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Category: lead generation
Any Idiot Can Make Phone Calls
Desperate times call for desperate measures. That's why so many marketing firms are getting into the telemarketing business these days. It's also why so many companies use them.
And it's also why so many of these programs fail.
At LeadGen.com we've offered professional B2B telemarketing and lead generation services for over 20 years, and so we know a thing or two about it. For example...
First, you can't just hand someone a script and a telephone and expect them to get past gatekeepers and voice mail.
Second, you can't put someone on the phone who doesn't know what they're doing and expect them to persuade a busy executive - someone who may be running a $50 million business - to grant an appointment.
And third, doing this wrong doesn't just waste money, it wastes time, and it can ruin your company's reputation. And if you think that opting for pay-per-lead is going to help, wait until you see the blowback from bogus appointments. Or worse, what it does to your bottom line.
But go ahead. Go with that vendor who says they can make 600 dials-per-hour and guarantee 47 qualified leads per day.
Then watch them make a monkey out of you.
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Whose Responsibility Is the Conversion Rate?
If you're generating lots of hits, traffic, clicks and visits, but none of them convert to actual qualified leads, what good are you doing?
With all the things you can do, and all the money you spend to promote your business, it's pointless if you can’t engage with a decision maker who has a need for your product or service, and who wants to talk to you about how you can help.
Put another way, if Marketing says it's doing its job, and Sales says "the leads are no good," you have a conversion problem.
To be clear, everyone's situation is different. So if you want to fix your conversion rate, we're going to have to dig into the problem and figure out exactly what's wrong in order to fix it. But there are a couple of consistent themes.
First, you need to make sure that the people you're reaching are decision makers, or at least decision influencers. Otherwise, you're wasting your marketing dollars.
Second, providing information, if there's no intent or ability to buy, is another a waste of time and money. So don't do it. You don't get paid to educate non-buyers.
Third, improving metrics that don't connect directly to sales is delusional. Marketing must be accountable for the conversion rate. Otherwise you're just shouting into an empty room.
And putting the burden on your salespeople to convert "junk" leads into opportunities doesn't solve the problem either. It merely shifts the cost to them - sometimes perniciously so.
In short, if your Marketing department designed a program that doesn't generate qualified sales leads, they're failing. If you want to fix it, call LeadGen.com Generating qualified sales leads and getting you in the door - whether we do it ourselves or we show your team how to do it - is what we're all about.
Do you have a number to hit? Call LeadGen.com today!
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