17/07/2011 by Stephen Law.

I’ve been rushed off my feet for the last 6 months.  I’ve been helping existing and new customers with my telemarketing skills.  I’ve hardly slept this week, but my hard work has given me a small window to write this blog.  If you’re interested to know who is winning new business via telemarketing, then read on …

As I predicted in previous blogs, the market for telemarketing suppliers has increased dramatically over the last few years.  With thousands of people losing their jobs and business becoming harder to win, many ‘would-be’ telemarketers and telemarketing agencies have sprung up.  Yet over time, discerning Managing Directors are learning the difference between the ‘amateur telemarketing people’ and the ‘professionals’.

The glory days of the boom times have gone - any sensible MD must now choose how to spend his business development budget very wisely.  Gone are the times when one could chuck £10k at a call centre to keep a sales team busy.  Many MDs are now seeing little Return on Investment from ‘scattergun telemarketing’.  Quality is becoming far more important than quantity.  Soaring fuel prices demand less sales meetings.  Sales meetings with real value are the order of the day – but one cannot expect a low-level telemarketing person to achieve high quality.  So what is the answer…

The best telemarketing to win new business in 2011 is undoubtedly about ‘focus’ and ‘relationship building’.  I’m not talking about telemarketing to sell stationery, I’m talking about selling a complex offering to a discerning buyer.  Stationery sales are purely ‘commoditized’ – so it’s all about selling in bulk at the lowest price.  Complex sales such as selling consultancy services – is all about added value.  So one must be very highly ‘tuned-in’ to what people want to buy.

In 2008, so-called ‘forward-thinking marketing gurus’ (who had become besotted with technology) were predicting the end of the cold-call.  Such ‘gurus’ were full of themselves predicting that email marketing would replace telemarketing.  In short, they were right for a very brief period of time, but they completely misunderstood the long-term trends.  As Sir Isaac Newton pointed out, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  The leap to jumping on the email marketing band wagon was so quick - that it imploded.  IT Directors countered the barrage of emails by installing anti-spam systems which are now built-in to readily available software.

These so-called ‘gurus’ are now at it again.  They’re peddling the dream that the telemarketing cold-call is dead and that ‘social media marketing’ is now king.  Funnily enough, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone over a century ago – yet more people win new business today by telephone than they have ever done in times past.  When one reaches a certain age, one can see that email marketing and social media marketing are simply tools and not the panacea for marketing success.  The real key to success is to use all of these tools in the right way.

Lead Generation is a very ‘much misunderstood’ art and science.  I’m beginning to notice that in terms of methodology, many Managing Directors are beginning to understand the lead generation process.  Smart MDs are setting out to define their offering carefully.  Then they are working carefully to understand their target markets.  Yet when all is said and done, most MDs are still struggling to find anyone who can “fulfil” the telemarketing process in the right way.

We can all watch the Science of Sports on a good Discovery Channel documentary.  Yet how is it that one man can play football but never score a goal and another man can become a world champion?  There is a science to selling, yet at the end of the day, real results boil down to the ‘art of delivery’.  Think about delivering any message and you will begin to understand what I mean.  The recent award-wining movie “The King’s Speech” is a classic example.  The poor chap knows that he needs to convey a message, but to “deliver” that speech correctly is far from easy.  Think of me as the little man who trains the king to succeed.  Yet in my case, I ‘deliver’ the speech for you.

The problem faced by most telemarketing people is not so much in understanding the process – the problem is in understanding the person.  Time and time again, I’ve been asked to take over where low-level telemarketing people have failed.  Yes, getting the process right is important – but one can make all the right moves, yet fail miserably when the message is delivered.  I’m not going to reveal all my secrets here in a blog – but understanding how to attune oneself with a potential buyer can be learned – and it is the final key to providing the best telemarketing – and it will win new business for you.

As a smart Managing Director, you probably know a fair bit about the Lead Generation process – when it comes to using telemarketing to win new business.  If you now need the ‘delivery’ then I can help you personally, or I can train your people to succeed.  My methods go beyond anything you may have read in a book.  I am not a professor of marketing.  My knowledge and experience was won at the coal-face – generating lead after lead and making sale after sale after sale. You may call me on 0870 042 1263 or email me - stephen@sl-freelance.co.uk 

Posted in Lead Generation, Business Development, Telemarketing | 1 Comment »

11/11/2010 by Stephen Law.

Whilst my main function is to generate sales leads, many clients think of me as their part-time Business Development Manager.  My clients range from business savvy entrepreneurs with a company worth £x million - to Newbie’s who have never run a business before in their life.  These “Let’s start with the Basics” topics are aimed at the Newbie’s who need some help with the basics.  So let’s start with ROI…

What is ROI?
ROI is an acronym that means “Return on Investment”.  Put simply – if you want to be successful in business, then you need to be making more money than you spend.  As a basic example, if all your outgoings for Admin, Finance, Legal, Marketing and Operations add up to £200k per annum, then your business must generate more than £200k per annum just to cover costs.

Breaking even - i.e. you spend £200k and you make £200k is ok – but if you have made no profit then you might question why you’re working 10 hours a day 6-7 days a week, instead of working for someone else.  So ROI is about making more than you spend – e.g. you spend £200k per annum but you bring in £400k = (£400k-£200k) = £200k pre-tax profit.

Marketing ROI
Now let’s look at what a good Business Development Manager would advise you regarding ROI in the context of Marketing.  Whilst it is not possible to state exactly how much you should spend on Marketing, most text books will state that approximately 20% of your annual spend will be spent on Marketing.  Continuing with the £200k spend scenario, that means 20% of your annual spend = £200k x 20% = £40k per annum on Marketing.  To ensure that you attain an ROI for your £40k spend, let’s examine this….

