10 years ago the number one way to generate new leads was through the proven method of targeting the right market, picking up the phone, telling your prospect a great sales story and setting an appointment. The more calls you made, the more appointments you could set. But times have changed and you can no longer throw bodies at the problem.
According to Forrester Research over 70% of buyers now prefer to receive an email and be educated digitally before meaningfully engaging with a sales rep. Couple this with the fact that buyers now pick up the phone 50% less than they did several years ago. You can see why you and your outsourced sales and marketing company now need to approach cold calling and their phone approach to sales and lead generation differently.
So now when you outsource sales and marketing in 2017 you can expect your outsourced sales and marketing team to generate leads through a combination of one integrated process that includes:
- Email Marketing Campaigns
- Content Marketing
- PPC Campaigns
- And Cold Calling
All culminating in the ability to score leads so your callers are focused on buyers that are most likely to transact.
This aligned sales and marketing process implemented by an outsourced sales and marketing partner will impact your teams approach to calling in the following ways:
When cold calling your outsourced sales callers will start by simply introducing content
If buyers prefer to learn about new solutions through educational content this is where your calling efforts will start. You should use your callers to target customers that fit your ideal customer profile – buyers that are in the right vertical, buyers and influencers that should have a need for your solution that can help them hit their own personal annual bonus this year, and buyers that you have a proven ability to serve. Your goal of that initial call should be to get to pitch your solution in under 30 seconds, confirm that they have at least a little interest in your solution and that they are the right person at the company to share the information with. Once these goals are achieved you should share the information and get off the call and move on to putting more early stage deals in the funnel.
Your outsourced sales team should focus on helping and not selling
You callers initial focus needs to be more customer service and buyer education focused. Not trying to set appointments immediately with closers. Your callers need to shift their mind set to discovering if there is a real possibility of a fit. Your initial aim needs to qualify, not force or convince. Forcing a fit is a waste of your buyer’s time and your time.
One of the primary innovations of automation technologies is that it gives you’re the ability to observe a buyers digital footprint so you can see what buyers are most curious and interested in your solution. Once the lead has been generated your outsourced callers should focus on these leads first.
Your callers should focus on understanding your buyer’s needs
If your callers are calling on buyers that are highly scored this means the buyer is educating themselves about you digitally. Your callers don’t need to pitch, they need to understand what the buyers specific needs and goals are. Your callers need to change their language from “sales speak” to natural language. You need to ask smart questions, then listen. Doing these two things will immediately set yourself apart as someone who is patient, open minded and willing to listen. Ask what more educational material the buyer would like to see.
Finally your callers need to close on the sales appointment
When you follow this process that allows the buyer to buy the way they want to buy you will know that:
- The buyer is a fit for your business
- What the buyer needs
- That the buyer is educated
At this point your outsourced sales team is ready to hard qualify the deal for your closer and ask for the appointment. At this point the buyer is either ready to buy or not ready to buy. The buyer will trust you so you will be able to ask hard qualifying questions and expect accurate and truthful answers because trust will have been established in both directions. And most importantly when you pass to your closer they will have all the information they need to service and close the buyer for a mutually beneficial long term relationship.
Gabriel Sales builds outsource sales and marketing teams for Start Ups and Small Businesses. We help companies build modern sales and marketing operations for buyers in this new digital landscape. If you think this may be a fit for your company we invite you to visit our outsourced sales and marketing services page to learn more about what we can do for you.
