Our good friends over at HubSpot launched a video a few years ago titled “Dude – Cold Calling is for Losers.” It’s a funny comparison of Inbound vs Outbound Marketing using a similar approach to the Mac and Pc guys. Although the video is funny, it fails to address a very important reality of cold calling – it works!
According to MarketingSherpa’s 2011 Benchmarket Report, in a survey of 935 marketing professionals 35% said that cold calling (telemarketing) is “very effective” when it comes to lead generation. Only 16% said that social media was effective. In addition, 86% of marketers are maintaining or growing their investment in telemarketing. So what does all this mean. It means that cold calling is obviously not for losers. In fact when it comes to lead generation, cold calling continues to be an important part of the marketing mix.
Join us for 29 minutes as Ardath Albee (CEO, Marketing Interactions), Jim Domanski (President, Teleconcepts Consulting) and Heather Burhan (Senior Account Executive, OnPath Business Solutions) share their strategies and tactics on how companies are using the telephone for successful lead generation.
Date: Tuesday March 1, 2011
Time: 1:00pm EST / 10:00am PST
Duration: 29 Minutes
Recorded Event: http://www.onpath.com/video-coldcalling
935 marketing experts were interviewed by MarketingSherpa. 35% of them said that B2B telemarketing is “very effective.” On the other hand, only 16% said that social media was effective. So what does this mean? It means that B2B cold calling is obviously not dead for many companies. But why?
Join us for 29 minutes as Ardath Albee (CEO, Marketing Interactions), Jim Domanski (President, Teleconcepts Consulting) and Heather Burhan (Senior Account Executive, OnPath Business Solutions) share their strategies and tactics on how companies are using the telephone for successful lead generation.
Date: Tuesday March 1, 2011
Time: 1:00pm EST / 10:00am PST
Duration: 29 Minutes
Registration: http://www.onpath.com/video-coldcalling
Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times (1936).
By Jeff Pedowitz, President & CEO of The Pedowitz Group and a Software Advisory Board member at Marketing Automation Software Guide. Read the original article here.
The Marketing Automation Industry is approaching its 13th year. Originally pioneered by Epiphany and Pivotal in the late 1990’s as an On-Premise Module added on to key CRM functions, it took off when SAAS entered the scene in the early 2000’s. Today there are many vendors in this space competing for wallet share.
There are 5 primary reasons why this industry is underperforming:
- Wrong Executive Target
- Failure to Broaden Vertical Expansion
- Too Much Competition, Not Enough Education
- Too Complicated
- Economic Pricing Model
To successfully grow the market, maximize adoption and grow vendor shareholder value, we recommend the following course of action:
- Expand target focus beyond the marketing department
- Expand vertical offerings
- Work collaboratively to educate but still compete aggressively
- Simplify the concepts and simplify how the software works
- Change the positioning of the pricing model
We live in a customer-driven economy and there is plenty of room for multiple vendors in this space. In fact, competition is good. It is the mother of invention, which ultimately benefits the customer.
The Pedowitz Group believes cooperation, focus on these 5 areas, and continued expansion of the partner ecosystem will successfully drive industry adoption and grow the market beyond the $1B mark by 2015.
If you are looking for more information about Marketing Automation we can help. OnPath is a certifed partner and reseller of HubSpot and Marketo. Call Us: 613.842.4174
Article by Jim Domanski, President of Teleconcepts Consulting. Published on January 31, 2011. Follow him on Twitter @telesalesexpert
Thanks in large measure to a dismal economy and slow recovery and thanks in part to a new generation of buyers, the world of selling is evolving, changing and morphing. Nowhere is this more evident than in the world of B2B tele-sales. The telephone is poised to take the lead role in the method that products are sold. Here are 10 observations or predictions:
1. The Demise of the Field Sales Rep
Face to face sales is declining. And it has been declining for the last 15 or 20 years. The reason? The need for face-to-face contact is not nearly as significant as it once was. A new breed of buyer AND seller brought up on a bread and butter diet of cell phones, smart phones, text messaging, e-mail, social media and web surging has entered the marketplace. The net result is a generation of decision makers and buyers who are more interested in speed, information and instant accessibility rather than in 'touchy feely' one-on-one meetings.
2. The Rise of Tele-Sales
If face-to-face selling is declining then B2B tele-selling is doing just the opposite. Tele-selling caters to the demands of this new generation and marketplace and the telephone will continue to rise in predominance as the prime selling medium. Tele-Selling has always provided 2-way interactive dialogue but it lacked the 'tangibility' that face-to-face selling provided. That's changing. Supported by sophisticated web sites, tele-conferencing, web-conferencing, video conferencing, e-mail and the like, the telephone has been synergized. Speed of access, 2-way communication, and reduced cost of contact have all contributed to the growth of tele-sales.
3. The Increase of Competition
More and more companies will jump on the tele-sales band wagon in an effort to take advantage of these changes in the marketplace. Businesses will either introduce brand new tele-sales initiatives or they will expand the activities of their current tele-sales programs. Either way, more companies will be targeting the same markets. Your prospects and clients will have more choice. This could mean bad news as more competitors take a shot at your share. But the good news is that most of these new 'pretenders' to the tele-sales throne will be woefully unprepared and their own worst enemies. This means that a strong tele-sales strategy supported by high quality, well trained and well compensated reps, and managed and by elite tele-sales managers and executives will dominate the selling landscape.
4. The Maturation of Tele-Sales
Tele-selling applications will continue to shift and evolve from transactional to more complex selling situations. Higher ticket products and services will be sold to multiple decision makers by TAMs (tele-account managers) seated at a desk, supported by the internet, e-mail and CRM systems that will help manage the process. Sales pitches will give way to needs focused and questions based selling. Gone will be the 'telemarketing' mentality, replaced by the consultative tele-sales mentality.