If you spend £40k per annum on all your marketing and you bring in £40k worth of business – then your marketing effort has reached breakeven point – i.e. £40k - £40k = 0.  So at this point the marketing effort has paid for itself but made no profit.  Moreover, if your total expenditure per annum is £200k then you are now facing problems.  Therefore, whilst your marketing has reached breakeven point, your business is still in trouble.  If your total spend is £200k per annum, then your marketing spend of £40k per annum must generate at least £200k worth of sales to breakeven. 

OK so what would a Business Development Manager advise you to do: - if your marketing spend is £40k per annum and your total spend (including marketing) is £200k then you might be happy if your marketing brings in £400k worth of sales: - £400k - £200k = a pre-tax profit of £200k.  In other words, to gain this ROI the Return on Investment for your marketing must be 10 times your spend on the marketing – 10 x £40k = £400k.

Marketing Budget – Without a marketing budget you don’t have a chance
I’ve been a business development manager for about 25 years.  I’ve helped countless business owners to turn around companies who were struggling and many more who needed to expand.  Yet it never ceases to amaze me how many budding entrepreneurs forget to include a marketing budget in their plan.  Many business owners assume “My product or service is so amazing that everyone will want it” – but they forget that if no one knows about it – no one will buy it.

There is a classic misconception among many people who have never been trained in sales and marketing – that all sales and marketing people work on commission.  Whatever you do, DO NOT FALL IN TO THIS TRAP!  I can categorically state that I have never in my entire life seen one single new-start company that has succeeded by using a commission-only sales team.  A commission only structure suits an established brand, not a new-start venture.  20 years ago, I worked for United Artists on commission only because everyone knew their brand and I made a lot of money.   DO NOT FOLLOW A BUSINESS MODEL THAT DOES NOT SUIT A NEW START BUSINESS.  If in doubt, talk to highly experienced business development manager.

A new-start business is a high-risk venture and demands investment in marketing.  A new business has no track record and it is an accepted norm by investors that they anticipate 3x more expenditure than is planned, because the business will make many mistakes at the start.  That’s why investors ask for 50% of your business at this point, because it is very risky.

Making Profit from your Marketing Efforts
Once again, let me stress that you must make more money than you spend.  I received a call from a gentleman yesterday who asked me “Which form of direct marketing would work best for me?”  This chap thought he might find a commission-based sales person to help him.  My first questions were:- a) “How much is the sale value?”
b) “How much profit per sale?”
c) “How much commission per sale?”
The answer made me fall off my chair – “Oh, the sale value is £45 but I only make £25 per sale so I would pay someone about £15 per sale”.  My father (a vicar) always taught me “Treat others as you would have them treat you”.  I was somewhat stunned and replied to the gentleman “So would you get out of bed every morning and work like stink to make £15 per sale?”  His reply was incredible – “Oh no, but I tried everyone on the People per Hour website, but they couldn’t speak proper English – so I came to you”.

The upshot of this conversation was that this chap had no budget whatsoever.  As he put the phone down he said “Oh I thought you were really good at what you do and could help”.  Like a sad 5 year old who had just been told by his Mum that he could only have the toy Ferrari for Christmas and not the real thing, he went away in a major sulk.

Please, please, please – when you decide to market your product or service, never assume that all sales people will work for peanuts just because that’s what you want.  If you wouldn’t do it yourself, please don’t assume that anyone else is daft enough to do it.

Where to find a Business Development Manager
If you are a standard SME (a small business) the you really should talk to your local Business Link.  They can provide some excellent broad-brushstroke advice that could save you a fortune.  If you are seeking a business development manager to implement the work – that’s more tricky.  A good full-time Business Development Manager could cost you anywhere between £50k and £200k per annum.  If you just need a bit of help to steer you in the right direction and get in front of new clients – I can help you for a fraction of the cost (Stephen Law 0870 042 1263 stephen@sl-freelance.co.uk )

The Best Plan for the Best ROI
Set aside a marketing budget and find someone to help you.  If winning new business is not your forte – consult a business development manager to put you on the right track.

I’m always happy to talk to potential clients.  I’ve often spent an hour or two advising people at start up stage for free.  Those who follow my advice often become customers in the future.  People generally come to me for help with Telemarketing but often walk away with a better route to market.  Call me – Stephen Law, Business Development Manager & Consultative Telemarketing Expert – 0870 042 1263 or email me Stephen@sl-freelance.co.uk .

Posted in Business Development | 1 Comment »

10/11/2010 by Stephen Law.

Many companies are facing a shrinking market-place and they are turning to me as a Business Development Consultant to overcome this dilemma.  Using two recent case studies let me explain what to do and what not to do…

Case Study 1 – “I’m too proud to change” – What not to do
For the past year, I’ve received calls from a number of people who own a franchise in the market sector for outsourced “Cost Reduction”.   Each one required a business development consultant to help them solve the dilemma of a shrinking market place.  Yet I had to turn away each and every one of these prospects because they forgot the golden proverb that – “Pride comes before a fall”.

 In 2008, when the western markets collapsed, the requirement for cost reduction was at its peak.  Just about every business across the UK from giant PLCs to the smallest SME were seeking to reduce costs wherever possible.

For the wily entrepreneurs in the cost reduction market, this was an opportunity to seize the moment and grab the big wins, along with a major share of the market.  For a short while, it was a boom market – but businesses across the UK have reacted sharply and the market is now shrinking rapidly for outsourced cost reduction.

Pride is a very dangerous character-facet in business.  Whilst I could not say that everyone in the cost reduction business has too much pride, everyone who called me so far is still trying to relive the boom period of 2-3 years ago.

