ICT Spaghetti is published on behalf of Business Advantage, an international research, marketing and management consultancy operating in the global IT and telecommunications sector.

The Business Advantage Group is a business to business research, marketing and management consulting practice operating in the world-wide IT and Telecommunications sectors.

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B2B Telemarketing
Part 2. Does it work? And how can you make it work better?
In this, the second of a two-part series, we look at whether B2B telemarketing works and ask, more importantly, how can we make it work better. We also look at the outsourcing versus in-house question, the legal angles and share a few examples of those who have dipped their toes in the telemarketing pool.

But Does It Work?
Some people are sceptical of the cost effectiveness of certain types of telemarketing, and many marketers feel it is most appropriate to dealings with existing customers. Those who close their minds to wider opportunities however, risk missing out. Steve Massie, former Marketing Manager at Cenit Desktop is clear about its overall value: "Done properly, telemarketing will give you better quality market information than any other source. The whole point about telemarketing is that it allows you to talk to people on a one to one basis and gather information of a depth and accuracy you might not otherwise be able to get." But Steve feels too many squander these opportunities: "The problem is that most people don't do it properly. They don't target enough and misuse the technique which only ends up annoying people".

Wijnand Mes, Marketing Manager for IBM Software Group UK, is also unimpressed by the overall standard of telemarketing calls he receives: "Most are of poor quality by inexperienced individuals. I think telemarketing works best when supported by a personalised direct mailing as part of an integrated marketing communications process."

So what makes a successful telemarketing campaign? Of course the pioneers of telemarketing operated in less sophisticated markets and were able to throw together programmes of pretty much any sort to catch people's attention; they did not need the highly developed skills that today's telemarketers must have to extract valuable information from call weary prospects.

Getting a good return from your telemarketing investment will require:
Planning: specify a budget, think about your objectives for the volume/quality of data and evaluate in-house resources. Consider these issues in terms of manpower, skills and equipment and compare to the cost of using an outside agency. Telemarketing can rarely be considered in isolation; you need to establish how it integrates with your other sales and marketing activities.

Accurate data: as with all direct marketing methods, accurate data is the essential foundation for success. Naturally, successful targeting rests on speaking to the right decision makers - getting data that includes this information may cost more but the outcomes are consistently more profitable.

A good script: an effective telemarketing script is actually not a script at all but a guide for the discussion that steers the listener in the direction you want him/her to go. It must be tailored to the target audience, must grab the attention of the listener within a few seconds of the conversation, and must be highly interactive; long presentations of information can be frustrating for the listener who is then less likely to focus on the issue being presented. The guide/script should be refined in the early stages of a campaign according to quality of responses received.

Skilled telemarketers: no matter how well targeted the call is, or how well thought out the script, a wooden and inflexible caller will not deliver the goods. To achieve the desired outcomes the telemarketer must have a good knowledge of the company and product/service they represent, be able to talk intelligently around the structure of the script without getting side tracked, absorb all the negative responses and talk persuasively to people at all levels.

Wijnand Mes identifies another factor: "It's important during the planning of all stages of the process to involve the people - sales team, business development managers and so on - those who will follow up on the end product of the telemarketing activity. They have the clearest view of the type of information required to produce positive outcomes."

In source or outsource?
Increasingly larger companies are recognising the value of developing in-house telemarketing teams. However, most businesses lack the resources to conduct a reasonably sized project in a practical time scale, for example say, contacting a thousand companies on their purchasing intentions for particular CAD software within two weeks. All too often telemarketing is carried out with stretched and sometimes inappropriate resources, such as using highly paid sales staff to gather leads, or a harassed secretary to cram in as many calls as possible in between other duties.

It can seem a big step to trust another company to act as your surrogate telemarketers. For David Silsby, Sales & Marketing Manager of Premier Computing Corporation, it's a step made easier if he's sure they really know his business: "You have to build a close relationship with the company and be sure they have a good knowledge of your target market, and that they are able to devote sufficient resources to developing an in depth understanding of your products and services. I'd put the importance of a good relationship with the telemarketing company right up there with the key success factors for a telemarketing campaign".

