Marketers know there has been a dramatic shift in how technology buyers educate themselves about new solutions. Once very dependent on sales professionals for the majority of the education process, buyers are now using search techniques, email, blogs, videos, webinars, and social media for this process.

Many technology marketers responded to this changing environment by focusing on marketing automation as an inexpensive marketing tool. In combination with marketing automation and other multi-media strategies, teleprospecting plays a key role and directly impacts marketing performance.

Prospect Qualification

Using teleprospecting allows the marketer to assess the digital behavior that triggered the call and potentially determine precisely where the prospect is in the sales cycle. At the same time, information collected during the call will allow the marketer to improve the accuracy of the lead score and find out what topics, concerns, and pains the prospect responds to.

Using teleprospecting for prospect qualification also mitigates one of the major disconnects between marketing and sales. Often the sales teams are flooded with “leads” that they find less than ideal. Teleprospecting provides deeper qualification of leads before they are delivered to sales diffusing the potential disconnect between sales and marketing.

Relationship Development

People buy from people, not from marketing automation systems. In building awareness, trust, respect, and brand recognition with your prospects, live conversations are the starting point. The telephone call provides a two-way dialogue and interactive exchange with the prospect.

This primary building block leads to one-on-one email communications, web meetings, face-to-face appointments, and, ultimately, the sale. All prospect communications must provide something of value, show thought leadership, and be relevant to their needs by vertical, industry, or solution. Calls must be relevant and respectful of the prospects’ time.

Collection Of Business Intelligence

Information garnered through outbound calling and internet research will enhance your messaging, content development, and touch calendar, guiding your lead nurturing strategies. The type of BI collected will vary by industry, the solution, and the target contact. Through outbound calling, marketers learn about competitive solutions in place, relevant contract expiration dates, the current IT environment, and future plans, as well as the identification and validation of decision-makers and influencers of the buying process.

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