certain amount of hours each day to make calls. Making numerous outreach calls in succession is far more efficient than calling one prospect, preparing for a demo, attending a meeting, making a couple more calls, connecting with ten people on LinkedIn, and so forth.

You’ll not only be in the prospecting mentality, but you’ll also be able to store all your supplies closely at hand.

Talk Less, Listen More

This point is another significant point that you really have to practice. Most of the time, people give away clues about their intentions through the words that they use. Think of it as part of the research, you want to know more about a prospect so you listen to them, not only are you building rapport as a good listener but you are essentially mining for information at the same time.

Staying focused is important here because, unlike a face-to-face conversation, you won’t be looking at gestures but rather focusing on intonations and tell-tale signs based on their speech.

Be Grateful

Regardless if they want to talk to you or not, still be grateful for the opportunity to have had the chance to talk to your prospects. This goes a long way because it establishes your company as a graceful one and it also uplifts your mood and gets you ready for the next call.

A lot of contact center agents will often complain about their ruined moods after talking to someone who has been so negative on the phone. This is unavoidable because humans are relational beings. However, one surefire way of getting this sorted out is by being grateful. It stabilizes your mood and keeps you happier about everything.

Look for Pain Points

Do you want to be more effective at what you do? Ask questions about the prospective client’s business. This is a great way for you to find out more about how you can help them. It leads to more fruitful conversations and also adds to the rapport that you are trying to build.

You are here to establish relationships that are long term, this is the backbone of repeat B2B sales.

Solutions Are What Works

Your aim is to be a consultant and not a salesman.

Nobody likes having products or services jammed down the phone, and as much as possible you want to be solutions-based and not product-based. When you become solutions-based, you stop being part of the sales team and you end up being someone that they can rely on to help make a difference in their company.

People do not want to know how good your products or services are, they want to know how they can have their problems fixed. Trust us, this is one of the most effective ways to communicate.

By being able to apply these simple principles you will be able to modify the process of how you go about your sales prospecting efforts. An efficient cold-calling strategy will not only save you on costs, but it will also make your sales process much more effective. Never underestimate the power of outbound telemarketing!

Not keen on making phone calls? Consider outsourcing.

Phone calls can be a powerful marketing tool as they allow direct interaction with potential customers, enabling you to address their queries, gather valuable insights, and establish a rapport that may ultimately lead to a purchase. This level of personal engagement can yield positive results for businesses.

However, most business people dislike making sales calls due to the following reasons: fear of rejection, negative responses from prospects, the pressure to meet sales quotas, and the monotonous nature of making calls that sometimes lead to demotivation and burnout.

Don’t overlook the benefits of sales calls just because it’s your least favorite thing to do! Instead, consider asking for some assistance from experts so that you can maximize the benefits of this approach rather than personally doing it. This allows you to benefit from the expertise of sales call professionals, freeing up your time so you can focus on core business functions and scaling your sales reach.

If you’re looking for a trustworthy B2B lead generation services provider in Singapore to handle your business, Callbox is the perfect option for you.

With a proven track record as a leading telemarketing services provider in Singapore and APAC since 2004, we specialize in helping businesses thrive. Leveraging our expertise in telemarketing, backed by a powerful multi-touch, multi-channel strategy and AI-powered tools, we enable our clients to reach their ideal customers, book sales meetings with decision-makers, and gain valuable insights for better marketing and sales decisions.

Our APAC region-centered expertise further enhances our ability to understand market dynamics, customer preferences, and cultural nuances specific to Singapore, enabling us to craft highly targeted telemarketing strategies for maximum effectiveness.

Beyond telemarketing, we also offer a range of services, including events marketing, virtual events and webinars, and database solutions, empowering your business with comprehensive solutions for growth.

Reach more prospects and acquire more leads in Singapore by partnering with a trusted expert in telemarketing. Partner with us!

Callbox Updates Pipeline CRM with ABM Features and UI Makeover

June 27, 2019/in Callbox News and Updates /by Katrina Chua

Suite of new features and capabilities makes Pipeline CRM a smarter and more streamlined tool for orchestrating Callbox marketing campaigns.

Callbox, an award-winning B2B lead generation company, this week released fresh updates to Pipeline, its proprietary CRM and marketing automation platform. The recently-unveiled updates include the following:

New ABM capabilities
More intuitive dashboard and richer reporting features
Streamlined Lead Nurture interface
Faster and more robust overall performance

The new feature set vastly enhances and extends Pipeline CRM’s user experience and core functionalities for both clients and internal users.

We wanted to go beyond just tweaking Pipeline’s look and feel, says Rebecca Matias, Callbox’s Director of Sales and Marketing.

All these changes were made with the goal of giving users the ability to quickly see the big picture or drill down for a detailed view of things—from the campaign, accounts and contacts, all the way down to individual touches.

New ABM capabilities

One of these major improvements is the integration of ABM features into Pipeline. Pipeline CRM now enables Callbox campaigns to effectively apply account-based lead generation and sales prospecting strategies.

