The Cost of In-House Telemarketing

While most sales roles are supported by marketing programs that deliver sales leads, many high-level sales executives inevitably find themselves cold calling to hit their quota, which can take time away from more important tasks like relationship building and contract negotiations. To keep high-performance reps focused on closing business, many companies hire an in-house telemarketer or Inside Sales Representative (ISR) to make outbound calls to leads that marketing teams produce. ISRs further qualify these prospects and set meetings with them accordingly. However, results of in-house telemarketing efforts can be lackluster and expensive for a variety of reasons:


1) Overall Cost vs. ROI
When hiring an ISR, organizations must factor in the following expenses at minimum:

1. Pay: Salary, Commission, Bonuses, and PTO

2. Benefits: 401k, Worker’s Compensation, Short-Term and Long-Term Disability, Unemployment, and Health, Dental, and Vision Insurance

3. Training & Management: hard and soft costs associated with not only the trainee but with the trainer and ongoing supervision

4. Infrastructure & Technology: Computer, Software Licenses, Desk, Work Station, Office Supplies, Phone, and Internet

5. Administrative Fees: Payroll Taxes, HR, Recruiting, and IT Support

6. Costs associated with turnover and under-performance


2) Unpredictable production outcomes and meeting quality
An in-house ISR's production will usually vary. If the rep has a bad week, he or she still receives a pay check, and their company will continue to sink more time and money into training and management. Furthermore, the quality of each meeting set by an ISR is heavily dependent upon skill-level, motivation, and thoroughness.

3) Scalability
It is an expensive and manual process to find Inside Sales Reps and train them with no guarantee that they perform. Some reps will produce just enough to keep their jobs, which can create a culture of mediocrity and diminishing returns with newly hired reps. In the case where revenue growth goals are not being met, the additional expenditure for unpredictable results can be difficult to justify.

The good news....

Creating a situation where sales appointments are set at a fixed cost with measurable results is not an impossible feat. If you want to learn more about how you can build an appointment-setting model that delivers meaningful conversations with key decision-makers and influencers who have an interest and an identified pain or need that your organization can solve, let's talk.


Emily McCoy - Business Development Director, SalesStaff
(832) 945-1618 emily.mccoy@salesstaff.com

Creativity in Sales

I was speaking with someone last week who runs a creative services company. He was desperate for sales leads, yet he didn't have a team in place to follow up on prospects.

"It's so hard to keep salespeople! They just don't get along with creatives."

I chuckled a bit on the inside, as I consider myself, a person who has worked in sales for over a decade*, to be a creative person.

I've come to find that creativity plays a HUGE role in sales. Out-of-the-box thinking is useful for overcoming objections and developing win-win (and win-win-win) compromises. Creativity is also important in the development of sales messaging, as using the same pitch over and over again rarely proves to be fruitful.

Bottom line: My career path does not suck.

* Macaroni Grill - Alcohol & Dessert Sales Winner '06 - Holla!

Don't Let Excuses Lie; NOW is the best time for lead generation

I've been getting a bit of traction with posts on LinkedIn, so I'll occasionally be publishing draft versions to this blog. Feedback (even the brutal kind) is wanted and welcome!

***

For many, the passing of Labor Day signals the coming of the holiday season. It is also the time of the year when I start to hear time-related excuses for not pursuing supplemental lead generation activities:

"But it's so close to the holidays - we'll have a hard time connecting with prospects during the last few months of the year."

"Our industry basically shuts down mid-November through January."

"We're just too focused on closing out the year to start anything new."

These excuses are not going to move the dial on new sales, and they certainly are not going to eliminate your competition's plans to grow their market share. Proactive demand generation planning and execution coupled with persistent sales initiatives are tried and true methods for helping you get ahead on 2016 profits.

If you are thinking about delaying new lead generation campaigns until 2016, consider these points:


- Call-to-Conversation rates with decision-makers increase during the holidays
With a higher number of support people and admin staff off for vacations and holidays, it can take fewer attempts to reach key decision-makers during the holidays than any other time of the year.

- Delaying initiatives that can grow your sales pipeline may mean not seeing business growth until months into 2016

If you wait until January to launch an aggressive marketing program, your sales pipeline could fizzle out and not build up again until the spring. Launching marketing activities during the later part of the year ensures adequate sales traction for all of 2016 and maximizes your ability to close more business during the year.

- With Q4 just around the corner for most organizations, companies are planning budgets, evaluating vendor performance, reviewing what’s working and what isn't, and executives do not want to bring poor performing solutions, vendors and products into the New Year.

Based on SalesStaff's experience creating demand for hundreds of products and services late in the year, our results show that that your message can be heard loud and clear during the holiday season, as an average of 72% of the meetings set by our Inside Sales Representatives are classified by our clients as either near or mid-term opportunities.

Are you ready to put excuses for not moving forward with demand generation plans behind you? Let's talk about building a fixed-cost model to fulfill your company's need for sales appointments.

Emily McCoy - Business Development Director, SalesStaff
(832) 945-1618 emily.mccoy@salesstaff.com