I would watch very closely the advice you give here. Outsourcing by far is a much more cost effective option than attempting to run a telemarketing operation in-house, particulary in the b2b sector. The key is to be able to indentify those companies that have the ability to understand both your industry and their own. Your first key in the B2B sector is how and what information a telemarketing firm collects from you. Most often, as you indicate a sales consulting firm get the process right, while most telemarketing firms simply collect your parameters, give you a qoute, write you a script and throw bodies at the problem. This is a recipe for disaster everytime. Your cost per lead will skyrocket and worse of all you will never see a return on investment, which should be a critical factor, much more so than the cost-per-lead on any campaign that is marketing related.
Before a telemarketing company even gives you a proposal, they should ask you the following questions, so that they can identify the critical issues that will impact your success rate and plan for them, as well as charge accordingly. This interview should last as long as it takes and be very focused on what YOU are looking to accomplish. (Word of advice, if a representative with a telemarketing starts down this path, you are lucky, you have found one of the few vendors who know what they are doing) If a telemarketing company does not ask you the following questions, do not take them seriously, they most likely have a failure rate well above 75% in the B2B sector.
Goals and Objectives
What are your specific goals and objectives for the campaign or trial in terms of: the number of leads (in total and/or per time period,) the quality of leads, the cost per lead and/or cost of sales? Feel free to elaborate on specific objectives, to whom they relate, and their relative importance.
What are your business goals (dollars, units, market share, revenue, etc.,) for the trial, the product, the company and/or the division? Again, feel free to elaborate - since the better we understand what your goals are, and how we are going to be measured, the better we are going to be able to meet them.
What threats do you see to the achievement of these goals?
Strategy
What have you tried already in order to increase sales or meet your objectives? Describe the program(s).
What has worked? For those things that have worked, what was it about them that worked?
What hasn't worked? For those things that haven't worked, why do you think they didn't work?
What do you think could have been done better that would have resulted in success?
What have other people done that has been successful, and how do you think they did it?
Product Features and Benefits
What is your Web site URL? If you don't have an up-to-date Web site that describes your products and services, do you have a feature-by-feature side-by-side table that compares your offering to your competitors' offerings?
Please provide case histories of companies that have used your product or service, if available. The most important thing here is to provide "metrics", or numerical results (i.e. improvements,) that accrued to your customers as a consequence of using your product or service. Benefits generally fall into three categories, saving time, saving money, and peace of mind, but you aren't limited to these categories -- as long as it has a "delta" or a number attached to the improvement. For example, it cost them $50K, but saved them $250K in the first three months… Or the payback was six weeks… Or the ROI was 2389%… Or it increased profitability by 16%. Etc. Stories (i.e. case histories,) are the most helpful, particularly to illustrate the ease of doing business with you, (versus doing nothing, or versus a competitor,) but especially to illustrate the benefit of doing business with you. The more stories you can provide, the better. The more relevent they can be made to the target audience, the better. And the more specific (i.e. a measurable impact,) the better, too.
Market
What target markets do you want to go after? What SIC Codes, geographic areas, types of decision makers, level of authority, applications, etc.?
What questions would you suggest that we ask prospects (particularly of lower-level people if we can't yet get to the CXO,) that can "qualify out" the prospect (so that we don't waste time trying to get in touch with a CXO who isn't going to buy)?
How can we best identify the companies that are going to have the highest probability of needing the product or service, and have a willingness and ability to pay?
What are the lead qualification criteria, i.e. what constitutes a good lead for you?
What constitutes good business for you? Please be as specific or as elaborate as necessary. Giving you good leads is made easier if we know exactly what one looks like!
Are there "categories" of good prospects? That is, there may be different types of companies who need the product or services for different reasons. What are they?
Do you have a one-page sell-sheet that sumarizes the benefits of the products or services?
Do you have a collateral piece that illustrates your economic advantages? Please provide all collateral material, if possible.
Script Elements
Assuming we get a CXO on the phone, what's the one thing you want us to ask him that you think would get him interested? What are three or four other leading questions that we could ask that you think would get him interested?
What are the most common objections you get, and how do you typically answer them?
In "25 words or less", why should someone buy this product or service?
Can you show your "value proposition" in a simple spreadsheet?
It does not end here. As well a telemarketing company should understand the following:
Your average close rate for sales on qualified leads as you have already outline?
Your average revenue on sales generated?
What is your profit margins on those sales?
Cost per lead as well is not always the most accurate indicator of the success of a telemarketing campaign, nor is the number of "leads" or "appointments". To be sure, a consulting firm may be paying $600.00 per lead, get 10 good "qualified leads" on a 150 hour campaign, close one lead and generate $200,000 in revenue, with a 30% profit margin, meaning they made $60,000.00 dollars and with a ROI of $54,000.00 or a ROI of 900%. What does this mean, the leads were well qualified, being that needs, issues and objective were uncovered and and opportunities. Keep in mind this only takes into account a 10% sales close ratio for the campaign. What does this mean? The campaign is not worth doing because the cost per lead is $600.00? Given a consulting engagement, the competive marketplace and the number of things that would have to be taken into account to make this campaign a success, the cost-per-lead is justified. What other lead generation medium, even when done correctly, return this type of ROI?
To be sure, the cost per lead when outsourcing b2b telemarketing will range anywhere from about $120.00 per lead, all the way up to $650.00 per lead depending on the multitude of factors taken into a campaign and how well the telemarketing firm prepares for them. Both the low end and the high-end are well justified depending on the complexity of the offering, where you are positioned in the marketplace and how well you value-propostion is articulated and percieved, what the demand is in the marketplace and realistically how much demand can be created in the market place.
If you need more help in this matter, feel free to contact me at kenn.wills@questkey.com.