Human Interaction: The Driving Force of Business-to-Business Telemarketing Success

Out of all marketing methods ever conceived, there is one that is known for its notoriety and power to invoke negative feelings, and that is telemarketing. All too often, sales calls or solicitation calls are replied with a resounding NO from an irate secretary or gatekeeper, or a deafening, slamming sound of a telephone being hung up. For telemarketers, being put through to a voice mail is more subtle, but is equivalent to saying "We're not interested".

In the realm of business-to-business marketing, telemarketing has constantly been questioned and debated on. Is it still a practicable way to reach out to customers? While most people will say NO, the answer is yes, but only if executed with caution, professionalism, and a broad understanding of business-customer relationships. Responsible telemarketing is good telemarketing.

One major factor that can determine the success and failure of any outbound Business to Business campaign is your business relationship. A spokesperson from AT (American Teleservices Association) said that in higher-end outbound campaign, success rate is as high as 25%. One deciding factor is the quality of human interaction.

Skill sets and personality traits both play significant roles in achieving B2B outbound calling success. It is essential for the caller to be enthusiastic, empathic, have genuine interest in the prospect, and be able to listen actively and handle rejection effectively. The telemarketer should also have the skills needed to deliver the campaign message efficiently, negotiate, organize and manage time and stress.

SME companies like to use telephone marketing since it is cost-effective. They integrate telemarketing in their business development goal to help them generate leads, set appointments, marketing survey, researches and help their inside sales improve their customer relationships.

The success of a telemarketing campaign still boils down to the human interaction of the caller. Although telemarketing technology has been proven valuable and sophisticated, CEO's and Owners prefer to conduct business with a person who understands their issues and problems. If there is no human interaction and understanding, a telemarketing project is most likely to fail.

The value of the organization's image in its business relationships must be top of mind for a company that is contemplating to launch a telemarketing campaign. The organization's business principles should always be taken into account in any kind of B2B cold-calling project.

There are key steps to help companies improve current relationships or create new ones:

1. Establishing you intention. A company should know what their goals are and the reason of the project. They should have a guideline on what they want to target. It is important to have a clear purpose of the campaign either to build customer relationship or get more leads.

2. Have a well-defined list. Before starting a campaign, one should know what to target. What kind of industry, what location and who are the key-personnel. Targeting the right person is important. A well-targeted list is one aspect of a successful campaign.

3. Use a good script and call method. A script should include the name of the company name, reason for the call and getting permission on how to go through the call. Most prospect are most likely to say NO to the request but an one should learn how to take objections as a challenge. If the prospect or the customer refuses the call, the telemarketer should take it with courtesy and respect. Empathize with the prospect, they might be busy with something. If they are unavailable, the telemarketer should politely ask the most convenient time to call back. The call method should be open for changes and should include questions that can address the possible questions of the prospect or customers.

4. Manage data and measure the outcome. Analysis of the results is one way to evaluate the success of the project. Included here are the factors such as the customer response reviews, recording of the calls, assessment of the potential customer profiles.

Human interaction in B2B telemarketing should not only mean speaking with a live person or throwing questions forth. Companies should execute goal-oriented outbound calling campaigns with the ultimate purpose of building long-lasting and successful business relationships.

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