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Expected Close Rate |
Without question, the most important factor in the success of a campaign is the close rate, even though your telemarketing firm isn't involved in closing the sale, because if the leads don't close, you won't generate any revenue. If the leads aren't qualified, they won't close. If the prospect "no shows," they won't close. And if the prospect doesn't really need your product, they won't close either. And you lose. You can easily see how the close rate is more important even than the number of leads you get; again, even though the telemarketing firm isn't responsible for closing. For example, getting one lead that closes for a million dollars is infinitely better than getting 100 leads that don't close at all. Quality is everything in this business. And you don't get a high close rate by luck. A high close rate comes from good lead qualification, finding actionable needs, building value, and setting up the sale. You also don't get a high close rate by paying on a "per-lead" basis, by the way. In fact, just the opposite is true. If you pay your telemarketing firm on a per-lead basis, they are likely to give you a lot of leads, of course, but none of which may close. And worse, they'll drive your sales expense through the roof. You have to ask yourself: How do you get qualified leads from someone who is paid by the lead? The responsibility for closing isn't solely on the shoulders of your sales team. It's as much, if not more sometimes, the responsibility of the telemarketing firm to generate good leads, as opposed to just any leads. In fact, in many cases, the telemarketer can do more to determine the outcome than you can! While in our experience our leads close at least three-to-four times as often as our competitors', you can put in whatever numbers you think are appropriate to reflect the difference between leads that are generated by a telemarketing firm that has high-quality telemarketers, and cares about your close rate (and has processes to assure it,) than one that reads from a script. |