Telemarketing Management :: Business-To-Business Telemarketing

Archive for Telemarketing Management

How Much Does A B2B Telemarketing Lead Cost These Days?

February 22nd, 2010 by Gene Gerwin

A poll on LinkedIn asking just that question got 500+ responses. Here are the results (note, the amounts are in British Pounds):

While revelatory in itself, segmentation always yields additional insight. Here we see the cost per business-to-business telemarketing lead broken down by company size:

What I find noteworthy in this second graph is that the smallest businesses are more likely to pay the highest prices for their leads. My suspicion is that this is caused by economies of scale issues.

Telemarketing campaigns require substantive administrative overhead- even for the smallest of projects. The percentage of administrative overhead contributing to the cost per lead increases the smaller the project is. Given that small companies, in most cases, can only afford small projects, it makes sense that they end up paying the most.

Categories : Telemarketing Management, Telemarketing Outsourcing, Telemarketing Planning, Uncategorized

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Leaving Cookies By Phone

February 5th, 2010 by Gene Gerwin

A common issue of contention arises when a marketing campaign uses multiple marketing channels: who gets credit for the conversion?

This question becomes significantly more urgent when commissioned telemarketing agents are involved in the campaign.

For instance, say a client were to promote a training seminar by mail, advertising, fliers, as well as commissioned telemarketers.

If the concept of “last touch” is used, then a telemarketing agent would lose out every time a prospect says they need to check the website first before agreeing to pay the attendance fee- because, most likely the prospect will complete the online registration form instead of reestablishing contact with the telemarketing agent.

Now, in the world of Internet marketing, if the prospect had gone to a landing page before getting to the conversion page, they would have been “cookied”- had a tracking code stored on their computer so if they come back to sign up at a later time or day, the original referring source would still get credit.

In the world of telemarketing, there is no equivalent of the cookie. Or, is there?

It really depends on whether you can agree in advance that the telemarketing effort will be credited for anyone on the telemarketing list that signs up for the event. The only caveat would have to be that the telemarketers would have to show evidence that they either left a message or spoke to the prospect.

And so, I present to you- The Telemarketing Cookie.

Categories : Telemarketing Management

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Deconstructing Marketing Metrics

November 29th, 2009 by Gene Gerwin

I am struck by the many parallels between Internet marketing and telemarketing. For one, they both generate a lot of historical data allowing for “forensic” investigation.

Here are some web site statistics and their equivalents in telemarketing:

For web traffic history, all kinds of additional demographic and behavioral information is tracked, stored, and available for analysis. For instance: referring websites, country, type of computer used, time on page, visitor paths, and much more- making possible what web analytics experts refer to as “deep diving.”

In the world of telemarketing, when you combine demographically selected prospect lists with tracking the above basic metrics, you can accomplish nearly the same thing.

Why the deep dive? Well, as you probably have heard, “there’s lies, damn lies, and then there’s statistics.” Top-level, aggregate ratios and moving averages rarely tell you the whole story or give you actionable insights.

Consider the following scenarios:

Web:

For the last six months, your online sales and ROI have remained steady. You promote your wares through a variety of online channels including Pay-Per Click advertising (PPC).

Being the sort that feels out of sorts when there’s seemingly nothing to worry about, you audit your PPC spend. After some Excel gymnastics, you discover that 80% of your sales are coming from brand keywords, whereas your remaining keywords consume most of your PPC budget.

Your brand keywords are subsidizing the campaign. In fact, some of your non-brand keywords are huge losers. You kill the non-performing ads and realize an almost immediate boost in your ROI.

Telemarketing:

You make a change to the telemarketing script and your rejection rate goes up while your conversion rate goes down. You think something is wrong with your new script.

You investigate further and find that the higher rejection rate is coming from a very specific demographic for which your product or service is not suited. Previously, your agents weren’t able to ferret these out early enough using the old script. Furthermore, the drop in conversions is linked to a group of new agents added to the project that still need to find their sea legs.

So, what at first blush looked like a negative, turned out to be a positive as your telemarketing agents now use their time more efficiently. Had you not investigated further than the aggregate statistic, you might have reverted to your old, less effective script.

So, when it comes to statistics, “drill Baby, drill!”

Categories : Telemarketing Management, Uncategorized

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How To Poisen Your Sales Team With Leads

October 29th, 2009 by Gene Gerwin

While I wonder whether the efficacy of email opt-in lists is being diluted by ever increasing ease of access, not just for third-party mediated broadcasts but actual purchase, the truth remains that you had better get while the getting is good.