So why are these people going wrong and why couldn’t I help them?  The problem is that these are highly intelligent people, but their pride is preventing them from taking advice from a Business Development Consultant.  Let me give an analogy - I’m now 40-something and I’m not as fit as I was in my 20s.  The truth is that as I get older, it will take more effort on my part to gain the same level of fitness that I enjoyed in my youth.  As long as I accept this simple truth and as long as I’m prepared to put in more effort – then hiring a sports coach would no doubt yield good results.  So do the expenditure reduction boffins realise that their market is getting older and less responsive?

The problem here is that these cost-reduction franchise owners are working on a false premise.  They are grasping at straws. In a bean-counter mentality they are attempting to bring back the “glory days” based on false metrics.  They argue that if x number of people make y number of telephone calls that this will lead to z number of appointments and sales.  Of course, in a shrinking market, historical metrics are irrelevant and the answer is to “work harder and work smarter”.

It is of no use to argue with a sports coach - that he should return you to a state of your youth at the age of 45, without a lot of hard work.  A good sports coach will know the fastest way to do this – but no one should expect miracles.  A good Business Development Consultant can help you to bring your sales back up to good levels in a shrinking market – but this can only be achieved if one starts by being honest about the input required.

Case Study 2 – If you seek an expert, don’t ignore their advice – how to do it right
A number of months ago I was approached by the Directors of an engineering company.  They were setting up a new division to approach the carbon-reduction market.  They knew full well that the market was reaching maturity, so they sought out an expert to make sure that they succeeded.  They asked me to be blunt but constructive in my criticism.  They asked me to formulate a plan that involved me helping to win new business as fast as possible.

With no pride getting in their way, they stated “we hired your services, so we would be fools to ignore your advice”.  Low and behold, within days the plan was put in to place and the first customer was found and a sale made.

This client has since gone on to review their entire direct marketing strategy including telemarketing, direct mail and email marketing.  I helped them by undertaking Consultative Telemarketing and the results have been rapid.  Listening, learning and acting took their direct mail from Zero responses to 2% in a matter of weeks.  Now we’re discussing how to move their mailers to gain up to 30% response-rates with the next plan.

The market for this company is shrinking.  Every day, more companies enter the market-place and more clients have already completed the carbon-reduction works.  Yet by fine-tuning their approach, they are still on-track to winning £millions in orders.  These chaps will go far.  They constantly innovate and they work “hard and smart”.  As a Business Development Consultant my advice has already reaped rewards and paid for itself within a few months.  As a hands-on Telemarketing Consultant, they have given me free-rein to use my skills to make sales-winning appointments.

Conclusions on The Dilemma of the Shrinking Market Place
The moral of the tale – don’t hanker for the glory days and don’t try to “direct” business development if it’s not your strong point.  If brain surgery is not your skill, would you seriously try to operate on someone’s brain?  Commerce is a serious business and if you get it wrong, your business may not survive. 

A Business Development Consultant is akin to a brain-surgeon for business.  Get your strategy and tactics right and you can win in almost any market place.  Listen to advice.  Go and mull over the advice and if it’s good – use it!  Every single national leader and captain of industry will be guided by experts.

As a freelance Business Development Consultant my costs are a fraction of hiring a full-time expert.  If you’re serious about winning in business, then why not contact me?  I can provide you with testimonials of astonishing success in Business Development – or testimonials demonstrating phenomenal growth via Consultative Telemarketing.  I look forward to hearing from you – Stephen Law 0870 042 1263 stephen@sl-freelance.co.uk .

Posted in Telemarketing Consultant, Business Development | No Comments »

14/06/2010 by Stephen Law.

Constant Cash Flow demands continuous sales – so sales lead generation is paramount to continuity and expansion for any business.   Telemarketing is still the number 1 for lead generation for all companies who offer a complex product/service to an intelligent buyer.  So why does telemarketing work for some people and not others?  What is the difference between Telemarketing per se and Business Development?

Firstly, here are the main criteria for helping you to decide how to use Telemarketing to find new business:

1)      Low Price + High Volume = use a Telemarketing Call Centre or Internal Staff

2)      High Price + Low Volume = use Business Development Telemarketing

3)      Low Price bulk orders + Low Volume = use Business Development Telemarketing

As a Business Development person, if you call me, the first thing I would do, would be to show you the best route to market – and that is not always telemarketing.  I have a reputation in the business as a straight-talking guy who will only help you if there is a reasonable to excellent chance that I can make you money.  Many Telemarketing Agencies or Call Centres will take your money, regardless of whether you are likely to gain a Return on Investment – that’s the first difference between Telemarketing per se and Business Development Telemarketing.

So are all Business Development people like me?  Well, I’m afraid not.  If I had a pound for everyone who has called me with a sob story about how their Telemarketing went badly, I would be a very rich man.  So before you decide to pay for a telemarketing campaign, consider points 1-3 above and ask yourself which form of telemarketing could work for you?

