As much as nearly everyone dislikes this one, cold calling is very effective for sales lead generation when executed properly. If you consistently prospect for leads in the native language by phone, you will consistently generate sales leads Europewide!

Every time you pick up the phone, whether it’s the first or third call, it’s important to create value in that touch. Your goal with each call must be to give your prospects something useful and beneficial in a digestible, bite-size chunk.

Whether you chose to create a specialised sales development team within the Sales or Marketing department or hire a firm that specialises in telemarketing, your cold calling plan must be aligned with all your other ongoing marketing and brand-building activities

Logically this can best be done by creating a sales lead generation engine for your direct sales force. This will provide the means for your sales force to maximise their time spent in talking to pre qualified prospects.

At Performance Marketing we have over 15 years experience and a proven track record in sales lead generation and qualified appointment setting. We help increase market share significantly and our highly skilled and experienced B2B telemarketing executives will improve the quality and quantity of your sales leads and get you in front of more key decision makers.

When was the last time you called your customers, thanking them for their business to date and discussing further opportunities?

Customer retention and satisfaction drive profits. It’s far less expensive to cultivate your existing customer base and sell more services to them than it is to seek new, single-transaction customers. Most surveys across industries show that keeping one existing customer is five to seven times more profitable than attracting one new one.

Whether you chose to create a specialised customer satisfaction tracking programme or develop a simple calling campaign to offer a discount or loyalty voucher, a firm that specialises in telemarketing can be aligned with all your other ongoing marketing and brand-building activities.

Targeted e-mail combined with outbound calling is the ideal way to increase leads, sales activity and revenue. It has long been accepted that combining outbound calling with direct mail marketing dramatically increases results in B2B programs.

The killer application of email marketing and phone calling is the ability to prioritise phone calls based on the actions of the email recipient. With our tracking capabilities you can now know what link your prospect clicked on and where they went to next. This gives you the opportunity to develop targeted calls and respond to the interest of the contact.

It is a known fact that the phone is still a powerful and effective lead generation tool.

It is the human touch of any lead generation program and is why every opportunity – including cold calling – should be treated with great respect.

Every time you pick up the phone, whether it’s the first or third call, it’s important to create value in that touch. Your goal with each call must be to give your prospects something useful and beneficial in a digestible, bite-size chunk.

Whether you chose to create a specialised sales development team within the Sales or Marketing department or hire a firm that specialises in telemarketing, your cold calling plan must be aligned with all your other ongoing marketing and brand-building activities.

Well, it’s the first day back after a relaxing Christmas break and the start of a brand new year.

As resolutions are made and then broken 1 week later, is this year going to be a repeat of your last years sales? OR are you going to resolve to do things better?

I believe 2011 will be a fantastic year and a year to try something new for great results.

Resolve to analyse your current processes and procedures, resolve to cut your costs and resolve to make your sales teams as effective as possible. By outsourcing some of the leg work, the results will be evident much quicker and this will ensure that each target is reached and exceeded to make 2011 your year

What will Santa bring you this year?

As the dust settles on 2010 and the focus turns to 2011, how do you ensure that targets are met and costs are reduced? The answer is to work with an experienced, professional agency who know what works and what does not. An agency who can advise on best practice lead generation and appointment setting and assist with your sales management to ensure a healthy pipeline and happy sales people!

Make it your New Years Resolution to review your outsource options and see just how effective a partnership can be.

How do you evaluate a telemarketing company when looking to outsource areas of your business?

In my opinion, all the following boxes need to be ticked before making such a key decision as the right partner can increase your sales volume by as much as 150%

Ensure that a process exists for measuring the quality of all lists used

Agree a testing process to provide you with comfort that conversations will be handled professionally and in a way that will yield the best results achievable

Request daily activity reporting to measure results achieved, positive and negative qualification results

Ensure the project is staffed with people capable of having flexible conversations with senior decision makers.

Insist on an agreed quality monitoring process such as voice recording and review

You need to commit to training of staff – Objection handling is particularly important

You will need a proper tracking system to measure internal vs. external performance