Increasing the Success and Return of Telemarketing Campaigns

Telemarketing can perhaps be one of the hardest going marketing campaigns to effectively undertake, however when successfully undertaken can bring in some very effective new B2B leads. Here are our top tips to increase success and return on telemarketing campaigns:

1. Use the Most Accurate Data – your telemarketing will be more effective if you have up-to-date data since it avoids the time lost in making calls to dead-lines and departed contacts. The central value of telemarketing is actually speaking to someone. However, speaking to the right person will deliver much better results.


2. Keep the Morale of the Telemarketers High - whether the calls are handled internally or outsourced this remains equally true. The person making the calls is human - if they are consistently making wasted calls as a result of data quality problems eventually they will assume that the next call will be a waste of time. This will then show in the way they talk to people and lead to even more negative outcomes . . . indeed it becomes self-perpetuating.


3. Try Split-Testing - if you have a sufficiently large campaign, try “split-testing” the project by giving a portion of the list to 2 or even 3 agencies or people, this will allow you to find the agency/person that provides the best return on your investment.


4. Be Involved in Targeting the Data – and the selection of data providers. Most agencies don’t have established relationships with that many data providers, though they will often know that other data owners exist. It is worth checking what alternatives are available and that any recommendations from your telemarketing agencies are based on their experience of data quality and suitability and not some other interest - such as personal friendships, better margins, or a reciprocal arrangement that provides them with other benefits. Don’t forget, it might not be the most appropriate data for your project even if it is free.


5. Have Clear Objectives – make sure your appointed telemarketers are clear about what you want to achieve. Supply a written brief with measurable outcomes and ensure you receive regular progress reports.


6. Use a Focussed Agency – if you are outsourcing your calls, avoid projects where the telemarketing company receives some peripheral benefit. Sometimes agencies run projects where they are also trying to validate data or simultaneously creating leads for more than one client. This kind of distraction factor will often mean that you actually get less focus on your objectives and ultimately even if you are paying less you are likely to derive a worse ROI.


7. Continue to Measure Results - it is not unheard of for a telemarketing agency to allocate a “star performer” or two to your project in the initial phase of the work, but re-allocate human resources later when the stars are required to kick-off a new project. Continuously measure results so that you can be aware of any deterioration or reduced productivity as soon as possible.


8. Use a Consistent Approach - keep as many aspects of the campaign as constant as possible. If you change the targeting every month (or the offering, or the price, or the people/agency), you are very likely to get changing results too. If you have changed too many things at once you might lose the ability to understand precisely which changes are helpful and which are counterproductive.


9. Fine Tune Your List – using your experience from early results, exclude any prospects that would not understand the relevance of your offering.


10. Random Choice - if you have a large pool of possible prospects and are thinking long-term rather than immediate, use them on a random basis. 1000 or 2000 records would allow you to have a pretty good feel for what can be achieved from any other 1000 or 2000 records from the same pool. In this way you will not only benefit from the business produced, but also gain a business development plan that you can rely on with a fair degree of certainty.


11. Time Your Re-Approach - try to understand how often you can re-approach a prospect. This varies depending on the product or service. For instance if somebody says they do not require any stationery today, they might need some next week / month. If they say they don’t need a new company car today, the situation probably won’t change for several months. If they say they are not planning to move offices in the foreseeable future, they probably won’t be in a different situation for at least a year. You will want to approach them again sometime but if you can find out when they think they could be interested, then you have a massive advantage.


12. Measure it Again - no matter how much measurement you do, you will nearly always find that the more frequently you re-consider the outcomes the quicker you will be able to identify anything that needs to be reviewed.

We hope you find these top tips beneficial when planning future telemarketing campaigns and if we can be of further assistance when seeking B2B data then contact us for an alternative quote.

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