Users can now choose between Contacts View and Accounts View when looking at leads and prospects. Under Accounts View, contacts are displayed according to the organization they’re connected to. This makes it easy to target accounts and understand which decision makers in a company to engage.

Account View

Contact View

More intuitive dashboard and Richer reporting features

The Callbox team also redesigned the layout and appearance of Pipeline’s main dashboard and other reports pages based on user suggestions and feedback.

Aside from grouping leads by account as the default view, the main dashboard now shows lead scores for each prospect alongside other key details. This gives users a real-time update of each lead’s status at a single glance.

Pipeline Home

Campaign Reports

Streamlined Lead Nurture interface

Pipeline CRM ships with a marketing automation engine called Lead Nurture. Lead Nurture allows users to easily define and execute custom lead nurturing schemes using a drag-and-drop workspace.

This week’s round of updates also focused on improving the Lead Nurture UI. A major change is the addition of a new tab for viewing email templates used in a lead nurturing scheme. This enables users to handily determine which templates are working and which ones aren’t.

The redesigned UI for Lead Nurture now displays scheme performance reports by default. This aligns with the other enriched reporting features included in the new Pipeline updates.

Lead Nurture Reports

Lead Nurture Emails

Faster and more robust overall performance

A huge portion of the new updates were carried out to improve Pipeline CRM’s response and page load times. Better server management and backend optimization have resulted in a significant boost in performance.

It’s a faster and smarter platform, Rebecca adds. The key thing is that it helps produce better results for our customers.

The new and improved Pipeline CRM will go live on July 8, 2019. In the meantime, a beta version of the new and improved Pipeline is now up and running. Current Pipeline users can take it for a spin via this link:

5 Lead Generation Strategies That Work for Singapore Businesses

June 19, 2019/in Lead Generation /by Katrina Chua

We have always believed in a cross-dimensional approach in doing things for businesses and sometimes some lessons can be learned from other industries. In this article, we take a look at 5 key strategies in B2B lead generation that are guaranteed to drive sales leads for businesses in Singapore and the Asia Pacific.

So read on and explore lessons that we all deserve to be familiar with.

Use Multiple Channels

Digital marketing requires cross-platform support and multiple platform exposure. From the number of social media channels available to the various types of digital marketing specializations available, the most important lesson we can get from digital marketing is that you have to be seen everywhere.

It is never enough that you are just available on Facebook or LinkedIn as there are many customers that can be gained from a multi-channel acquisition strategy. You will rarely find a digital marketing expert who will advise you to channel all your efforts into a specific social network.

Doing it this way allows you to spread the risk and resources that you have, but more importantly, it allows you to tap into different markets.

Personal Always Works

Nobody likes a general email. Digital marketers often aim to personalize each type of content that they release to the people that they aim to convince and persuade.

A number of experiments and examples are available on why personalization works, but here’s the bottom line: people like to feel special.

It is not enough that you cannot personalize services for your current customers, but you should also be able to personalize from the get-go.

You want to make the potential customer feel special and that you care about their needs right from the start of the connection. It could be referring to them by the first name – which isn’t hard given the multitude of applications that allow you to customize your email – or knowing a little about their spending habits.

Rarely will you find a digital marketer who will write a general email about their services. If you do, you’ll know that they are wasting both time and resources doing so and it is best to run the opposite direction.

Geographical Campaigns are More Effective

Are you confused about whom to target? Then, why don’t you start targeting from the local level?

It is a growing trend for businesses who employ digital marketing companies to take the hyperlocal approach to selling and marketing their goods and services. Hyperlocal (or just plain local) campaigns generate more because they are personalized to a group of people.

Also, if a chunk of your customers is in one geographical it also aids your logistical and customer care operation because you become relatable. Right now, every business’ aim is to be relevant, and the best way of going about this is to be relatable.

It Pays to be Informed

People who are in the subcategory of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) specialists know that overnight a search engine’s algorithm might change and cause market disruption.

This is why they strive to be informed about the latest trends in digital marketing to be on the safe side. It’s time that B2B learned these lessons. More often than not, most people in B2B feel assured of their status because of their perceived stability, but this can always change.

Staying informed allows you to predict, prepare and execute on changes that you feel are coming to your industry.

It does not only involve reading the news on your industry but finding out about your customers in general. Effective marketing is false if there isn’t any effective market research to support executable actions.

You need to know both the industry that you are in and the people that you have to cater to. This results in better business and better products and services.

The business has become so dynamic over the years that it pays to be in the loop!

Learn to Outsource

There will always be someone better than you. Lead generation and outsourcing are two of the biggest examples of how another company can perform better. A lot of digital marketers are not afraid to outsource to other people should these people be better in a specific aspect of their business process.

It’s the same thing with B2B, you’re not always going to be good in lead generation, so why they don’t you assign it to someone else. You save yourself from the capital of setting up and the savings in the time that you will spend generating leads is exponential.

In conclusion, you shouldn’t fear to learn from other industries, because keeping an open mind is one of the key foundations to success if you ask any successful company.

Think about your current pipelines and how you can secure multiple channels of acquisition by studying how other industries do it.