HOW TO SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

I specialise in offering high-end Consultative Telemarketing using a Business Development methodology.  If you sell a complex product/service to an intelligent buyer it’s my forte to find your buyers and put you in front of them.   So when trying to find someone to help you consider the following in making your decision:

a)      Without the best data, any lead generation will falter.  The best Business Development Telemarketing people will have this data at their fingertips at no extra charge to you.  It’s a relative no-brainer to find a Company Director who you want to sell to, but you will often want to sell to a particular title with roles in Operations, Facilities, IT, Telephony, Event Management, and so on.

b)      A good Business Development Director will cost you £50k +++ whilst a Junior Telemarketing person will cost you £9k+.  The key difference is real life experiences.  As an analogy, would you choose a formula one driver for your racing team or a youngster who has only driven cars on his Xbox?    For Telemarketing purposes, you probably only need a good Business Development person for 1 x day per week and as they are only performing the Lead Generation role, you will be paying a fraction of what a Business Development Director would cost you. 

c)       Beware of Over-Promising and Under-Delivering.  If it sounds too good to be true – then it is probably too good to be true.  You’ll always spot a true Business Development Telemarketing person by the way they ask lots of questions and work out the Return on Investment with you before you discuss a contract. 

d)      A low-level Telemarketing person will talk about call metrics.  A Business Development Telemarketing person will talk about real objectives.  A million calls made but zero appointments provide a useless ROI.  Meeting or exceeding this year’s sales targets is the real objective.

e)      Always buy what you hear when it comes to Telemarketing.  If the person who sells you the contract is not on the phone selling for you – ask yourself why?  It takes skill, determination, persistency and the right balance of charm and humour to win business.  Never make the mistake of meeting your Telemarketing person before they have sold to you on the telephone.  A good face2face closer does not make a good telephone closer.

f)       A Telemarketing person will leave you feeling like you are in control.  A Business Development Telemarketing person will leave you feeling confident in their abilities.

If you have a business and you’re not sure whether Telemarketing is for you, give me a call.  I turn away circa 50% of people who call me – but I leave them with other ideas that will make them more money.  You can contact me on stephen@sl-freelance.co.uk or call me on 0870 042 1263. 

Posted in Freelance Telemarketing, Lead Generation, Business Development, Telemarketing | 1 Comment »

04/05/2010 by Stephen Law.

As an SME, how do you use telemarketing targeting to make lots more sales?  Let me explain….

There are basically two main types of people used in telemarketing targeting– what the experts call the “Storm” team or the “Conscript” team.  Think of troops who join an army – one is a volunteer and the other is a conscript.  They’re both soldiers, but one wants to be there and the other has been drafted.  The outcome of battle – in this case, your marketing campaign, will vary greatly depending on which type of people you choose.

Recently, I started helping a client who knew their industry inside out and I was very impressed with their knowledge of how quality telemarketing could help them.  They’d tried different telemarketing approaches for many years and I can say that they were the first client in many years where I could definitely say they knew what they were talking about.  Generally speaking though, such people are rare and that’s where I help.

Each part of the targeting process may seem easy on first appearance.  I still giggle when I’m told “well you make so many calls and out the other end pop sales – that’s how it works isn’t it?”  OK, so most of my clients are not that naive – but most do not truly understand the full mechanics of how to create opportunities by telephone – or rather they understand much of the theory, but perhaps do not understand how to put it in to practice.  For example, I know how to swim, but I’m really not a good swimmer and I’ll never be entering for the Olympics.

Believe it or not, most campaigns are rarely as simple as they seem on paper.  If they were, then everyone would simply figure it out, make the calls and sales would pop out the other end.   In truth, there are many hurdles along the way to working out how to create sales opportunities.  The whole methodology can be split in to a set of processes, but what differentiates the expert from the novice is in the skill of the individual who uses the processes.  Let me explain…

The first process is to find the right data, then you shortlist this using filters such as geography, size of company you want to do business with, and so on.  The difference between the professional and the novice is in what one does with the data thereafter.  The novice telemarketing person makes the calls and logs the outcome.  The professional telemarketing person works on a continuous feedback loop.  Believe it or not, it’s often more important to know why someone said “No” than why someone said “Yes”.

Sometimes, my clients ask me to work out the strategy from day1.  More often, a client has spent hours and hours trying to work it out themselves first then they ask me to fulfil their plan.  The clever clients are those that get me to work it out for them.  Going back to my poor swimming abilities, if you asked me to figure out how to help the British swimming team win the Olympics then I’m a smart guy with an Honours degree, so could I do it?  Of course we both know our team would come last as I may be clever but I just don’t know what it takes to make people swim better.  But ask me how to make people interested in a buying a product or service, then I’m your man - with a 25 year track record of success.

The objective is always clear in telemarketing – to find as many people as possible who want to meet up to discuss buying my clients products/services.  To get this right is the tricky bit.  For example, I had one client whose offering sounded too good to be true.  The problem was how to portray the offering in a way that people could understand, so that they didn’t think I was pulling their leg.  Another client had an offering in a market saturated by competitors so the hard part was to find a way to talk to prospects who would even give anyone 20 seconds of their time.

The feedback loop of market intelligence is always the key.  One has to go over and over the “filters” as to why a customer might buy.  Is it because they live in a certain locality?  Is it because they work in a certain industry?  The novice telemarketing person can burn a big hole in a marketing budget and you may be left with no opportunities, no sales and no idea why everyone kept saying “No!”  So why is it that the “Storm” person keeps winning in such situations?

Whilst the “Conscript” telemarketer is counting the hours until he can go home, the “Storm” telemarketer is constantly trying to figure out how to find the right people and why they will buy.  They look for trends in what people are saying.  They constantly adapt their pitch to suit the buyer.  They constantly adapt emails and feedback as to whether the marketing collateral is working from – is the pdf brochure right?  Is the website giving the right message?  As an SME your greatest strength is to adapt rapidly.  Working with the “Storm” telemarketer, they will find you new opportunities and new ways to make people interested in your offering.

So the next person who tries to sell you “Conscript” telemarketing – think carefully before you act.  Will a conscript be looking at his watch, or looking for a gap in the enemy lines for you to make that big breakthrough?  The Art of Storm Telemarketing is to adapt, adapt and adapt again.   It is said that  “knowledge is power” – so if you really want a powerful campaign – choose your telemarketing people correctly.  A fool can dance around in circles and bring you nothing.  A Rainmaker will bring you some wins – but a Storm-Maker could completely change the way you do business.

