Building Your B2B Telephone Marketing Program for Success

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Building Your B2B Telephone Marketing Program for
Success

• Paul Glancy - The Martin Agency
• Bill Gessert - TeleSolutions Consulting

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Session Objectives

• Compare common B2C Strategies Tactics to
  Effective B2B Strategies Tactics
• Understand the Basis for Building Your Effective
  B2B Campaign
• Present a New B2B Paradigm
• Improve Your B2B Results

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What Drives Your Approach?

• Overall Strategies
• Lists
• Offer
• Marketing Integration
• Script/Call Guide Issues
• Hiring, Training Coaching Issues
• Quality Assurance/Monitoring Issues
• Vocal Presentation Issues
• Performance Measurement Issues

Price
C o m p l e x I t y
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What Drives Your Approach?
High End Technology Hardware
Copier
Price
Search Engine Ads
Credit Card Phone Carrier
C o m p l e x I t y
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Our Focus

• The differences between simple and more complex
  campaigns
• Strategic Issues
• Script Issues
• Hiring, Training, Coaching Issues
• Performance Measurement Issues
• QA/Monitoring Issues
• Vocal Presentation Issues
• Case Studies

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Strategic Issues

• Push/Pull Strategies
• Traditional B2C is all push strategies
• More complex and higher priced sales benefit from
  mixing pull strategies to the marketing efforts
• Trade associations
• Affinity groups
• Buying groups

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Strategic Issues

• Lists
• Dialing for dollars versus targeted lists
• Need for more information
• Key contact name
• Biographical information re company
• Appropriate parameters
• Need and use for product/service
• Appropriate business size (dont try to sell to
  IBM!)

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Strategic Issues

• Offer Approach
• Focus of B2C tends to be offer driven
• Focus of more complex, higher priced is value
  driven based on needs
• B2C tends to be scripted and pitch based
• More complex, higher priced is dialog based and
  generally less scripted using call guides

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Strategic Issues

• Offer Approach
• B2C tends to skim the cream
• With more complex, higher priced every record
  counts (need for refined lists selection
  criteria)
• B2C talk with whomever answers
• More complex, higher priced requires speaking
  with key decision maker only

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Strategic Issues

• Offer Approach
• B2C tends to be one call and done
• Complex, higher priced could be multiple calls
  and contacts
• B2C calls generally do not have gate keepers
• Many more complex, higher priced calls have
  gatekeepers

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Strategic Issues

• Integration with other marketing channels
• B2C rarely mixes additional marketing efforts
• More complex, higher priced is well served to
  integrate with additional marketing efforts and
  is multi-channel
• Mailers
• Web integration
• Other tools

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Script/Call Guide Issues

• Traditional B2C is scripted with rebuttals
• More complex, higher priced utilizes calls guide
  and is dependant on dialog skills of rep
• B2C presents, tells, closes
• B2B asks, listens, explains, and recommends

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Hiring, Training, Coaching Issues

• In hiring what are the appropriate skills
  competencies? You are looking for
• Professional selling skills
• Ability to engage in conversation versus read a
  script
• Questioning skills versus presentation
• Active listening skills versus call control

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Hiring, Training, Coaching Issues

• A word about supervisors
• Deeper analytical skills
• Builders and developers of skills
• Ability to demonstrate similar competencies as
  the reps themselves
• Vital to the success of the program

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Hiring, Training, Coaching Issues

• What are the appropriate skills competencies?
• Confidence
• Professionalism
• Adaptability
• Ability to think on your seat

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Hiring, Training, Coaching Issues

• What training becomes critical?
• Product training to the point of being able to
  answer application question
• Understanding Features Benefits as they relate
  to customer Needs
• Industry knowledge
• Objection handling via asking more questions
• Role play and more role play!

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Hiring, Training, Coaching Issues

• What coaching becomes critical?
• Coaching is focused on skills development and
  growth versus script adherence
• Need to coach more frequently due to variations
  in the calls
• Coaching focuses on what they did right

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QA/Monitoring Issues

• Simple Focus on
• rep
• cosmetics
• script compliance
• providing approved answers
• legal compliance

• Complex Focus on
• customer response
• content of call
• dialog w/ customer
• information obtained during call
• questioning listening skills

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QA/Monitoring Issues

• Simple Tool
• multi element scoring system
• designed to measure adherence
• focus on results

• Complex Tool
• big picture scoring system
• designed to measure selling skills
• focus on growth development

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Performance Measurement Issues

• Less complicated, low priced
• Contacts per hour
• Sales per hour
• Conversion rate
• More complex, higher priced
• Raw number of contacts (right person)
• Call backs set up
• Over all close rate
• Sales cycle (number of contacts and days from
  initial contact to sale)
• Total ROI Evaluation

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Vocal Presentation Issues

• Simple campaigns require
• Script reading ability
• Call control skills
• Volume, volume, volume
• DONT BREATH!
• Complex campaigns require
• Conversation skills
• Ability to build trust with voice
• Quality, quality, quality
• SOUND HUMAN!

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Case Study Credit Card Processing

• Company Industry Profile
• Point of purchase service options
• Credit cards
• Terminals equipment
• Gift cards
• Check cashing
• E-checks

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Case Study Credit Card Processing

• Company Industry Profile
• Mostly sold through independent agents going
  door to door
• Sold primarily on price
• Can be tons of hidden costs
• Commodity driven
• Not the most professional reputation

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Case Study Credit Card Processing

• What we found
• 3 x 3 workstations
• Heavily scripted approach
• Approach focused on telling features and selling
  price
• One and done buy or fly
• Leads list of names and numbers (no background
  info

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Case Study Credit Card Processing

• What we found
• Sellers not sales reps
• Little training
• No coaching
• No incentives
• Little success!

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Case Study Credit Card Processing

• What we did
• Started with by writing a business plan
• Objectives, strategies, tactics
• Built several push and pull strategies
• Pull strategies cast a wide net
• Push strategies were supported with other
  marketing efforts

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Case Study Credit Card Processing

• What we did
• Built selection profile and found the right
  people
• Provided significant training
• Industry
• Products
• Customer needs
• Lots of role plays

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Case Study Credit Card Processing

• What we did
• Selective lists were purchased
• Call guides were built with focus on solid
  questions to ask
• Compensation totally overhauled
• Performance metrics developed
• Number of decision makers connected
• Mailers sent
• Close rates

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Case Study Credit Card Processing

• What we did
• Redesigned workstations and space
• Added computers and contact management systems
• Tons of coaching
• Continuous improvements to approach
• Called from lists and pulled leads

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Case Study Credit Card Processing

• Results
• Longer sales cycle (measured in number of
  contacts and weeks not minutes)
• Shift from price driven sales to value driven
  decisions
• Acquired customers based on relationship and
  value
• Significantly greater close rates

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Case Study Credit Card Processing

• Summary
• Product/service was both complex and high priced
• Old approach was built for low complexity and
  price requiring an immediate decision
• New approach respected customers need to see
  value and to

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Case Study 2

• Business Publication Marketing Program

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Summary Conclusion

• Find your program in the quadrants
• All inclusive single call
• Multiple touches contacts
• Design your strategies tactics to match your
  space in the quadrants
• Hiring the right people
• Building the right approach
• Applying the appropriate training
• Providing proper supervision
• Measuring the right issues

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