by Glen Springer | Jul 25, 2017
Company is a mid-sized outsourced BPO services firm supporting specific financial services functions for the real estate industry with facilities in Manila and India. Company and 20 year sales partner parted ways with Senior Executives retirement. Company needed to take over all account management responsibilities while simultaneously building its own direct sales process and infrastructure.
The Challenge
Company needed a complete sales and marketing solution. Executives had deep industry domain expertise and wanted to acquire sales and marketing strategy expertise and to avoid a 300K investment in enterprise reps with an outsourced sales and marketing solution first.
- Selling to Fortune 500 SVPs and Management and SMB owners
- The universe of decision makers for the Company’s solution was less than 6,000 individuals across the United States
- Company needed to be prepared to sell to both business owners of privately held companies and the Fortune 500
- Company had no database, CRM and website was 5 years old.
- Complexity of the sale and solution would require hiring 150K – 200K full comp reps and would take over a year to train.
- Company had never attempted to develop leads beyond tradeshows and rolodex reps.
- Typical sales cycle was 2-3 years from first contact.
The Solution: Year 1
Sales and Marketing Strategy, Target Market Research, Content Strategy, Marketing Automation and Website Development, B2B Lead Gen Campaign, Outsourced Sales and Marketing Execution
- Gabriel Sales implemented our agile sales acceleration workshop to develop a comprehensive integrated sales and marketing strategy.
- Re‐developed website in order to engage key prospect and customer segments by leveraging Company’s deep, industry‐leading expertise and knowledge
- Targeted entire market of decision makers with comprehensive outbound calling & email campaign and pay-per-click campaign.
- Implemented Marketing Automation System and Digital Demand Center™
- Planned and developed ongoing buyer education nurturing program with relevant and valuable content mapped to the buying process
- Performance reporting: marketing and sales pipeline scorecard (Traffic to MQL to SAL to SQL to Revenue), calling, content engagement, and marketing programs performance management.
Ongoing Solution
- One, three-part new lead generation campaign, twice annually
- Annual sales and marketing strategy workshop
- Staff blended outsourced marketing team to manage ongoing nurturing
- Ongoing staffing of part time outsourced inside sales reps to monitor lead scoring engine to set appointments for company’s senior executives and account managers.
Company is now able to close business with existing executives and account management reps
Ave. Appointments Set a Month
Ave. Appointments Moving to Pilot Program a Month
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by Glen Springer | Jul 25, 2017
The Situation
A publicly traded company, Imaginatik, was founded in 1996, and sells a mix of consulting and advisory services, hands-on innovation projects, program management, and award-winning enterprise software globally. Company’s U.S. office was comprised of a team of high-end enterprise sales executives, executives and consultants with domain expertise, and a marketing director.
The Challenge
Company wanted to move beyond its reliance on rolodex reps to generate its sales pipe and reduce its 18-month sales cycle. Because of their limited bandwidth, they felt an outsourced sales and marketing solution made sense.
- Selling to C-Level, VPs and Directors in Fortune 2000,
- Marketing Director was responsible for brand, trade shows and sales operations support.
- Company was reliant on relationships and rolodex enterprise reps, so pipe oscillated.
- Sale was complex and required high-level of focus of enterprise reps to close.
- SVP of Sales had no interest, experience or desire to manage a lead generation team.
- The company had experimented with webcasting as a lead generation and lead development program, but only had a database of less than 2,000 opt-in buyers for ongoing marketing.
- Sale required selling different value props to the end user, management, and C-suite for final budget approval.
The Solution
Over an 18-month period, we worked with Imaginatik on Marketing Automation and Content Management Systems Integration, Targeting, Lead Generation Campaigns, and Outsourced Sales and Marketing Execution for Opportunity Development.
- Documented buyer persona and buyers journey for 4 specific verticals and 3 decision maker layers.
- Implemented Marketing Automation and integrated Digital Demand Center™
- Conducted several content workshops to develop content for new lead generation and to automate the early buyer education process.
- Built 7 microsites for specific audiences for new lead generation campaigns and ongoing nurturing
- Executed quarterly eProspecting campaigns to build awareness and target specific markets
- Staffed blended outsourced sales and marketing team to manage ongoing nurturing and marketing automation campaigns.