Call Storming Stephen Law now on 0870 042 1263 – winning doesn’t have to cost you the Earth.

Posted in Freelance Telemarketing, Lead Generation, Business Development, Telemarketing | No Comments »

08/10/2009 by Stephen Law.

Let’s face it, unless you ‘win new business’, and keep ‘winning new business’, you won’t have a business.  It recently struck me how many ‘Marketing Strategists’ I know, who are able tell you ‘how to win business’ – but in truth, they come to me to ‘win new business’ for them.  So why aren’t they doing it themselves and why am I ‘winning more new business’ than those who are better qualified than me?

A couple of years ago Christmas was coming up fast.  I had only just started in earnest on SEO marketing of my services.   In the Sales Business (unless you’re selling Christmas trees) it’s the one time of year that I used to get a break.  My wife reminded me about taking an exam for a well-known marketing membership organisation.  I had planned the dissertation that I was going to write in my head, and I was all ready to start writing, when the telephone rang…..

….“I am just starting a business venture and I need help with a strategy and someone to put it in place for me” said the prospective customer.  Needless to say, that’s the way my Christmas break seems to go these days.  In other words, whilst my colleagues in Marketing Strategy with their membership qualifications and MBA’s are on holiday, I’m forever being asked to help on another project.  When you’re working flat-out on projects, it’s somewhat difficult to find the time to gain those extra letters after your name.  But in truth, would I rather be snowed under with work or have the extra letters after my name?

For me, ‘winning new business’ is a mixture of my own Specialist Lead Generation and Sales Process including Opportunity Creation, Consultative Telemarketing, Search Engine Marketing (SEO plus), Direct Mail and Email Marketing.  It’s funny really, because whilst my colleagues could probably explain these subjects better than me - they talk about ‘winning new business’ for a living but I actually undertake ‘winning new business’ for a living.  So what is the difference between talking about ‘winning new business’ and actually ‘winning new business’?

In short, if you read enough good books, you will in theory understand the process of ‘how to win new business’.  As most people know however, theory ends at the point where practice begins.  If you understand the theory of how to run a Telemarketing Campaign for example, then you know that it begins with determining the demographics of a potential buyer and ends with them signing an order.  Yet what the text books generally fail to explain in detail, regards the personal interaction involved in the process.  There’s an old saying that “People buy from People” – which sounds pretty obvious, but the saying really means “People buy from People that they can communicate with effectively and people they believe they can trust”.

Anyone can pick up a telephone and call someone from whom they wish to ‘win new business’; but few people can actually achieve the objective in a sensible time-frame and on a realistic budget.  Putting aside demographic targeting (the first important part of the process), if one simply called every potential customer on a targeted list – success would be unlikely.  Yet the text book will often tell you that if you make enough calls then you will ‘win new business’ simply by the Laws of Probability.  Again, this is where the theory of ‘how to win new business’ departs from the practice of ‘how to win new business’.  What is said (and more importantly) how it is said – will play a key role in ridiculously poor or amazingly good results.

I will try to give an example which makes a big difference when seeking to ‘win new business’ that is often discussed in Marketing Strategy, but the actual method is generally neglected.  A good marketing strategist will always tell you to “Listen First” as part of the selling process.  That’s all well and good, but if you picked up the telephone and just listened until someone said anything, most people would think you were barking mad! 

Of course, the Marketing Strategist would tell you to use the right pitch and use “open” and “closed” questions, which of course is correct - and to “Listen” to the answers.  But the one thing a Marketing Strategist will often not understand is “how does the other person know you are listening?”  Again, if you followed the text book advice – you would repeat back everything the customer tells you – but that makes you sound like an annoying 8 year old who copies everything you say.  So what is the answer? 

I’ll give you another example.  About 3 months ago, I was approached by a company led by two very intelligent chaps, both very passionate about their company.  The offering was highly complex and whilst growth was being achieved in the business, putting across the message to the right audience was proving difficult.  The company offers a piece of software that solves a major problem and is marketed at an affordable price.  I was hired to make calls to the right people and arrange meetings, but progress was slow.  I’ll explain why there was a problem and how this was overcome.

Sometimes, people forget that I provide Business Development and put me in the box of ‘The telemarketing guy’.  These chaps were wise enough to ask me, “If you could change anything to improve results – what would you do?”  I pointed out that they didn’t really sell software; they sold a ‘Consultative Methodology with a software tool”.  These chaps were even wiser, because they took my advice and suddenly the number of qualified appointments with buyers increased dramatically.

 As an external consultant, who had seen this type of mistake before (experience) I quickly spotted the problem.  So when you want to ‘win new business’, don’t always consult the text book (or someone who’s read it) – because experience will always give a better Return On Investment than theoretical advice.

The simple answer as to “how to win new business” – is to either short-cut your learning by asking for advice from an expert who does this day-in-day-out (such as me), or to simply outsource the project to someone who knows what they’re doing – call Stephen Law on 0870 042 1263 or email me at stephen@sl-freelance.co.uk.

Posted in Business Development, Telemarketing | No Comments »

13/09/2009 by Stephen Law.

People have been selling via telephone for over a century now - whilst over the last decade new routes to market including Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter has hit the headlines.  When selling a complex product or service, will these new forms of marketing really take the place of ‘selling by telephone’? 

If Marketing isn’t your forte, then it’s probably difficult to work out your best route to market. With so many options these days – do you open a shop? Do you write a website?  Do you attend webinars?  Do you join Linkedin?  The list just seems to go on and on and on.

