Business-to-business telemarketing has been The Shields Group core competency
since the company was founded in 1982. Our call
center engine sits at the center of our integrated marketing
campaigns, functioning in many different roles: database development,
lead generation, appointment setting, etc.
The Shields Group’s account profiling methodology uses personalized communication
and rapport to engage selected prospects and gain access to accounts
that would otherwise appear to be impenetrable. To be sure, there is
too much “junk telemarketing” in the world. This is surprising, since
it is so unworkable—especially in the B2B sector. The target
population in today’s business community is composed of busy,
impatient, even intolerant people, who coldly repel most unsolicited
attempts to reach them via the telephone.
Our
21 years of experience in running a call center have proven
conclusively that there is only one way to deal with this phenomenon:
Quality. By overestimating the level of talent,
background, technical acumen, and communication skills required by our
people, we have been able to build a call center that consistently
produces excellent results.
Program Setup
Perhaps the secret to our effectiveness in this area is the vigor of
the program setup phase. Here, a senior marketing consultant starts
by designing the entire campaign:
Conducting
data-gathering sessions with the client’s team
Identifying
target accounts and/or types of companies to be contacted
Selecting the
individuals to be contacted based on title and/or function
Determining
the list of potential needs of the target audience
Mapping these
needs to the relevant benefits of the client’s products and services
Selecting the
hot buttons that will be used in the campaign, based on research
and/or comprehensive data gathering with the client’s team
Working with
the client to define what constitutes a qualified lead for the program
Working out
the information needed to profile and qualify the account and the
individual prospect
Writing the
telecontact script
Arranging and
conducting meetings to review the script and lead definition
Documenting
all meetings and providing final versions of these documents
Training the
telecontact team on the script and lead definition, as well on the
products and services being sold
Conducting
offline drilling/role-playing of the telecontact script
Testing the
script for full workability, making any revisions needed
It is through this consulting-based methodology that we
are able to perfect the telemarketing approach. This ensures the
highest possible “hit-rate” with every call we place.
Ad Hoc E-marketing
In
the program’s development phase, we will create high-impact e-mails
that contain links to the client’s Web sites, short video files and
other digital media, or simple text that provides the answers to key
questions. Then, as necessary to facilitate discussions and answer
questions in real time, The Shields Group will send semi-customized e-mails to
prospects on an as-needed basis. In most cases, this bypasses the need
for physical sales collateral, which, of course, is slow and
expensive.
We
have found that the blend of calling with e-mail greatly enhances our
ability to generate true, intense levels of interest quickly and
inexpensively.
