Develop a Strategy to Handle B-to-B Leads

Develop a Plan for Generating and Handling Business Leads

By Terry Arnold

There are only two types of companies that need outbound telemarketing: the ones not generating enough leads, and those generating too many leads.

In today's tough economy, rising lead generation demands are being placed on sales and marketing departments. Coupled with the more complex selling environment many business-to-business marketers face, a great number of companies are turning to telemarketing as the cost-effective answer to increase leads.

Or maybe you have a different challenge. Perhaps your marketing materials, Web site and trade show exhibits are producing more leads than your sales force can qualify in a timely manner. So now what? Telephone qualifying of leads can decrease the number of leads passed along to a sales force, while increasing the quality. This gives your sales force more confidence and motivation to follow up on the leads.

In either scenario, telemarketing may be an unpopular task for a sales force, but its importance can be mathematically proven. One of the strengths of outbound calling is its accountability, because this is a measurable and metrics-driven tactic.

Outbound: Perception vs. reality

If you feel that outbound telemarketing is too expensive or wouldn't work for your particular industry, that's not surprising. Many b-to-b companies felt that way at one time.

However, the data show that outbound telemarketing is cost competitive. Many of our clients who rely on a variety of media have found that the cost per qualified lead with telemarketing is lower than most other types of marketing communications—and this has remained consistent for the past 30 years.

Consider the example of a company that sells executive training programs to Fortune 500 firms. The company told Harte-Hanks that its strategy of multiple mailings to the same prospect list was giving them a cost per qualified lead of $115. By testing a response compression strategy of outbound telemarketing following direct mail, the company was able to lower its cost per qualified lead to only $48. Not only that, but these leads were more qualified and produced in a shorter amount of time.