Telemarketing Lead Generation Blog

Telemarketing Lead Generation Program Launch: What to Expect

Posted on Sep 11, 2008 by Laura Johnson, Program Director

So, you’ve just launched your lead generation campaign! Have you started to ask yourself “Where are all the leads?” You’ve put all this time and energy into identifying your target audience, determining a call to action, crafting a flawless message… why aren’t the leads rolling in?

I think everyone understands that it’s going to take a little while for leads to start flowing, but I do get a sense that there tends to be some disappointment when a campaign doesn’t start getting leads immediately. It’s a sensitive time—especially if you’re working with a new vendor or you’re new to telemarketing. You probably start to wonder if you’ve made the right choice, if your vendor knows how to do this, if their agents have the skills necessary.

Realistically, there is a lot going on in the first couple weeks of a campaign that impacts lead flow, and it does not generally have anything to do with your choice of vendor. Think for a second about the cosmic chain of events that needs to happen for a prospect to turn into a lead. You’ve got to be calling the right person, at the right number. The operator or gatekeeper needs to be willing and allowed to transfer the call. The contact needs to be sitting at his desk, alone in his office, not in a meeting, not dealing with a crisis, not already on the phone, not over at the water cooler. The contact needs to be a decision-maker, willing to talk, and interested in what they’re hearing. They need to have a good idea of what they need to purchase, a timeframe, and the funding to pay for it. When you really think about it, it’s a near miracle when leads are generated! But a strong vendor knows how to get it done, and keeps you in the loop every step of the way. Here are a few things to be aware of as you undertake a new campaign.

Regardless of your list source or quality, there is inevitably some early data cleansing that needs to take place before any lead generation can occur. We recommend making one quick initial pass through all records as phase one of any program. Depending on your list size and the resources available for calling, this should take about 10% of the total time allotted. The first round of calling through a list is the best time to weed out any bad data and narrow down your calling universe to a list of legitimate targeted companies. Getting the bad data out doesn’t mean that you’re missing your full harvest. This is the fruit that’s already on the ground—it’s not the stuff you want to eat.

Those prospects still on the tree after initial cleansing are the targets you want to go after. Since these are living, breathing people, they tend to move around a lot. It can take a few attempts to reach them—anywhere from two to six calls generally. Most campaigns have some contacts that fall into this “low hanging fruit” category, but the quantity can vary greatly depending on your market, the solution or service being promoted, and all those other cosmic factors discussed above. Keep in mind also that once you’ve picked it, it’s gone. There is no guarantee of a continued supply, so you need to have a game plan for continued production.

Obviously the fruit highest up on the tree is going to be the hardest to reach. You can leave it there, and let it ripen on it’s own, but that would take a while and you’re risking losing it on the way down. A better move is to be more creative and strategic in your attempts to identify and reach qualified prospects. This includes strategies like CBI voicemails, tactical emails, creative gatekeeper approaches, well-planned callbacks and lots of dialing, dialing, dialing. A vendor might have a documented process for implementing these tools, but a large measure of success is about finesse, trial and error, persistence, and some degree of cosmic grace.

When should you actually worry? Every campaign is different. Sometimes there is no low-hanging fruit; sometimes there’s something wrong with the tree. Being able to identify problems—and knowing how to adapt and change course quickly—lets you make the most of your marketing investment. Generally speaking, in the first week or so of a campaign is “wait and see” time. If you’re not seeing positive results after that, you may want to start looking a little deeper. If at any time you feel like your vendor is not sufficiently answering your questions, being proactive in spotting obstacles, or communicating progress, you should definitely be worried.

Tagged: lead generation, targeted lead generation, telemarketing sales leads, telemarketing leads, lead generation results

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