To supply your sales representatives with qualified B2B appointments and projects, using a telemarketing agency is an excellent option. Thanks to her competence and professionalism, she will quickly send you qualified leads. However, it is not always easy to select the right agency. To be sure you are not mistaken, we have summarized the 8 main criteria you should use to make the right choice.
How to choose your B2B telemarketing agency?
1. Business knowledge of the telemarketing agency
To promote the success of your commercial activities, the selected service provider must have in-depth knowledge of your business, your environment, and your ecosystem. He must-have elements of information and knowledge allowing him to understand the challenges of your business, your market, and your B2B business.
Finally, his understanding of your issues is essential. It will allow him to develop the relevant arguments that will match during the telephone prospecting.
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2. The adequacy of the database that will be used by the telemarketing provider
For your telemarketing campaigns, data and the technologies that go with it are extremely important.
Does the agency have a B2B database in line with your target? Does it offer a finer segmentation than the usual selection criteria such as NAF code, workforce, geographical area, etc?
Some agencies may offer you a selection with finer criteria such as staff growth or turnover development. They can also select accounts for you based on SEO descriptions or technologies implemented on your prospect’s website. Agencies are even able to identify start-ups based on the funds raised.
Also, ask for the degree of granularity she has in her contacts. Does it have the C-levels (key contacts) of the companies you are prospecting for? It is important to have several possible entry points in the company. In a large account, it’s not just the marketing director or the CIO who decides. In each department, depending on your offers, there is a multitude of interlocutors that you must reach, because they are decision-makers and they are part of the decision cycle.
In terms of contacts, does the telemarketing agency have the nominative email addresses of these people?
Can the agency offer you innovative selections of contacts based, for example, on publications or posts made by the target interlocutors you are targeting?
This type of selection will allow the salesperson to have a more refined approach in his prospecting and he will have much more chance of being able to pitch your offer to your prospects.
You will understand, the base is frozen and updated by hand, it’s over. Your provider must have a dynamic database with direct connectors on social networks.
3. The skills of the sedentary salesperson who prospect for your B2B company
Before choosing a company specializing in telemarketing, it is important to ensure that the sedentary sales representative (Business development representative) dedicated to your mission has the right skills. It is on him that depends a large part on the success of your action.
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Also, he must prove sales skills in the hunt for value-added solutions and services. To do this, he must perfectly master the commercial techniques to reach the right interlocutors, to pass the roadblocks of the secretaries, to pitch an offer, .
In addition, he should have skills in your B2B business. This is all the more true if your offer is complex. The salesperson must then be able to control it to bounce back from the objections of prospects. Knowing and understanding your profession will help him to better use his “game intelligence” to present your offers or services in a relevant way.
He should also have a good knowledge of target accounts that you want to reach. We do not prospect in the same way an SME and a large account.
On accounts of a certain size, he will have to understand the decision-making circuits to reach the right people.
Ps: Be realistic, however, as efficient as the BDRs are, they will have difficulty accessing a member of the Executive Committee of a large account by telephone. Aim for functions suited to your offers.
4. The reports between the telemarketing company and your company
Throughout the mission, the agency must give you regular updates on its activity and the performance of the actions undertaken. They are essential for the success of the operation because they will make it possible to adjust the procedures to optimize their performance.
A good agency will send you KPIs (Key performance indicators) at regular intervals to measure the progress of operations and their results. But beyond these quantified dashboards, she must offer you regular points with the team. They are an opportunity to provide you with feedback to establish a qualitative approach to the mission.
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For your part, it will also be important for the service provider to benefit from your feedback on the quality of the projects detected or the appointments made by your sales teams.
5. The script to write for the agency
An agency asking you for a script does not bode well. We do not recommend that you write a script for the provider. Indeed, when a person recites a text, it can be heard and the effect is disastrous. It’s important that the BDR (Business development representative) can be in conversational mode with your prospects.
On the other hand, you can prepare a frame in collaboration with the teams of the telemarketing agency. It is then a question of developing a common thread so that the sedentary salesperson who prospecting for you can have the right arguments.
In any case, you can send your contact a package with all of your marketing and sales elements. This will help him find the right argument and get to know you better.
6. The combination of telephone and email prospecting
It is important, in B2B, to supplement the telephone action with scripted email campaigns. This type of email should make it possible to prepare calls and in some cases generate direct feedback from your prospects.
The telemarketing provider must be proactive in writing email scripts. Also check that the latter is well equipped with an email sequencing solution such as Lemlist, Woodpecker, Reply.io, etc.
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In 2020, the BDR (Business Development representative) must be as comfortable on the phone as in writing. It is essential to multiply the channels allowing you to get in touch with your prospects: telephone, e-mail, InMail,
7. Marketing actions carried out jointly
It is important to be able to support the action of the sedentary salesperson through B2B operational marketing actions. This will make it possible to focus the action of the selected agency on the accounts and contacts that have shown a beginning of interest (MQL Marketing Qualified Leads).
In this case, the salesperson does not make cold calls. It focuses its activities on prospects who have already reacted to your offers, who already know your business.
The salesperson who prospect for you then arrives in a favorable environment. This will significantly increase his chances of getting an appointment and qualifying a project for your business.
Do not underestimate this step because it will condition the success of your campaign.
New generation telemarketing agencies can offer you marketing actions that are fully integrated with their call operations. This inclusion of the two approaches has the effect of boosting the results of your campaigns.
Do not hesitate to also mix social selling actions with your telephone prospecting. The objective is to prospect each contact at 360 °.
8. The price of telemarketing action
To make the best choice of provider, beware of the lowest bidder. These very attractive prices often hide something: offshore service, lack of skills, additional hidden costs, Insurance etc.
Do not choose an agency that offers you a meeting pack without knowing you either. This type of system pushes her to make appointments with you at all costs to be able to invoice her services. You may then end up with 90% of unqualified appointments. Your sales reps will waste half a day on the road for nothing. The final cost will then be exorbitant.
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To conclude, the profession of B2B telemarketing agency have evolved considerably in recent years, both at the technological level and at the marketing level. For your operation to generate results, it is important to have the right profile, the right data, and to plan marketing campaigns integrated into the telephone prospecting action.
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