For companies that sell their products and services to other companies, cold calling remains one of the most effective levers for developing visibility and generating interest among target customers to increase sales.
68% of B2B sales involve some form of social interaction, such as telemarketing. Moreover, prospects respond better to well thought-out human interaction than to forms of digital marketing. The basis of B2B telemarketing is the approach strategy, which can be compared to a marketing strategy. It will inevitably vary according to the client and its product, but its logical structure remains essentially the same, consisting of two main sections: the target definition and the telephone pitch. If these two elements are well constructed and correlated, the outreach strategy will result in a telemarketing campaign that will stand out and be successful.
Steps to follow for a successful telemarketing strategy:
Define precise objectives
Avoid throwing your money away by being very careful about the goals you set. You don’t want to spend all that time and effort on something that isn’t really important, do you?
Your timing for your goals is very important. You have to respect all the deadlines set in order to complete each step of your telemarketing strategy (defining the target, defining the budget, choosing the telemarketing agency, etc.).
Time your campaign to coincide with the ideal period for your target (they must have the attention, time and money to buy).
Before you start telemarketing, it is important that your objective is clearly defined. If the purpose of this exercise is to collect email addresses for a small or medium-sized company, they may already have them from their first point of contact (the one who answers the phone). However, if we are trying to talk to someone higher up in the decision-making positions than those who usually attend these types of events, I recommend using sales techniques such as empathy and warmth, which can get people on board more quickly, as long as there is no gray area about exactly why our customer needs this information
Defining the target and identifying the right decision-maker in a company
Knowing how to present a product or service is one thing, but you also need to know who to address!
To do this, the first step is to study the customer to find out about their offer and
determining the selection criteria for finding companies potentially interested in the client’s offer, its prospects. The criteria are generally: the region, the sector of activity, the turnover, and the number of employees. With these selection criteria, a contact research expert can build a good list of companies to prospect.
Afterwards, the key persons who could be interested in the product or service to be promoted are defined and then searched for! It is essential to identify the names of these decision-makers, i.e., the people who will make the decision to buy the product or service for the company where they work. A short Internet search with the right tools will bring up the right decision-maker or at least one other key person in the company who could serve as an intermediary within 70% of the time. For the rest, it is the receptionist who has to be approached with talent on behalf of the calling resources (tele-agents) to succeed in helping to find the right person.
Build a powerful and foolproof telephone sales pitch
During a first strategic meeting, it is advisable to analyse all the steps they have already taken, their actions on the web, the main objections they encounter, etc. A good approach allows all the details to be reviewed from top to bottom using an appropriate questionnaire. In doing so, the telemarketing experts gain a complete knowledge of their client’s business, but also of their products, their competition and the obstacles they may encounter.
With this information, the copywriting specialist will be able to build a well-structured and effective telephone sales pitch. The telephone sales pitch is the reference document for telephone agents. And yes! The latter must not rely solely on their knowledge of the product and their ability to improvise. No matter how talented a resource is, it must be prepared in advance to come up with the right arguments at the right time.
What is in a telephone pitch? First of all, the introduction to the reception desk to identify the decision-maker or confirm that he or she is still on the line, as well as the introduction to the decision-maker. The main script is a sort of thread that the tele-agent will follow throughout the discussion. It contains questions at the right moment to understand the prospect’s situation in order to detect his needs. In the complete list of benefits of the product or service, the resource will choose to talk first about the benefits that meet the prospect’s particular need so that he or she understands the added value for him or her.
Finally, the telephone sales pitch details the art and manner of responding to the caller’s objections. With a good sales pitch, the caller is never caught off guard and she can guide her prospect psychologically to the point where he is ready to consider the offer.
Speak calmly and practice:
What to do if you feel nervous?
This is a common problem for many people when they start cold calling. They fear that the other person won’t understand them or take their words seriously, which makes it difficult to convey what’s important in an engaging way while remaining confident! Fortunately, there are ways around this problem – one being to take time before speaking so that you don’t come across as someone who has just been going through documents at high speed (you know, those moments when everything falls apart despite the best of intentions). The next step would be to practice during downtime, outside of work hours, as we all need distractions from time to time.
Expect rejection and be persistent
If a potential client says “no” and you feel confident, try – politely – to plead your case. But sometimes a “no” is nothing more than an absolute rejection of any argument or opinion put forward by either party in that interaction. Persistence is the key when trying to get someone on the phone. If they are not interested in talking, do not be discouraged! Just move on to another call and continue your campaign until you find success.
End all calls politely
Whether or not you get what you want, always thank the person on the other end for their time. You may have to make many calls before you get what you want, and that’s the way it is. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Take action, actions replace words!
There is a lot to do before you call or send marketing material. You should always be prepared and organized so that your calls do not go unanswered, leaving potential customers hanging when they need help the most! Make sure I have not only all my contact information at hand, but also the type of message we want them to hear from our company.
If you say you are going to send out marketing material – do it! Ideally, right away. Don’t leave them hanging with unanswered questions or broken promises of delivery.
Why our approach strategies are relevant
At Direct B2B Telemarketing, our experience in list research combined with a large in-house database that is regularly checked. This allows us to be very effective from the first call as we build you a very high-quality list. This saves a lot of time!
As far as the sales pitch is concerned, our speciality is to build it in a short, precise, and efficient way. Often, clients will want to introduce a large description of their product or service. This would be a mistake! A solicitation call is often short, and it is mostly a “surprise” for the person receiving the call. That’s why it’s important to stand out not only with personality, but with well-chosen arguments at the right moment to get over the barrier that a prospect usually has when he receives an unsolicited call. This is crucial, because otherwise the call ends after 30 seconds in a negative way, and the prospect will not be approached for some time!
Finally, let’s add that a good sales pitch should make use of the experience of the customer who knows his product or service best, the expertise of the copywriter to put the arguments in the right place, and the know-how of the tele-agent to deliver the pitch with personality, detect the needs to place the right arguments at the right time and thus interest the prospect in a meeting. This collaboration to join forces gives the best results.
Like any other communication channel, B2B telemarketing requires an effective approach strategy to ensure quality prospecting that increases sales potential to achieve a good return on investment. At Direct B2B Telemarketing, we are the experts in helping you design
a well thought-out and collaborative strategy with a good and relevant sales pitch that will be delivered with the best possible quality.
So together we will find quality prospects for your business, and it’s up to you to do what you love most: SELL!
Click here to start a pilot project and we will give you 2 hours of free consultation to get started!