If you are considering bringing in an external agency to conduct the work, here are three points to bear in mind:
a) Find a company with experience of working in your industry and who shows an understanding of your target market as well your products and services. You'll have to be satisfied that they have staff with the right skills and knowledge and accurate data to ensure the credibility of your company is not undermined.
b) Make sure you clarify the objectives of the campaign with them and that these are included in their full proposal of how they will conduct the work.
c) Don't commit yourself to a full project to gather a specified number of leads or contact a certain number of companies; even for an agency that knows your market well, it's very hard to predict a percentage of successful outcomes. Agree a pilot period to evaluate the project and refine - or shelve it - as necessary.

Case Study
IBM Software Group UK conducted a multi-stage telemarketing project with the Business Advantage Group Plc to improve their go-to-market strategy and increase their success in working with independent software developers as part of the IBM Software Investment Initiative (SII). Firstly in depth profiles of software developers were gathered to provide accurate information on potential partners. At the second stage the SII value proposition was presented to the selected group of software developers and appointments made with the IBM Business Development Managers.

The project delivered the required number of qualified appointments (counted as those businesses with which IBM continued negotiations after the initial visit). The Business Development Managers have been able to be more effective with their selling time, with the time taken to reach contract stage cut by at least a third in some cases. Very high value contracts have been signed and significant business growth achieved as a result of this yearlong telemarketing campaign.

The Legal Angle
Poor practice abounds in the telemarketing field, with the worst examples found in calls from businesses to the public. The European regulations that came into force on 1 May 1999 allow 'individuals' to opt out from receiving direct sales or marketing calls by registering with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS). Although business-to-business telemarketing is largely unaffected by this legislation, the term 'individuals' includes sole traders and (except in Scotland) partnerships as well as consumers. However, since 2004, the Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS) has extended the 'opt-out' to corporate subscribers. A corporate subscriber includes corporate bodies such as a limited company in the UK, a limited liability partnership in England, Wales and Northern Ireland or any partnership in Scotland. It also includes schools, government departments and agencies, hospitals, PLC's and other public bodies. Additionally, any business can opt out from receiving direct marketing faxes by registering with The Fax Preference Service (FPS), or by notifying the company concerned.

A Future for Business-to-Business Telemarketing?
Can telemarketing continue to work if the volume of calls continues to rise? Wijnand Mes feels there are problems caused by a more general information overload: "We are approaching market information saturation point. Individuals are receiving messages from so many different sources that it becomes impossible to digest the information. I think this is already having an impact on response rates'. Steve Massie feels that telemarketers must move with the times: 'They may need to be more imaginative in future to get past the fatigue recipients feel at getting so many calls. Traditional techniques are wearing a bit thin'.

It's not only a case of telemarketers having to develop new approaches. With the growth of Internet and e-commerce usage new types of telemarketing will start to grow. The biggest change will probably come in the handling of inbound requests for first-stage information on goods and services. Customers will expect to be able to receive such information at the push of a button on a keyboard or mobile phone. The more complex functions of outbound business-to-business telemarketing will still require a more personal touch, requiring telemarketers to have a detailed knowledge of the business, products and services they are representing. Growth areas will be linked to the new technologies, such as tours of company web sites - personal, responsive and tailored to the individual. Such 'high touch' services will become increasingly in demand; the emphasis will change from the quantity to the quality of staff. Businesses using external agencies will expect telemarketers to become surrogates for them.

Of course no matter how well planned and executed your telemarketing campaign, human nature plays its part; the effects of traffic jams and towering in-trays can block the most skilled approaches. But get the right people offering the right product in the right way - and the outcomes could surpass expectations

For Further Information on telemarketing please call David Eaton, of the Business Advantage Group Plc, on +44 (0)1689 873636.

Business Advantage has specialised in the provision of B2B telemarketing in the IT and telecommunications sectors since its inception in 1992. Telemarketing campaigns in the hi-tech sector have been conducted in the UK and throughout Europe and North America. Our ethos is simple when it comes to telemarketing: Quality first and guaranteed, quantity second!

“Creating business advantage in an ever-changing world”

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