First of all, to dispel any rumors that outbound telemarketing is dead:
DiscoverOrg recently conducted a study involving 1,000 IT executives from Fortune 500 companies in the SMB industry. Apparently, they don’t think outbound telemarketing has any problems at all:
- 60% said outbound calls have increased the chances of an IT vendor to be evaluated by them
- 75% said they’d decided to attend an event or take an appointment after having received a cold call or email.
At a time when social media is ruling the world and content marketing is getting its share of the limelight, it may come off as a little surprising that executives, especially in the IT products and services industry, still have faith in B2B telemarketing as a means for lead generation and sales.
Businesses are progressively more into social online marketing—blogging, content, search engine optimization and social media. But why is telemarketing never out of the picture? Because a good old-fashioned phone call humanizes the marketing relationship, regardless of the size of a business or industry.
But you don’t need to sacrifice one in favor of another. Inbound and outbound marketing can co-exist in a campaign, and here are a few ways to do just that:
Create scripts, but don’t make it seem you did. A script that sounds too sensational will only summon doubts. Draft something in a conversational tone, making sure that it reflects what your company stands for.
Make it personal; don’t take it personal. Do some research and gather personal information about your target market. Include these data in your telemarketing strategy so prospects can see how deep you are in making a strong business relationship from scratch.
Provide incentives. Your telemarketing strategies can be used to direct interested prospects to your website or blog so they can participate in activities or download free stuff from you. The more they see that they have so much they can get from you, the more they’d be willing to disclose information and agree to commitments.
Be omnipresent. Include links to your online presence in print (brochures, regular mail, business cards, advertisements and packing slips). Also, tap your colleagues to include links to your company in their email signatures, as well as in their social media profiles.
Track outcomes. A good customer relationship management (CRM) platform can help you measure the results of your outbound and inbound marketing efforts. It will help you to adjust your strategy over time and align your techniques to ensure your overall campaign is working broadly across multiple techniques and platforms.
