Lead Generation Goes Beyond Telesales

You’ve probably heard that cold calling is dead, and while the story is a little more complicated than that, direct marketing campaigns have undergone major changes in recent years. In the past 12 months, 78.5% of companies have engaged in multi-channel lead generation programs, with Australian, European and African companies leading the charge (85%), followed by those in Canada and the US (76%).

Telesales are a great place to start any B2B lead generation campaign and it can be effective – when it’s in the right hands. Demand generation companies conduct intelligent and targeted direct marketing campaigns that reach key decision makers, create a focused message, create win-back and retention campaigns, and make the most of digital lead generation. Combining an effective telesales campaign with direct mail and digital marketing takes your sales lead game to the next level.

Reaching Key Decision Makers

Consider this a common B2B marketing scenario: you sell new PoS technology to retail businesses and your lead marketing company is focused on telesales. They spend their time, and your money, calling store after store, restaurant after restaurant, reaching customer service employees who might, if you’re lucky, pass the phone to a manager. A successful lead campaign targets decision makers, including C-suite managers, department heads, and business owners. Sophisticated brands need professional demand generation companies that offer precision-targeted marketing solutions.

That doesn’t mean that picking up the phone no longer works. In fact, just doing telesales, if done properly by lead generation experts, can be very effective. However, marketers are seeing cold calling shift to warm calling, and online marketing is helping. Data analysis can pinpoint visitors to your website, identifying their locations and even the companies they work for. That indicates interest in your product, even if the visitor doesn’t follow up. A professional demand generation company then uses a technique called warm calling to cold call a prospect who has already demonstrated interest in your business.

Create Better Outbound Campaigns

Outbound marketing has changed; it’s harder than ever to generate outbound sales leads with a poorly designed campaign that simply blankets as many prospects as possible. Sales lead campaigns that are well-designed, targeted, and on-message work better than ever. Your B2B marketing partner can help you create a better campaign by narrowing down your message, refining your value proposition, and researching target markets. Not sure what creative capabilities means from a demand generation company? Take a look at 360 Leads – they produce brand switch campaigns, win-back campaigns, pre- and post-trade show campaigns, and tailor your message to the media, whether it’s calls, direct mail, or digital marketing.

Win-Back and Retention

Do your direct marketing strategies target your existing and former customers? You can win-back clients and improve your billings with present clients through a smart win-back and retention strategy, one of the services offered by demand generation companies like 360 Leads. Lead management isn’t over once you’ve made the conversion, you should always be marketing to existing and past clients.

Digital Lead Generation

The secret to digital demand generation is follow-up; you have a tight time limit to effectively follow up with email queries, and even less time to engage on social media. If you’re not available within minutes, inbound leads go cold. Timely responses help nurture prospects who aren’t ready to buy. Remember that people buy when they are ready to buy, and not a minute earlier or later.

Telesales

When it comes to ranking telesales, 44.7% of top performing companies ranked telesales as their best lead generation channel. The number comes from experts 360 Leads in their Black Report. Telesales, if done properly by professionals who know what they are doing, can be very effective, but to take it one step further and go beyond telesales with a robust mix of inbound and outbound strategies, companies should work with a modern, professional demand generation company that uses digital marketing, direct marketing, and handles all your sales leads over the length of your campaign.