If you’ve decided to look for a Telemarketing company to support your B2B marketing efforts, as with any other area of your business, you want to be working with the best. But what does a great Telemarketing company look like? We’ve been working in this field for a long time, so we’ve learned what works best for our clients and for ourselves. We’d obviously like to work with you if you’re looking for a Telemarketing partner, but whoever you choose, these are the key attributes to look out for:

Staffed by trained Account Managers, not just people on phones

It may seem obvious, but this is often a real tripping point for businesses looking to work with a Telemarketing company. A lot of this is down to the misconception that Telemarketing is B2C focused, as well as the additional misconception that there’s no skill or effort required. Because of negative experiences with cold callers, the assumption becomes that all Telemarketing is a numbers game, that it’s fire and forget, quantity of calls over quality. Businesses saddled with these misconceptions are likely to go with the lowest bid offer, and end up with the kind of poor return on investment you’d expect from such speculative tactics. However, with worthwhile (and, yes, generally more expensive) Telemarketing companies, especially with a B2B focus, extensive work goes into training the personnel working on your behalf. While not every call is guaranteed to secure a new Lead, each call will be made to a business in the sectors and industries you’re looking for Leads in, with time and effort dedicated to creating call lists that feature only the most qualified potential Leads.
 

Attentive to the needs of prospects, not just focused on the hard sell

In a similar way to the previous point, this is another way in which popular misconceptions can taint what stakeholders expect from Telemarketing companies. In a well run B2B Telemarketing agency, a call with a potential Lead is a conversation, not a brute force attempt to make a third-party buy a product or service from you. A great Telemarketing agency will know the products and services they’re selling: the USPs, the situations they’re useful for, and those where a prospect wouldn’t see as much benefit. Armed with this knowledge, a professional Telemarketing team is able to have a meaningful back-and-forth with the businesses they call, establishing what the particular needs of a business are, before explaining why your product is the answer, in terms that a potential Lead will understand. Persistence or a good script will only take you so far; truly knowing what you’re selling and gaining a full understanding of the client’s needs are the best way to secure new business.
 

Regular, detailed communication is key

Communication skills should obviously be a central skill of the personnel in Telemarketing companies, but it’s fair to say that good lines of communication are incredibly important when looking to engage any external business. Goals need to be established and reporting needs to be frequent and relevant. At the end of the day, if you can’t clearly see what value your money is getting you, or have a good idea of how it’s being spent, would you be happy to continue spending? Return on investment should always be the most important factor when hiring a third party to help with your marketing efforts, and if a Telemarketing company isn’t able to furnish you with reports on their progress and feedback from the prospects that they’ve contacted, you’re not getting the service that you should be.
 

Full service, more than just a call centre

As well as providing the personnel and expertise to generate you quality Leads, a great Telemarketing agency will also offer additional support services, getting you more bank for your buck. For example, when the Leads do start coming in, you’ll still have to find the time to meet said Leads yourself, and depending on the size of your business or the specifics of your role, that may be easier said than done. A full service Telemarketing agency will cover that for you too, your part of the conversion process will be making sure you’re on time to the meeting and ready to do what you do best! A great Telemarketing agency will also offer support in relation to the data they use; data decays at a rate of roughly 20-24% every year, so it’s critical that someone is keeping the list of contacts and clients that’s being used for outbound marketing up to date. If there’s no one in your team that’s able to pick up the slack in that regard, this is another area that a Telemarketing agency can make your business more effective. After all, they’ll likely be dealing with the data the most, and between their own expertise, and consultation with you, they’ll be able to do a much more effective job.
 

There’s no replacement for experience and success

While there’s certainly a chance that a brand new or unknown Telemarketing agency may have a lot to offer you, you probably don’t want to be gambling with your marketing spend. You want to hire a great Telemarketing agency after all, so looking for a clear track record of success with businesses of your size, or in your sector, is a must. Talk to other industry connections, take a look at review aggregators, and look for testimonials on the prospective Telemarketing partner’s website. Failing the former, get in touch with them directly and ask for some references. A great Telemarketing company walks the walk, as well as talks the talk. As you’d expect, we embody the Telemarketing values that we’ve detailed above. But don’t just take our word for it, get in touch with us today and find out how we can help you and your business.