- Staffed calling reps to leverage the marketing automation platforms to set appointments for senior reps.
Opt-in Targets Generated for Database
Appointments Scheduled for Senior Enterprise Reps
Sales Qualified Opportunities Developed
Deals Closed in 18 Months
Over an 18 Month Engagement, Gabriel Sales:
- Built awareness and an opt-in database of over 12,000 early stage leads of ideal targets for ongoing marketing
- Scheduled 240 appointments for senior enterprise reps
- Developed 56 sales qualified opportunities
- 1 transaction in first 6 months, and 4 additional transactions in second 6 months
- Established baselines that evolved into predictable dollars in/dollars out metrics for early stage pipe flow
- Transitioned the sales engine to Imaginatik internal marketing team. Director of Marketing promoted to CMO and built internal support team of 3 marketers and 2 inside sales reps.
Gabriel Sales moved to outsourced sales project work.
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by Glen Springer | Jul 25, 2017
Outsourced Sales & Trade Show Marketing Support
The Challenge
Technology firm selling a clinical desktop solution had recently hired 2 new sales executives and wanted to leverage the annual HIMSS conference with a 20X40 booth to quickly ramp their new hires pipe and introduce a new solution to the market. Needed to build awareness across the industry and generate an active pipeline exiting the show.
Selling: Technology with Professional Services
Selling To: Hospital Clinicians, Finance, IT and Operations
Average Deal Size and Sales Cycle: Average pilot deal size is $50K $100K. With solutions scaling to six figures annually. Pilot takes 180 days to 1.5 years close.
The Solution
Developed a comprehensive outsourced sales and marketing campaign to build awareness to a broad audience prior to the trade show and generate booth traffic during the show with the intent to engage, develop and prioritize leads to call and set appointments post show.
Gabriel Sales Executed a Turnkey Campaign by:
Producing and currating Digital Content and Implementing a Lead Scoring Automation System
Pre-show
- List acquisition
- Show specific content development
- Awareness email campaign
- Appointment setting – 1000 calls
In-show
- Awareness email Campaign
- Reminder
Post-show
- Database management
- Follow-up email Campaign
- Sales Ready Lead identification prioritizing scored leads
- Demo/appointment setting – 1000 calls
In-show Meetings Scheduled
by Glen Springer | May 21, 2017
The digital buyer’s new best friend is the outsourced sales company
If you are like most companies, you have probably noticed that the days of simply cold calling buyers to generate leads is no longer as effective as it once was. In fact, most buyers now prefer to learn about new products by searching on the web or, in the case of 70% of buyers, to get an educational email that is then followed up by thoughtful reps with additional content. An outsourced sales company could help you navigate these tasks, saving you time and energy that could be spent on other projects.
Here are several challenges the new digital buyer presents followed by ways an sales outsourcing company may be able to help you address them.
Challenge #1 – Your buyers want and expect to be educated first. Buyers want to understand what you do without always relying on a sales reps to explain it. This means you may need to develop some new tactics and commit to content marketing. Marketing needs to support sales with content that shares your thought leadership digitally. If your marketers can leverage your thought leaders, they can optimize support of your sales team and keep them focused on selling while your content explains what you do. Marketing can take care of early stage sales engagement with the right content.
An outsourced sales campaign from Gabriel Sales will include creating content that can be leveraged by the sales rep and by your lead generation team to make it easier for the buyer to buy.
Challenge #2 – Sales and marketing need to work together with one goal of creating qualified sales opportunities through buyer education. The days of hard selling and simply marketing the features and benefits of your solution are over. For many businesses, this is the biggest hurdle because it’s cultural. Sales and marketing both need to work together toward the goal of educating the customer. To do this you are going to need to align sales and marketing with the tools, content, and processes you need to support your inside sales reps with the content you need to demonstrate your thought leadership and differentiators. There needs to be mutual respect between sales and marketing because the buyer no longer cares who educates them they just care about being educated. And in most cases as the graphic above demonstrates they expect it to be both sales and marketing with a consistent story.
An outsourced sales and marketing campaign can help you run an integrated sales and marketing campaigns that has both callers and content marketing tactics keeping you in front of and top of mind with your customer.