So what is Social Media Marketing and how does it differ from classic Consultative Telemarketing?  The Dotcom boom of the late 1990s and early 21^st Century saw a massive change in the way that individuals and organisations communicated with one another.  This was via the rise of the website as a selling medium and more importantly the emergence of Google.  Google has been so successful that there are literally thousands of people aspiring to write the next big thing on the Internet and make their fortune.  The question here though is “Are people seeking to make your fortune or enticing you to make a fortune for them?”

A supposed ‘Twitter Expert’ recently engaged me in conversation.  He tried to win me over to this new medium in favour of Consultative Telemarketing.  After 15 minutes of smoke and mirrors he told me a story of how everyone was twittering about Stephen Fry stuck in a lift.  At the end of his monologue, I asked the question “Were people interested in finding out about Stephen Fry because they had never heard of his name before and wondered who he was?  Or were people twittering because they already knew his name?”  In other words, my Twitter Expert was struggling to tell me how Twitter could possibly increase awareness for a new product or moreover how on Earth it could increase sales? I have no doubt that if one paid Stephen Fry enough money to promote something that this would increase sales, but isn’t that Stephen Fry being paid to do the work rather than Twitter? Certainly Twitter is an exciting new medium – but does it make sales?

When you pick up the telephone and engage in a meaningful conversation with someone who may want your complex product or service, the process is very direct if you know what you are doing.  Similarly, anyone writing a website to be found on Google is providing a shop front on the web to sell their services.  If you understand the art of Search Engine Optimization then you can drive potential business to your door, albeit that most people will end up having a telephone conversation with you before they buy.  So for complex sales the website and the telephone work well together or you can use Consultative Telemarketing on its own to succeed.  But will Social Media Marketing bypass the website and telephone call as a means to a sale?

Reid Hoffman, founder and CEO of Linkedin was interviewed by Bloomberg last week.  He was asked about Linkedin and his connections with Facebook.  When asked about ‘The next big thing’ it was interesting to see how Mr Hoffman discussed Google as the benchmark for internet success.  More interesting from a sales perspective, was how Mr Hoffman bypassed the question as to why he didn’t see Twitter coming as a source of competition.  Even more interesting was how Mr Hoffman tried to steer clear of the conversation about making sales from Linkedin, Facebook or Twitter.

I think the key point here is that just about every global SEO expert places Google as the benchmark for Internet success or failure and even Hoffman’s Linkedin and Facebook sites still pale in to insignificance when compared with the success of Google.  From a sales perspective, if Google likes you, then you are likely to gain sales lead generation from the Internet. 

Google is so successful because it helps you find what you are looking for, and on the back of that it generates huge sums of money from advertising revenue.  But Google was a flash of inspiration, as to how to give people what they wanted and they made money as a by-product.  What many non-savvy marketing people haven’t realised is that the CEO’s of Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter are all highly envious of the sales Google are making - and they all want a slice of that pie.  But I do question whether they are really offering you a way to make sales rather than simply building their own bank balance?

Consultative Telemarketing helps you decide who to target, how to target, and finally engages in meaningful conversation with prospective buyers.  Google can lead prospects to your door, although for a complex sale, you’ll probably end up closing a deal via telephone.  Social Media Marketing in terms of Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter have more in common with the type of networking you would expect at a pub, restaurant or breakfast club – but will that really win more sales?

As a Business Development expert I’m always on the lookout for new ways to reach prospective customers.  Personally, I’ve never been a great fan of the breakfast club.  After an early start, you find yourself at a hotel eating breakfast, surrounded by an array of accountants, bank managers and solicitors all hunting for business.  But if you are selling a complex offering to a potentially niche market, the likelihood of you meeting a prospective customer is relatively small.  The organisation hosting the venue is making money on selling breakfasts and the organiser (probably a bank) is often making more sales – but are you making more sales?  So let’s take this analogy one stage further and ask the question – if you go to a giant breakfast club on the Internet – who is really making the bucks?

One of my clients said to me this week “Gosh the market is slow at the moment and I wish I could see more prospective customers, but my offering is very complex – should I do more Social Media Marketing?” My client has never picked up any work from a breakfast club.  He has picked up work from his own network of friends but he didn’t need Linkedin or Facebook to do that for him; he simply needed to pick up the telephone and call them.  There is an urban myth going around where everyone has heard of someone, who has made lots of sales by joining Linkedin. Yet when I ask everyone if they made a sale, the answer is always “No, but give it a few months and I bet I will”.  Strangely enough people have been telling me the same story for almost 5 years and I’ve won every bet!

I’m now in my mid-40s and I’ve been in Business Development, Sales and Marketing for about 25 years.  As a young man I tried all the supposed great new ideas in the 80s from MLM (Pyramid Selling) to joining the financial deregulation and selling pensions.  The one thing that all aggressive sales companies teach you straight away is to call all your family and friends.  Funnily enough, as crass as it sounds, it does work.  Facebook and Linkedin are really an extension of this idea and there’s nothing wrong with that – but do you honestly believe that putting your name somewhere on a website full of another 45 million names, that this is better than picking up the phone and calling people yourself?

At the end of the day, there is really no substitute for planning who you want to do business with, picking up the telephone, and calling them.  Facebook, Linkedin and the thousands of other directories out there are all useful sources of information.  One of the first rules of marketing is ‘differentiation’.  In marketing we talk about USP’s (Unique Selling Points or Propositions).  You have to ask yourself who you want to deal with and what you will offer them.  However cleverly Linkedin attempts to dress up the offering, do you really believe that you will manage to differentiate yourself from the other tens of millions of people in their directory?  If you seriously believe that your friends and family are going to be your customers – do you really believe they Facebook will get to them quicker than picking up the phone and calling them?

