B2B telemarketing thrives on a reliable, consistent flow of new relationships being nurtured and added to the marketing mix. Cold calling prospects is an excellent way to create new, warm, productive business relationships, but as ever, it’s one of the challenges that telemarketers find hardest to overcome. Good B2B telemarketing is an acquired skill that takes patience, humility, and genuine care because unless you really want to meet a potential buyer’s needs, it’s virtually impossible to get under their skin in a genuine two-way conversation. However, as the benefits of building strong business relationships are so pronounced, at Blue Donkey we believe it’s well worth putting the effort into developing the right techniques for training your staff.
Relationships take time
B2B telemarketing works wonders for turning a good company into a great one by connecting salespeople to potential clients efficiently and effectively. If you really want to cultivate a warm relationship from a cold call, you may need to begin by changing the objective of your initial contact.
Most B2B telemarketing activities are tasked with the unrealistic goal of getting an appointment or achieving another key objective from every call. Of course, this hunger may help with the hitting of targets in the short term, but it’s less likely that enduring business relationships will develop from such targeted, determined sales calls. Even where the objective is achieved the potential buyer will sense the self-serving determination of the telemarketer and will feel suspicious of the brand and its people. Instead, we suggest that for the best B2B telemarketing results, try to make the relationship the focus of the call. Think about how you can engage the person you’re speaking to, build a genuine connection, and develop trust. If you can do this, you’ll be well on your way to creating a meaningful business relationship.
Start a two-way conversation
B2B telemarketing calls so often begin with a long one-sided barrage of dialog on the part of the telemarketer. Instead of simply talking at the contact with a ‘pitch’, or delivering a pre-planned presentation, turn your interaction into a two-way conversation. Taking the care to engage the person you’re speaking with will show you’re genuinely interested in what they have to say and that, to you and your business, they’re more than just a record on the database.
Open questions
Open questions are an excellent tool for starting conversations. Instead of asking something that can be answered with a simple yes or no, at Blue Donkey we take care to ask a question that requires some deep thought on the part of the contact. Ideally, this question should also give you an insight into the needs of the business and provide you with the information you need to ask an engaging follow-up question. Most of us recoil at the idea of people telephoning and simply talking at us, where interestingly human relationships thrive on the sense that someone is interested enough to listen.
Intelligent B2B telemarketing
In general, people buy from people they like and companies that can help them. Intelligent B2B telemarketing is all about finding the right key decision maker, uncovering their needs, and putting something sensitive and compelling on the table that really addresses their needs. If you can talk to the contact, find out their needs and requirements, and demonstrate how the product or service you’re offering could make their life easier – it will show you care about their company and that you’re really listening.
The right database
For B2B lead generation to be successful you need the right database. And in data terms big is certainly not beautiful. A target list that’s been carefully selected using up to date insight and an intelligent approach is much more likely to yield success. Ideally, the list will be qualified based on their homogeneous characteristics to increase the likelihood of them having an interest in the products or services you’re offering.
If you think your B2B telemarketing could benefit from more lead generation, or if your team needs extra training when it comes to cultivating warm business relationships, we can help. Get in touch with Blue Donkey to find out more.