Challenge #3 – Using automation technology correctly. With the advent of marketing automation platforms, Google Analytics, and CRMs, you can now define and implement a repeatable sales process that uses technology to manage and score the effort. The right technology stack provides complete transparency and accountability throughout your entire sales and marketing process. It also helps sales and marketing keep score together.
This isn’t astrodynamics. Just head out to any Little League or Soccer Field on a Saturday during a game and compare it to what happens during practice. During practice, the energy level and focus waxes and wanes. Put them on the field when they are accountable for a score and measured on the results and everything changes.
An outsourced sales and marketing company will have the experience and expertise to help you set the right benchmarks in your automation platforms and CRM immediately.
Summary – The line between sales and marketing is getting blurred
- Your buyer now wants to be educated digitally and by reps
- They want access to your thought leadership on their time and not yours
- Your buyer does not want to engage with sales until they are educated and ready to buy
- You need to demonstrate you understand their situation and pain before your prospect will engage with sales
Sales and marketing now need to work together for sale success. Modern sales and marketing operations means your entire team needs to educate buyers.
If you want to learn more about what gaps in your sales and marketing operations, we invite you to visit this page that address what gaps outsourced sales can help you cover in your sales and marketing operations
by Glen Springer | Apr 5, 2017
How cold calling is involved for outsourced sales
As an outsourced sales and cold calling for small businesses agency we still leverage business development reps as one of several tactics to generate sales leads. We do this because quick phone conversations are still a viable way to introduce prospective buyers to a small business services or solution. But we also let our clients know that it only makes sense to cold call if:
- You leverage this for targeting buyers you are 100% sure can transact with your company
- You target potential buyers that are a spot on fit for you solution
It is also important to understand that in today’s digitally driven buyer landscape that you strongly consider leading with an email marketing campaign first. And then be prepared to support this effort with:
- valuable educational content that explains what problems you solve for the buyer
- additional content that allows them to quickly understand the basics of your solution
- the ability to track a buyers digital engagement with a lead scoring and marketing automation platform
As an outsourced sales and cold calling company for small businesses, here are some tips we recommend you use if you are going to leverage the phone to generate new leads.
Take it Slow and Do it Quickly
When you cold call a buyer you are essentially a stranger that has walked up to someones door with no notice and knocked, interrupting their day. Be ready with a quick and succinct script of who you are and what problem you solve. Then be prepared to ask for permission to send a quick piece of educational information.
Once they accept your content promise to follow up in a few days to check on interest. We rarely suggest you ask for an appointment on the first call unless the buyer expresses a great deal of immediate interest. Your marketing automation platform will let you know if the prospect is interested by scoring their engagement with the educational offers.
With this automation technology in place you can let your buyer digest your educational content. If they are interested you will know from their lead score and you can follow up in a day or two to continue to build the relationship.
Target the Right Type of Buyer to Maximize Your Investment
Over the past several years with the advent of cloud computing and Artifical Intelligence your access to databases has increased. Most outsourced sales and cold calling for small business companies will have subscriptions to these databases. These databases will allow you to target specific decision makers with access to direct phone lines. Many of these databases will also have email addresses that you can use to send information once the buyer has agreed to receive your content. With calls to connect ratios at 10% (average time your business development rep can expect a buyer to pick up the phone every time they dial) a typical cold caller will only connect with 1 (or at most 2) potential buyer(s) an hour. It’s important that if a business development rep connects on a call that they are speaking to the right type of buyer. If you are not connecting with the right type of buyer you are simply wasting your investment of time and money calling. Targeting the right buyer is critical to successful cold calling.
Have a Script But Don’t Sound Scripted
As discussed above connections in today’s business environment are gold. Have a plan for what you’ll say. Your opening line should be no more than 10 to 15 seconds. Then you should ask a question. After the buyer answers the question, ask for permission to speak for about 30 more seconds and then make your educational offer. To do this you need to have a plan for what you want to say.
But if a call sounds too scripted it will turn the prospect off. No one wants to part of the masses and nothing is more off putting then to be interrupted in the middle of the day with a canned speech. So have a script but don’t sound scripted. A little practice will go a long way producing more effective results.
Gabriel Sales helps company’s build modern outsourced sales and marketing operations. To learn more about our approach to outsourcing sales and how we use multiple tactics including smart cold calling to generate more sales ready leads for our clients, check out the following link to learn more about our new and modern approach to outsourced sales for small