5. The Growth of Personal Relationships
Tele-Account Managers will nurture and develop relationships with existing clients and prospects at both a business and a PERSONALlevel. Savvy tele-sales firms will actively develop written account plans designed specifically to develop and enhance not only the business side of selling personalside of selling as well. Companies will seek strategies and tactics to create value, likability and trust on a 1:1 basis that will work in harmony with business applications.
6. The Evolution and Integration of E-Mail
E-mail contact and communication will rise dramatically in the selling process. It will be equally as important as dialing and 2-way live discussion. A new set of skills and techniques must be developed, trained, coached and integrated into telephone contact. Tele-sales reps and account managers will need to be much more effective communicators with the written word. They will have to be persuasive marketer as much as sellers. Many firms will struggle with this concept as they cling stubbornly to the 'the more you dial the luckier you get' mentality.
7. The New Breed of Tele-Sales Rep
A whole new breed of tele-sales rep will enter the world of selling. This 'uber' rep will have a more formal education; they will be young, tech savvy, sophisticated and ambitious. Recruitment practices will change to identify individuals who can communicate by phone and by e-mail. Compensation and incentive programs will improve dramatically to attract better quality tele-sales reps. Training will rise significantly in order to provide reps with skills and abilities to sell complex products and services. Career paths will re-emerge and turnover will significantly diminish.
8. The Coaching Solution
Call quality, call success, and revenue results will be directly related to the degree that proactive coaching is implemented on a continuous and ongoing basis. Tele-sales firms/programs and departments will recognize that active coaching and development of their tele-sales reps will be the key method of achieving the "next level" of tele-sales success. Coaching will be the means to differentiate their selling efforts from the multitude of competitors. The emphasis will be on grooming tele-sales reps who can sell smarter, better and faster. Companies will discover that hands-on coaching is the ONLY activity that can significantly change, alter and improve selling behavior.
9. Social Media is Still Maturing
In B2B tele-sales, social media will continue to develop but the jury is still out on the role it might ultimately place. Certainly in simple, transactional situations social media, used wisely, may drive prospects to call an inside sales rep. Used wisely, it is a means to stay in touch with an existing client. However, it is difficult to see the role of social media in more complex selling situations. Whatever the case may be, social media will play a support role.
10. The Scarcity of Tele-Sales Managers and Executives
The single biggest challenge in the tele-sales marketplace over the short term is the scarcity of an experienced tele-sales managers and executives. Geared more towards managing the 'numbers' and transactional sales applications, there are precious few managers/executives capable of developing, implementing and coaching more sophisticated and complex telephone selling programs. If companies are to use the telephone to leverage the changes in the selling marketplace, they will require skilled tele-sales managers and executives to lead the charge. In the absence of external resources, companies must internally develop their tele-sales management team. Associations can help. Consultants and other outside experts are a must.
Summary
Are you prepared to take advantage of these changes in the marketplace? Most companies are not. Analyze your tele-sales vision, your reps and managers, and your processes. What needs to be done? Figure it out now and don't get caught short. Do something!
Article by Jim Domanski, President of Teleconcepts Consulting. Follow him on Twitter @telesalesexpert
By David Kirkpatrick, Reporter at MarketingSherpa.
We spoke with three industry thought leaders and database marketing vendors about how to manage that valuable yet unwieldy asset -- data -- and what topics they thought B2B marketers should be paying attention to in 2011.
Bernice Grossman, President DMRS Group Inc. Scott Holden, Senior Director, Product Marketing, Salesforce.com. Ian Rowley, Business Development Manager, Parker Software Ltd.
How important is data to B2B marketers? Grossman said, "Number one, what's happening is that B2B marketers are finally coming to grips with the fact that the most important piece of what they own is their data. It could easily be an asset line on their balance sheet."
Our experts identified five topics B2B marketers should keep in mind in 2011:
Topic #1. Data hygiene is critical
Topic #2. Act like a consumer marketer and conduct behavioral analysis
Topic #3. The repository (aka, the database) should connect Marketing with Sales
Topic #4. Social networking is a growing trend
Topic #5. Mobile computing is also a growing trend
Topic #6. Let crowdsourcing help you create marketing strategies and maintain your database
Read the full MarketingSherpa Article here.
Does it still work for B2B lead generation? Watch the video to see what we found in MarketingSherpa's 2011 B2B Benchmark Report. This report was created from the collective wisdom of 935 B2B Marketers. Special thanks to Darryl Praill – marketing guru at DarrylPraill.com for also sharing his thoughts on the topic.
Key Take Aways:
- 32% are increasing their spend in telemarketing
- 54% are keeping the same investment in telemarketing
This means 86% of marketers are maintaining or growing their telemarketing investment.
Smaller investments are being made in Direct Mail, Tradeshows, and Print Advertising;
35% of the executives said that telemarketing is “very effective.” Public Relations was (31%), Tradeshows (25%), Paid Search (23%), Direct Mail (22%), Social Media (16%) and Print Advertising (10%). Did you catch that – social media is only 16%.
So what does all this mean? It means that Telemarketing is not dead because it works. Do you know why? Because it’s measurable. Senior executives have to justify to their superiors marketing spend and telemarketing continues to produce a positive ROI. Otherwise, it wouldn’t still be around.
If you have a call center team or outsourced B2B lead generation vendor but they are not producing the results you need – call us. We specialize in B2B telemarketing for complex sales and work with clients like Hewlett-Packard, American Express and Cognos IBM.
Stay tuned for our February 24, 2011 webinar about this topic.