If you’re like many sales and marketing professionals, you’re always looking for ways to use your limited resources wisely, with the best possible return on investment. Outsourcing can help you meet your lead generation and sales goals through the support of a professional outbound call center.
Outsourcing may seem like a big step if you’ve never tried it before. But, there’s no reason to be intimidated by the thought of outsourcing some (or all) of your business development and lead nurturing activities. The right partner can guide you step-by-step through the process and help you make an informed decision.
Solve these common sales challenges with outsourced calling
One way to determine if you have a need that outsourcing can solve is to ask your sales and marketing teams these questions.
Do you have:
- Ambitious sales goals?
- Unreturned inquiries from your website, events or past campaigns?
- Salespeople that hate cold calling?
- Hard-to-reach B2B or healthcare prospects?
- Uninspiring results from email or other campaigns?
- An aggressive new product launch or market expansion?
- Outdated or incomplete prospect data?
- Promising leads or smaller accounts that need nurturing?
A professional call center can help you address any of these challenges. Often, we can tackle several of these items in a single outbound call campaign.
Outsourcing readiness checklist
Once you verify a sales or marketing need that outsourcing to a professional call center can solve, it’s time to talk to potential candidates like Volkart May. You can make the most of these discussions by involving the right people and preparing in advance with this helpful checklist.
Outline your goals. Your search for the right lead generation and inside sales resource will be most productive if you’re clear on what you’d like to accomplish. This can be as simple as stating the top three problems you’d like to address, such as “Generate 10 qualified leads for each territory” or “Expand our email list” or “Increase market penetration in the manufacturing segment.” As needed, get buy-in internally.
Review capabilities. Next, look for experienced external resources with a solid track record of B2B cold calling, lead generation and appointment-setting services. Ask about experience with customers of similar sizes and with similar sales cycles. You can view our experience and selected case studies here.
Listen to calls. As you examine call center capabilities, make a point of meeting potential callers and listening to actual calls. Most reputable firms offer quality digital recordings that will give you an immediate sense of the caliber of caller, level of professionalism and their ability to positively represent your brand in the market.
Calculate your ROI. One of the biggest advantages of outbound calling is its measurability. As you evaluate inside sales or lead generation outsourcing, work with your target provider to establish a campaign budget and model potential ROI scenarios. This information should be customized to your specific project. It will arm you with the knowledge and data you need to get financial approvals and forecast both your expenses and results.
Get buy-in from sales and marketing. Having support across your sales cycles is another important factor in the success of any outsourced calling campaign. Both marketing and sales leaders need to support the decision and be willing to participate in the process, such as quickly following up on new leads generated. Ideally, involve these stakeholders in an introductory meeting with the call center where they can ask questions, see the process and be comfortable in the decision.
Share your process and technology. In the best outsourcing arrangements, your external resources operate like an extension of the in-house team. To make that happen, be prepared to outline your current lead generation and sales process, such as how you determine a qualified lead. Be clear on your technology requirements as well, such as the platforms used to store prospect data and track leads. Most outsourced contact centers can integrate directly with your CRM or marketing automation platform, for quick and seamless transfer of leads and other data.
Participate in training. Collaboration and communication are essential to an effective outsourcing effort. Ask your outsourced call center resource how they get callers up to speed on a new company, its product or service and the target audience for a calling campaign. Look for a transparent process that leverages your expertise. Expect your outsourced resource to create a detailed call guide and conduct roleplay sessions with callers as part of the onboarding process.
Monitor and refine. Lastly, identify a day-to-day contact who can guide efforts once your campaign gets underway. One of the best parts of an outbound calling effort is your ability to monitor and refine the campaign to ensure the best results. Be clear on when and how your outsourced call center partner will share metrics, digital recordings of calls and other feedback. Communicate openly and honestly about your expectations so there are no surprises during the campaign itself.
Outsourcing to a professional call center gives you more bandwidth and experienced resources for your prospecting, demand generation, lead nurturing or appointment-setting needs. It frees the in-house team for what they do best: closing sales. Expect your initial campaign to last at least 90 days, with the ideal engagement running on an ongoing basis.
At Volkart May, we guarantee a minimum of 10 qualified leads within the first 60 days of any campaign. Let’s connect and talk about your specific needs.