But, as it often happens, the suddenly fortunate usually overestimate the value of their gains over maintaining harmony within their tribe. They consider responses to blind broadcasts as “hot” leads instead of the lukewarm to warm leads they really are- reserving them for their inner circle of top salespeople.

What usually happens then is that the salespeople soon discover the true nature of the gift, and begin to neglect it- focusing instead on nurturing existing customers and better qualified prospects. In the meantime, your disaffected hunters, your telemarketers, now face the prospect of calling a list devoid of the occasional gimmes that used to buoy their sagging spirits during dry spells.

While this may be the natural order of things, the process observed repeatedly in the hierarchical social structures of our chest-thumping, banana eating cousins, I say share one and share all.

Please, feed your telemarketers.

Categories : Telemarketing Management

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Using Salesforce.com For Telemarketing

October 12th, 2009 by Gene Gerwin

Using or considering using salesforce.com to manage your telemarketing? If so, you need to step outside of salesforce’s productivity tracking system- it just requires too many steps.

Think about it. If you’re using salesforce.com for sales tracking, then you already know how tough it is to get your salespeople to dot all of their i’s and cross all of their t’s so you can generate timely and accurate forecasts. The typical salesperson only completes in the neighborhood of 25 to 30 calls a day. So, if it takes them 5 to 10 minutes to update the contact record, the to-do list, the forecast, and etceteras for a single call, their productivity level still falls in the “acceptable” range.

However, impose this regimen on a telemarketer expected to make 100 to 150 calls a day, and his productivity will quickly plummet to dismal levels. It’s not just the amount of time needed to update all the screens, but the mere act of excessive navigating will throw any telemarketer off his game.

By “excessive” I mean anything more than 2 screens. A telemarketer shouldn’t have to deal with more than one screen showing the prospect list and another screen to update records. To implement this in salesforce.com while still maintaining some day-to-day productivity tracking, simply add several fields to your contact record:

1. LastEdit: Date field updated every time your agent makes a call
2. Rating: Resulting record disposition updated after every call

Then, in the reporting section, create a cross-tab using these fields. You will need to manually copy the report into a spreadsheet every night to track your stats over time (salesforce.com will overwrite the results with every day of fresh calling).

To allow the agents to manage their callbacks, simply add a Callback field as well. Don’t make them use saleforce.com’s ToDo system.

Now, create a view for your agents. Use your contacts table and show the following columns (in this order): Rating, LastCall, Callback, Account, Contact Name, and Title. You can add some additional columns if they will fit on the screen and will help your agents navigate their lists.

Voila! Problem solved. Your agents can now move between records using just 2 screens, and you can track productivity.

Categories : Telemarketing Management

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Telemarketing From Florida? That's A Jailing

September 8th, 2009 by Gene Gerwin

Florida is getting serious about enforcing the Florida Telemarketing Act. If do your business-to-consumer calling from Florida and do not have the proper licensing, you could face hefty fines and jail time.

Joo Yin Han, 36, of Maitland is the latest telemarketing business owner to experience Florida jailhouse hospitality. Details here: http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/money/090309_Telemarketer_arrested

The law applies to anyone, not just the business owner. So, if you are a work-from-home telemarketing professional and you live in Florida, you owe it to yourself to acquaint yourself with the licensing requirements. You can get more information here: http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/onestop/cs/telemarket.html

From the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services website:

“The law requires businesses that solicit the sale of consumer goods or services to be licensed, to post some form of security, and that their salespersons be licensed. It also requires the solicitor to identify him or herself by true first and last name and the name of the business on whose behalf he or she is calling. It requires a written contract that matches the description of the goods or services offered in the telephone solicitation, contains the name, address, telephone number and license number of the seller, and states the buyers right to cancel immediately preceding the signature. The written contract is not required if the consumer is given a full refund for the return of undamaged and unused goods or a cancellation of services within 7 days of receipt of the goods or a cancellation of the services and the seller processes the refund within 30 days after receipt of the returned merchandise by the consumer.”

Categories : Telemarketing Law, Telemarketing Management, Work At Home

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New CCI Telemarketing Webinar Series

August 28th, 2009 by Gene Gerwin

The first of the series is in production and will be ready within two weeks. The webinars will be brief (about 30 minutes each), but information packed. “Speak Your Customer’s Language,” prepared by Gene Gerwin and the first one scheduled, will focus on the preparatory stage of business-to-business telemarketing script writing. Reserve your spot today by clicking here: CCI Telemarketing Webinar.

