Buyers guide to choosing an outsourced telemarketing consultancy

Working with a telemarketing consultancy can change the fortunes of any company, sometimes overnight. However, we have all heard of examples where the relationship between the client and the telemarketing consultancy has just lead to disappointment and a failure to meet the original expectations.

Our aim is to provide companies with reliable and effective business to business telemarketing solutions. We can help you meet up with some of the UK’s most advanced telemarketing companies in a way which best suits you. You can call, E-Mail or just visit their website, the choice is yours. We understand that every company has its own independent telemarketing requirements and our business to business telemarketing solutions will enable you to decide upon the best companies that suit those requirements.

Hopefully this guide will provide information that will help you choose the right telemarketing partner.

The New Business Generator currently believes that there are in excess of 400 different companies offering telemarketing services in the UK. This makes choosing the right company to supply such services a challenge as each offers a slightly different approach, has different skills and client experiences. We choose to work with some of the finest telemarketing companies in the UK with the intention of making your search easier. Below are a number of different subjects that you should consider while making your decision.

Return on investment

Before you embark on any marketing exercise it is essential that you understand your return on investment, telemarketing is no different. In fact telemarketing is often not the optimum route to market for many very low value products.

It is important for you to consider:

  • The expected profit generated for each sale?
  • How many sales appointments you would expect to sit to gain a sale?
  • What is the expected cost of generating each sales meeting?
  • How long do you expect it will take to make a sale from the first meeting?

Armed with this information you can make some initial estimates based upon the feed back you get from our telemarketing suppliers. Once you are in a position to choose a new supplier, you can also produce a clear financial plan. This will outline the returns you expect, over what time scale and when you could predict your revenue to increase.

For example

Company A’s product produces an expected lifetime gross profit of £10,000.00. The sales team usually win contracts from 1 in 6 meetings they attend and that their sales cycle is 4 months. Company A expects each sales appointment generated by telemarketing to cost in the region of £300.00.

This would mean the cost to sale for telemarketing would be £1800.00 but will provide a return on investment of over 450%. However, company A should not expect to receive any revenue from this marketing till 5 months after the campaign commenced.

If after completing this exercise you are not able to make the figures work for your business there may be value in looking at alternative forms of marketing.

Methodology and potential results

Although on the surface telemarketing companies may look the same it may come to surprise you just how different they can be. One of the important area’s to distinguish companies is how do they go about the project for you and the results they estimate.

When looking at a potential supplier you can get a huge insight into their capabilities by learning about their processes and how they ensure the quality of the work they do. If you can see a strong process that is based in sound marketing principles that relates to how they choose data, use CRM, build scripts and other supporting training material, distribute appointments, and report their results, then it is highly likely that they can fulfil their promises with regards to the number of appointments to expect.

It is important for you to consider:

  • Do they have a documented procedure or a service level agreement so that you can see exactly what they will do for you and that you can measure them against?
  • Are they able to support their estimates of the number of appointments they can deliver your company with case studies and references from similar current clients?

If you do not feel that a company is able to satisfy you that their processes are robust, there may be value in looking for an alternative organisation that will provide you the level of security you desire.

Who will actually make the calls

Often you will speak to and meet with a sales manager initially but he will not be the one making the calls on your company’s behalf. It is vital to understand the skill level of the telemarketeer that will be calling your prospects.

You can obtain a great deal of information about the potential a telemarketing consultancy has to achieve your objectives, by speaking with the telemarketing agent that will represent your company. Do they possess the maturity and skills that you feel will represent your brand effectively in your chosen market place. Also how much control and contact does the telemarketing consultancy have with their telemarketing staff? You may be able to draw conclusions from:

  • Will your telemarketeer work from a central office or work from home?
  • How much experience has your telemarketeer had working for similar companies to your own?
  • What levels of interaction are you expected to have with the telemarketeer during the campaign?
  • What commitments will the telemarketing consultancy provide that they will not change the telemarketing agent during the campaign?

Depending on the answers it is possible to understand whether you feel comfortable with that specific telemarketeer or company representing your. If you have doubts there may be value in looking at alternative companies that will provide you the reassurances you need.

Reporting

Outsourcing a marketing campaign is very different to doing the work internally. The predominant reason for this is that you are not able to interact with, or see the work being done on a daily basis. Telemarketing consultancies should be able to provide an insight into what they are doing through regular reporting.

Unsurprisingly, different companies provide different levels of reporting. These range from basic statistics relating to the number of phone calls and appointments made, to sophisticated real time reporting that you can access through the internet from anywhere in the world. There is real value in considering what level of reporting you feel would be appropriate so that you can have a handle on what is happening during the campaign. It is also worth considering the culture of transparency behind a companies reporting policy. Real time reporting can provide you a live feed of exactly who is being called and the out come of every call as it happens. This keeps you as up to date as possible opposed too weekly / monthly reports published in arrears where the information is potentially out of date. Do consider asking the following questions:

  • What key performance indicators do you report on?
  • How often do you report these statistics? Are they published in real time?
  • What should I expect to see in these reports during the campaign?
  • Can I have custom reports to meet my specific needs?

Again, there is always value in continuing your search for your new supplier, if you are not totally comfortable with the information contained within the reports, there style or frequency.

Referencing your potential new supplier

Out of the 400 potential suppliers in the UK there is a good fit for everyone. Here at the New Business Generator we believe that we have a fit for the majority of buyers with our top 8 UK based telemarketing consultancies. However, once you have made your choice you can reduce the risk of the campaign not going to plan considerably by taking up client references.

Consider the length of time the company has been trading, its financial stability, which companies they have worked for and which companies have agreed to provide case studies or references. However, nothings better than speaking to other companies, preferably those similar to your own and asking them their opinion. Good questions to be asking are:

  • Did you receive the number of meetings that you were advised at the on set of the campaign?
  • Did the meetings result in a good level of business and return on investment that justified the campaign?
  • How would you describe the skill level of the telemarketeer that worked on your campaign?
  • Did the reporting and communication provide you the good quality information during the campaign?
  • Would you recommend working with them?

A telemarketing consultancy with a good reputation should be able to give you a choice of different references. Even at this final stage of the process you may wish to consider choosing an alternative company if you are unable to reference your preferred supplier or the feed back you obtain does not fill you with confidence.

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