I’m not knocking Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter or whatever comes out next.  As a platform for discussion and building networks they’re great – that’s what they’re made for.  But when the CEO of Linkedin avoids talking about their value as a method of creating new business, then shouldn’t that help you to see that it’s not a platform for making sales?  If you want new business, then pick up the phone and call your prospects.  If you lack the skills – then hire someone to help you.  It may be old school – but Consultative Telemarketing is still the No.1 way to find and win new business.  If you need more help, call me on 0870 042 1263 or email me stephen@sl-freelance.co.uk.

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26/02/2009 by Stephen Law.

Is it best to spend your marketing budget on Telemarketing or Internet Marketing?  This is a question faced by many entrepreneurs and marketing managers.  I will explore the differences between the two routes to market and help you to make that decision.

Ten years ago, a lot of business people became very excited about the Internet.  The Internet was hailed as the new medium for promoting a business and so-called technical gurus were lining up, telling everyone it was the end of other forms of marketing such as Telemarketing and Direct Mail.  Shareholders became so excited, that we ended up with the dot.com (now often referred to as the dot.CON!) boom.  The problem was that people started believing “techie talk” instead of applying “marketing knowledge”.   From a techie’s perspective the Internet provided all the answers, but a true marketer understands terms like “market saturation”and the real gurus of marketing could see that this was just another route to market.

So why didn’t the Internet replace Telemarketing and all other forms of marketing?  The simple answer is that the Internet cannot directly replace certain human interactions and if everyone has a website then a website is no longer something special.  To give an analogy, the Audi TT was one of the most exciting cars of the same decade as the Internet boom.  But would buying a 10 year old Audi TT produce the same thrill in your neighbourhood, as buying one of the orginal models hot off the production line?  Of course it wouldn’t, because there is now a plethora of Audi TT’s and Audi TT look alikes out there.  Professional Telemarketing was bringing in new business 10 years ago and is bringing in new business today.  Yet a good website 10 years ago was a big fish in a small pond.  Today a good website is simply a tiny fish in a giant ocean full of thousands, maybe millions of similar fish!

I’m not suggesting for one moment that a website should not form part of your marketing strategy.  What I’m saying is that the thrill of having the only website selling a particular product or service has gone.  Gone are the days of being able to produce a good website and finding customers flocking to your door.  Yet Telemarketing has been around since the telephone was invented.  The key issue here is that Internet Marketing now requires all the skills and focus required to succeed; all the skills and focus that Telemarketing Professionals have been using for decades.  The problem with Internet Marketing is that no one truly understands what is going on, wheras Telemarketing is a tried and tested method of gaining new business.

I recently spoke to a CEO of a major Association in the UK.  We had a long conversation about Internet Marketing V Telemarketing.  He told me that over the last 12 months, he interviewed the top brains from a number of Internet Marketing agencies and university professors.  The most striking point was that none of them could agree, upon the best way to bring in new business via the Internet.  Some argued that links were the most important aspect.  Others stated that search engine optimisation was the key.  Yet in tests, none of these experts were able to improve his website performance and some even made it worse.  In comparison, the Association still managed to steadily increase business by simply picking up the telephone and talking to people.  So what is the difference between Internet Marketing and Telemarketing?

I still remember the first time I went to a website, where a person popped up on the screen and started talking to me.  It was fun, it was creative and it was exciting.  That was ten years ago, but now it’s just downright annoying!  I quickly close a browser that annoys me, along with millions of other Internet users.  The point here is that website designers are seeking personal interaction, but a video of someone talking is not interaction at all.  This reminds me of those appalling offshore call centres who pretend they have been trained in Telemarketing.  They are like robots asking the same questions and not listening to a word that you say - that’s not interaction.  True Telemarketing works because people interact with one another and have a conversation.  Telemarketing offers the ability to ask questions directly and ineract with the answers provided.  In comparison the Internet is cold and inhuman.  For many people, the Internet is about as stimulating as talking to a telephone system that asks you to dial 1 for Accounts, dial 2 for Human Resources, and on and on and on - until you are bored to sleep.

True Telemarketing is about researching who you want to do business with.  Then you build a database of prospective buyers.  You form a suitable pitch.  You call the prospects and interact with them,. You narrow down those with a need and those who do not have a need.  You ask pertinent questions.  You treat the potential buyer like a human being, throw in a little humour and charm, and you compare personal experiences.  It’s no surprise that appointments and sales pop out the other end of the system.  Show me an Internet site that can communicate in this way, and I’ll admit that the days of Telemarketing are over.  The techonology for Internet Marketing to interact in the same way as a human being simply isn’t there yet and is unlikely to be available for decades.

Internet Marketing should be an essential part of your marketing mix.  A good website is necessary as your shop window and as a means of advertising your offering.  Probably the most important aspect of a good website, is good content and easy navigation.  If your prospective customer is interested and can find their way around a site easily - then you are more likely to do business with them.  Just don’t be fooled in to thinking that a good website is all you need.  If a market leader is spending tens of thousands of pounds a year on Internet Marketing, why do you think your £10k website will be noticed?  The telephone is a universal leveller.  Hiring a Telemarketing Professional can put you on a level playing field with a multinational corporation.

