If you are in telesales, how can you be both buyer-centric AND productive?
For telesales groups that target the SMB segment (Small, Medium Business), the dynamics are very different than in pursuing large mid-market or enterprise accounts.
In targeting the vast SMB market through lead generation, the challenge for telesales is to break into large numbers of accounts without the luxury of referrals or deep account insight.
The issue of minimal customer insight is problematic for both outbound cold calling and the telequalification of responders where limited profiling information exists. The issue is exacerbated by the demanding metrics set for telesales.
The recognition that the internet has enabled buyers to be in control of the buying process creates formidable challenges to telesales: how to be knowledgeable, consultative and bring value to the discussion.
For many organizations, the resources for telesales enablement may limited adding to the woes of telesales.
So what to do? How can you trade-off between efficiency and effectiveness?
Let’s start with an example of what not to do:
Hi Mr. Lesser, I am calling today after reviewing your website. Our solution is well-suited to your company. It will help you save at least 10% in costs…
The problem with this approach is that the sales rep is calling under false pretenses – hardly a way to build a rapport with a prospect. By their generic value proposition it becomes clear that the only thing customized about their pitch is the use of your name.
For fun, try this out: ask the telesales rep why he/she believes that their solution is a good fit to your company based on their review of your website.
In contrast, my suggested approach digs deeper but still allows you to work on a shoestring lead generation budget.
Segment your List & Segment your Messages
By segmenting your list based on criteria such as size of organization or preferably, industry/vertical market, you will be able to use the power of mass customization.
A message using industry vernacular to articulate how your solution addresses industry pain points can be an effective door opener.
Although not as effective, as communicating to account-specific pain points, it can build credibility and give you the ‘right’ to ask more detailed, account questions.
Fact-Find Low, Call High
A year ago, Paul McCord, sales trainer, consultant and author, blogged about how he prospected. Paul’s approach to sell his firm’s services was to call ‘low’ into an account to discover pain points and potentially generate an internal referral to a senior decision-maker.
Then, armed with account insight, Paul calls to the decision-maker with stellar results.
To economize, this approach can be well-adapted to high volume telesales by interviewing only one low level contact prior to approaching the senior decision-maker and limiting the number of call attempts.
Use Trigger Marketing
Just as consumers who move through life stages, the buying cycle for businesses can be triggered by milestone events such as changes in the executive suite, mergers & acquisitions, office relocations, the bankruptcy of the vendor of an installed solution etc.
Lists that track these triggers are broadly available and also with such tools such as InsideView.
Overlaying this data onto your database can flag accounts that then can be batched and targeted by telesales.
Telesales faces very different pressures than field sales. Some of the above approaches are used by field sales in a similar fashion but the approaches described here reflect the unique requirements of the world of telesales.
Photo credit: Balancing act by theDQT
6 Comments
Interesting post. It all comes down to understanding who your customer is and what she needs and wants. Old-fashioned, "carpet-bomb" calling is definitely passe. Although they are two different mediums, the Web's ability to customize and personalize experiences based on subtly and overtly collected user data sets the bar for all other types of customer interactions. People expect more than a generic sales pitch, and if you can't deliver … well … neither will they.
Great ideas. Thanks!
Great post Robert. Those companies targeting the SMB space via telesales need to not only consider thoughtful outbound practices but also must build an inbound lead machine. With low dollar average deal prices, a telesales rep will be challenged to make their number through outbound alone.
When you add an effective inbound component it delivers data the telesales rep can use in the sales process ie. what is the prospect interested in, do they fit our ideal customer profile and buyer persona, what did they respond to or what pages did they look at on our site?
More than any other market segment, SMB success requires an inbound machine coupled with an outbound strategy that is effective. Thanks for raising the issue!
Whether trying to connect with a small business owner or the division manager of a major corporation, knowing why you're calling is critical. One of the reasons decision makers hate getting cold calls is they all sound the same–that is, every salesperson who calls is quizzing them to find a reason for having called. Decision makers find it a tremendous waste of time and ultimately just refuse to take any unsolicited calls from salespeople. Do the research, know why you're calling, don't waste your prospect's time.
One of the advantages of SMB selling (as compared to enterprise selling) is that it's a target-rich environment. An efficient approach to "being smart about the customer" is to let the target find you, using technology. Define your profile for the ideal prospect (size, geo, vertical, and compelling business trigger) and let the technology feed you pre-researched targets to call. That's what Sales 2.0 technology can/should do for sales.
Nice post, Robert. And good comments, too.
I'm glad Trish mentioned buyer personas, those are a great resource. Plus, I totally agree with her about Inbound programs.
Ultimately, telesales needs a business reason for making the call. All calls should deliver something valuable to the prospect. An additional way to build the relationship is to offer a content resource that takes a dive into the problem your solution solves. Where a cold prospect may not be willing to give you a lot of phone time, they just may be willing to receive relevant and helpful information. Plus you then have a reason to follow-up and extend the conversation based on interest if they download the piece.
Thanks for opening the door on this discussion. The old, "Are you ready to buy" calls just won't work. Disappointing that those are a majority of what I receive.
Robert, Great insight as usual. With the widespread availability and low cost (in many cases-free)of WebTools, the historical challenge of "minimal customer insight" can be substantially minimized.
Segment and Conquer is effective and quick to achieve. I would add that JOB LEVEL/TITLE is another segmentation option.
Paul's approach is terrific but I find that in the SMB space I cannot afford those extra calls at the low end.
Trigger's have been most successful for me in both SMB and Enterprise customers over the last 2 years.
If you utilize webtools like Constant Contact for your list segmentation and communication, Jigsaw for the detailed individual contact information and InsideView for the Trigger Event information you will see surprising, positive results in a short period of time.
Miles