Outbound telemarketing may be the one tactic everybody loves to hate, but the fact is, when done well, it pays rich dividends and delivers a healthy ROI. In fact, appointment setting via an inside sales team still forms the backbone of a strong and healthy sales pipeline. But the COVID pandemic has transformed sales processes in unprecedented ways. This McKinsey report shows that ‘only about 20 percent of B2B buyers hope to return to in-person sales, even in sectors where field-sales models have traditionally dominated, such as pharma and medical products’. The reality is many buyers and sellers are starting to prefer the flexibility, adaptability, and speed of the virtual, or somewhat hybrid model, which involves multiple channels of outreach to address needs of the buying collective as they progress through their journey.
People are now more open to remote conversations and exchanging information over voice, video, and chat than ever before. While telecalling will likely only become more central to the B2B GTM strategy, the way it’s executed is going to have to change dramatically. In this article, we’re unpacking six things you can do to adapt outbound telemarketing to new selling realities as you plan your omnichannel B2B marketing strategy.
Six ways to drive better outcomes from outbound telemarketing:
- Embed telecalling in the overall buyer journey: as you move away from channels specific to customer-centric B2B marketing, B2B marketers need to recalibrate the role of each channel – including outbound telecalling – to find the right ways to leverage it in the omnichannel marketing plan. Telecalling is part of the overall performance marketing plan for demand generation. It needs to be seamlessly integrated into the overall customer experience to get the best outcomes.
At different stages of the buying journey, telecalling can either help provide the speediest response and follow-up, gather deeper account-level information for sales to act on, provide human interaction to progress to the next level, etc. Outcomes should be measured for the entire suite of performance marketing channels and for each stage of the funnel – starting from MQLs to bottom-of-funnel BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Time) qualified leads, rather than for each channel alone.
- Leverage telemarketing beyond lead generation: perhaps one of the biggest shifts for telemarketing is that it can do a good job beyond the traditional role of prospecting and cold calling for new accounts. Leveraging outbound telemarketing for account expansion and retention is definitely the hottest trend in B2B marketing. Prospecting for new opportunities within existing customers, proactively contacting accounts at risk of churn, those due for a subscription renewal, or near a re-order date are all great use-cases for outbound telemarketing and have shown strong ROI, while also saving the time of salespeople to focus on acquisition. As retention becomes more critical to businesses, especially in the SaaS B2B model, telemarketing can play a critical role in driving repeat business and even reactivating lapsed customers.
- Invest in the best technology infrastructure and integration: outbound telecalling systems need to be integrated into existing prospect and customer management systems, so outbound callers have enough context when they make their calls, as well as the ability to capture insights gathered in the call back into the system. They also need alternate options such as video and online text chat capabilities, so that they can engage with prospects in the multiple ways that people use their smartphones.
Customers today expect to be able to click on an icon and get connected to a human being – or to ask a chatbot to transfer them to a human – this means integrating digital channels into inbound telecalling systems. Finally, integrating with a strong sales enablement system helps callers to send the right content to the right prospect immediately and seamlessly via their preferred channel. Modernizing outbound telecalling systems and infrastructure, or working with a top-of-the-line vendor who is able to provide the required infrastructure is critical.
- Build processes that support sales: Outbound telecalling can be used as a great way to mine further and deeper insight into prospects. While conversing with prospects, there is a lot of latent information that can be garnered in terms of organizational priorities, business health, strategic priorities, etc. Experienced telemarketers are also able to get more clarity on where the prospect organization is in their buy decision and the timelines involved. This allows for more timely follow-up and improved conversion to the pipeline. Building account-level insights is a valuable support to the salespeople, and a compelling outcome in itself, but intelligent systems can take it a step ahead by mining insights from unstructured data in call transcripts. All the insights gathered via the agent or the system needs to be captured in a way that it can be further used for the next phase of engagement.
- Optimize the MQL to pipeline conversion ratio: the outcome of an outbound telecall will rarely be a closed deal, but it can greatly improve the MQL to pipeline conversion ratio. Any touchpoints established over digital channels (e.g. email, form fill, chatbot) can trigger a task for telemarketing to reach out to the prospect. By reaching the prospect within the timeframe when the action is fresh in his/her memory, there’s a significant improvement in establishing the next steps. When it comes to expediting sales velocity at the bottom of the funnel, telemarketing continues to be the lead channel in any ABM strategy. A coordinated effort between the field sales team and the telemarketing team will eventually drive better sales conversions as well.
- Invest in the right vendor: Aside from the need for highly trained telecallers, the best cutting-edge connectivity and call management technology, systems that integrate into marketing automation and sales systems, and the ability to scale with speed, the one critical aspect of outbound marketing success is access to the best intent data to inform your outreach.
High investments in technology, training, and integration can be avoided by retaining the right outbound demand generation partner. Note that we said demand generation and not just call centre, because just like your strategy is omnichannel, your partner needs to be able to deliver demand generation through multiple channels such as telemarketing, email, display advertising (including programmatic), etc. Look for a partner who can deliver quality and quantity. A good vendor partner will bring capabilities such as data enrichment, privacy, and security compliance without compromising on volume, quality leads, and a relentless focus on technology, data, and process.
Successful telemarketing as an outbound channel needs careful journey mapping to identify the personas who would best respond to this channel and the purpose it would serve for them. It needs a comprehensive plan, skilled callers, robust communication systems, integration into the sales and marketing lead gen systems, and of course, the best quality intent data at the individual and account level. A strong outbound telemarketing system can deliver on a range of use-cases in the B2B marketing spectrum: from MQL generation down to BANT qualification,, to custom lead qualification and uncovering unique company profile data , event marketing, building insight into the buying collective, winning back lapsed customers, and testing messages and offers for first-hand feedback. Ultimately, the interaction – like any other channel – should be about creating value by meeting buyer needs and expectations in a relevant way. In the new B2B marketing world, it’s empathy and humanness above all else – telemarketing is just another brick in building that strong customer relationship.