The volume of companies operating in the B2B telemarketing and telesales space is growing; there’s a smörgåsbord of choices for Outbound B2B telemarketing services without much guidance. Some people reflect on past experiences, and if it was a bad experience, there is also an abundance of caution to avoid a repeat.
I‘ve spoken with hundreds of companies looking to outsource telemarketing services for competitive advantage over the years, and they all have one thing in common they ask:
How can they pick the best outsourced B2B Teleservices provider? What should they look for in outsourced SDR's or outbound B2B Teleservices for telemarketing campaigns?
A vendor relationship is a partnership, so you have first to establish there is a good match.
The List of Questions to Ask:
- Does the experience this vendor has align with my sales objectives?
- Does their approach to outbound or cold calling map with what our buyers expect?
- How business fluent is the team? What are their best practices?
- What about quality assurance? How do they ensure best results?
- Do they use new technology and are they fluent with current industry trends for B2B sales or the SaaS industry (if that applies.)
- Do they understand a complex sales cycle and have the most effective technique to discover intel in accounts?
- What is their onboarding process? Does it demonstrate expertise in sales leads or are they planning to read a script on phone calls?
- Is the complexity of our prospects’ environment understood?
- How do they describe their deliverable? Is it about hours and dials or is it about pipeline and results?
- How do they hire their team?
- Do they support outbound calling and inbound calls?
- What are their communication channels?
- What is their QA model?
- What is their average tenure with clients?
- Do they demonstrate critical thinking?
- What is the deal size they can work with?
- Is their reporting useful? (Reporting of dials and hours doesn’t provide insight into the results, more is needed.)
The vendor needs to ask:
- Is this company in alignment with our model?
- Can they execute on what we can provide?
- Are they willing to do the work to make the program successful and establish a channel for a results loop?
- How do they manage the lifecycle of information like this?
- What is the culture of their sales organization?
- What is their sales and marketing tech stack, and how can we add value to that? How will our work be included?
- How invested in this program is their management?
- Where are they in the adoption cycle in their market? Or is this something they are introducing to the market? Is there an appetite for this solution?
- Do they know who their buyer is?
- Are they able to explain what they do with precision?
It really isn’t about buying or selling a program; it’s about aligning objectives and making sure there is potential for a long-term partnership that actually is an outbound teleservices program that builds revenue and is rich with deliverables. Programs can be sold all day long, but if it isn’t a good fit, no one is happy, and it just adds another brick on the stack of excuses why outsourcing didn’t work when really it was just a bad match out of the gate.
For a true outsourced SDR program to work, it has to be a time-tested outbound teleservices solution that is multi-faceted in results. The questions outlined above for both parties to consider will help to create a framework of success on both sides.
Budget is a consideration, but a low budget that delivers nothing less than a train wreck costs much more in damage to the brand and prospect relationships. Considering value and results, the willingness of each party to ensure success are the elements that make the investment produce.
Personally, I turn away many companies because we know who our prospects are, and while we can sell programs that aren’t a great fit, we don't…we want everyone to be happy. They are much more satisfied with my suggestions for choosing a vendor that they would be struggling to implement something that is not a fit for them.
I’m glad to answer your questions or share any resources. Please follow me on Twitter @VanellaGroup and on LinkedIn!