Is Search Engine Optimisation important - yes!  Will pay-per-click help your marketing - yes!  All aspects of Internet Marketing, done correctly, should bring you the right results.  The problem is that those organisations with the greatest buying power are able to influence the Internet, in just the same way that other forms of advertising generally win with a bigger budget.  If you are the market leader and you have an enormous budget, then I’m not surprised that you are dominating the Internet.  If you are not the market leader, then don’t have a head-on battle with a whole regiment of giants - you’ll just get squashed!  Think smart and use a strategy that levels the playing field.  Professional Telemarketing can put you on that level playing field.

On a final note, let’s explore one darned good piece of logic, as to why Telemarketing is often more effective than Internet Marketing, when seeking new business.  Of all the calls I receive each week, 30% of interest in Professional Telemarketing comes from Internet Marketing companies.  I’m always happy to help a good Internet Marketing company with an interesting offering.  But it does tend to beg the question, if Internet Marketing is the best way to win new business, why are Internet Marketing companies asking for me to conduct Telemarketing for them?

If you are looking for new business - why not call me today on 0870 042 1263.

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24/08/2008 by Stephen Law.

I will explain how ‘Business Development Telemarketing’ differs from the service you might expect from a Call Centre. If you do not have a business development background, you are probably wondering what the difference is, so let me explain.

Business Development covers a very broad spectrum of techniques. The art of business is often compared to the art of war and the terms used - like ‘campaign’ or ‘guerrilla marketing’, etc display the similar theoretical approaches used. Whilst some people claim to be business development experts - I sometimes wonder if they really understand the term.

A true business development expert has a very rounded business career, spanning across the full areas of any enterprise and including - Administration, Finance, Legal, Marketing and Operational roles. Business Development takes an ‘eagle-eye ‘view’ of the business and is often akin to a CEO, MD, General Manager or Operations Director. The main difference is that the Business Development Director generally comes from a strong sales background.

In truth, the number of real Business Development experts (like yours truly) are small in number. Most so-called business development people have either very little knowledge of all the facets of running a business, or they are really sales people giving themselves a grand title.

So what do we mean by ‘Business Development Telemarketing’? Well, firstly and foremost this applies to someone who understands the pressures and responsibilities of a senior manager or business director - because they have held that role personally. Secondly, this applies to someone who has a broad business background of responsibilities. Thirdly, it applies to someone with great sales acumen. Finally, (and please don’t just assume that all sales people are good telemarketing people) that they are darned good at telemarketing.

When we talk about telemarketing, we are referring to the high-end of telemarketing, not one of those unfortunates stuck in an offshore call centre. High-end ‘business development telemarketing’ utilises the brain and many years of sales experience as opposed to reading some form of inane script from a computer screen. It utilises a ‘pitch’ rather than a ’script’ - a pitch is a ‘constructed answer’ depending on the conversation, whilst a ’script’ is always the same.

The unfortunate call centre person is often bugging Jo Public at inconvenient times to purchase something - calling an individual is known as Business2Consumer or B2C. Nine times out of ten, ‘Business Development Telemarketing’ is about businesses communicating with other businesses - Business2Business or B2B.

‘Business Development Telemarketing’ generally uses a style known as ‘Consultative Telemarketing‘. In simple terms, this means being able to communicate with intelligent and articulate people at their level. ‘Business Development Telemarketing’ allows your enterprise to reach senior managers and directors - via generating that all-important first meeting, gaining an invite to tender and building a business relationship.

Call Centres provide both ‘inbound’ and ‘outbound’ telemarketing, whilst ‘Business Development Telemarketing’ is all outbound work. ‘Inbound’ refers to someone sat waiting for a call, whilst ‘outbound’ refers to pro-actively hunting for new business. For someone to be sat in a call centre waiting for calls, to describe themselves as a telemarketing expert, is a bit like a 12-year-old kid telling you he’s a footballer the same as David Beckham. They both play football, but that’s about where the similarity ends. And it would seem, just like the 12 year old footballer, most people in the telemarketing industry haven’t got a clue what it means to be a ‘Business Development Telemarketing’ person.

‘Business Development Telemarketing’ is all about quality not quantity. Over the last week, I have been plagued by a lady from a call centre evidently bashing away through the numbers; though despite informing her I’m not the Decision Maker for what’s she’s selling I get the same old script every week.

Unfortunately, many of my clients are also confused by ‘Business Development Telemarketing’, at first believing that 1000s of companies need to be on a list to do business with. Fortunately, I’m generally blessed with intelligent customers and they can see that it is better to be meeting up with a handful of buyers who are serious about spending their budget, than creating some ridiculously long list of contacts that goes nowhere.

It is unlikely that you would ask the man at the fish and chip shop to represent you in court. He probably cooks a mean piece of battered cod, but I don’t think you’d feel confident of him talking to a judge or cross-examining any witnesses. Likewise, when you choose ‘Business Development Telemarketing’, you will be represented in a first-class professional manner rather than by a script-reading tele-monkey from a call centre.

So ‘Business Development Telemarketing’ is not about crunching the numbers - it’s all about a positive reflection of your organisation’s values. Focus is always the mark of ‘Business Development Telemarketing’, to provide you with consistently high-calibre results.

‘Business Development Telemarketing’ begins with an in-depth brief and agreement on strategy, tactics and marketing collateral. Based on the agreed approach, a campaign begins - but here’s another key difference between ‘Business Development Telemarketing’ and a Call Centre approach. Once up and running, a call centre has written a script for people to follow (for which you were probably charged an arm and a leg). In ‘Business Development Telemarketing’, feedback and analysis are ongoing. Whilst one would be likely to begin with an excellent pitch, this is then adapted as the campaign progresses to reach maximum efficiency.

So if you require to new business, and your prospective customers are senior management or directors - choose ‘Business Development Telemarketing’ as your weapon of choice. Contact SL-Freelance - for the best ‘Business Development Telemarketing’.

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