Categories : Telemarketing Management, Telemarketing Script, Telemarketing Training

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Sun Tzu & Telemarketing

August 5th, 2009 by Gene Gerwin

I’ve added a free 4-part series connecting Sun Tzu’s strategic wisdom to the world of telemarketing project management.

The Way
Heaven
Ground
General
Law

You can register for the series using the button on the right-hand side of this web page (hint: it’s got a picture of Sun Tzu).

You can use this post as a place to leave comments on the articles. Criticism is welcome as long as it is constructive (“That’s dumb” doesn’t qualify).

Categories : Telemarketing Management

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Outsourcing Telemarketing To The Philippines

August 4th, 2009 by Gene Gerwin

Of the three main far-shore outsourcing options, Ireland-India-Philippines, I get asked most about services in the Philippines since they offer the best combination of low rates and intelligible English.

I’ve heard both good things and bad things about outsourcing to the Philippines. My personal experience, so far, has been good. But then, the projects I outsourced were very simple and required a minimum of agent/prospect interaction.

My recommendation for business-to-business telemarketing is to stick with very simple scripts and objectives. In general, this is good advice, but even more so when outsourcing to low-cost call centers (domestic or international).

From both mine and experiences by others in the industry, a lot of hand-holding is required. Do not expect the agency to take initiative or make error corrections.

Be very, very, very clear in your instructions. And even then, keep close watch over processes and outcomes- ensuring you are getting what you expected.

Despite their “mild” accent and easy adoption of American pronunciations, there is still a language barrier. Any work requiring free-flowing conversation, in-depth explanation of services or products, or “off the script” dialog is best reserved for native English speaking agents.

Another item to be aware of is their cultural approach to the importance of work versus quality time for themselves and family. Expect downtime during holidays, birthdays, family events, personal needs, sick days, and etceteras.

So, yes, you can save money by outsourcing to the Philippines. For some, the cost savings can mean the difference between doing telemarketing or not doing it at all. Just keep the trade-offs in mind and compensate accordingly.

Categories : Telemarketing Management

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Don't Stop Using That "Bad" Telemarketing Script… At Least Not Yet

July 13th, 2009 by Gene Gerwin

Your telemarketing project seems to have gotten off to a slow start. The expected conversion rate was 5% and you’re only getting 3%. Your boss (or client) looks like he’s getting ready to hit the panic button. Heck, you’ve already hit the panic button yourself.

OK, now what?

You do the first thing that comes to mind: you re-write the telemarketing script.

Your agents are back on the phones, and, what do you know? They’re getting a 5% conversion rate. The new script must be much better. You saved the day… or did you?

The last thing your boss or client wants to hear when things aren’t going well is that you want to keep doing what you’re doing. After all, isn’t the definition of insanity “always doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”[Einstein]?

Well, yes and no.

If we’re talking about banging your head against the wall, then even just once is insanity.

In the world of marketing, though, head-banging is how we make progress. In fact, early success is often the worst thing that could happen for, “mediocrity is the enemy of excellence.”

Your first mistake was not running several telemarketing scripts against each other in an A/B split test. But, that’s another subject.

You’ve compounded the problem by not taking into consideration variance and statistical significance. And, given how you’ve handled the situation up until now, you’re most likely going to make the further error of putting your project on autopilot now that you’ve hit the 5% conversion rate you were looking for.

Statistical Significance

Don’t worry, I’m not going to bore you with math. Most introductory texts on statistics will teach you what you need to know.

Suffice it to say that knowing in advance the conversion rate you expect (want) to achieve, with a little Excel wizardry you can calculate how many conversations your telemarketing agents need to complete before you can say with confidence that your telemarketing script is going to work or needs a re-write.

Let’s say, in this scenario, that had you continued to test the first script until reaching statistical significance, you would have found that it actually generated an 8% conversion rate for you.

What you need to realize is that that’s a 60% improvement in relative performance. Sure, an absolute 3% improvement doesn’t seem like much. But, if you look at the bottom line, this could mean a jump in ROI for you from 30% to 90% or more.

Now that you’ve happily settled for 5%, you’ll never realize how much more profitable your campaign could be.

So, here’s the takeaway from this post:

1. Calculate in advance how many conversations need to be completed to test your telemarketing scripts
2. Start by running an A/B split test
3. Always continue to challenge your winning telemarketing scripts with new split test ideas
4. Don’t panic!

If you would like me to help you with this calculation, email me or reply to this post.

-Gene

Categories : Telemarketing Management, Telemarketing Script Writing

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