by Mary Shanley
1. February 2012 06:17
We receive phone calls every day from prospective clients who are interested in our Inbound Call Center Services. Most of the time they are running DRTV, Radio or some type of online marketing that uses an 800 Number for the call to action.
The first question I am usually asked is, "What kind of conversion rates will you be able to generate with my traffic?" Though we have 28 years of experience taking inbound lead generation and sales calls from 800 Numbers I can't of course give a 100% answer. I can and do work with some tried and true estimates.
The better the quality of the DRTV or radio ads with clear offers and good terms the higher the conversions will be at the Inbound Call Center level. We see lead generation offers that convert as high as 70% providing complete quality data for our clients. On the sales side the lower the price of the product and the simpler the offer, the higher the conversion rates will be at the Inbound Call Center level.
Keep in mind that everyone expects some type of free trial or money back offer. If you are asking the consumer to move into a continuity then you will need to do a very aggressive low cost on the first month. We have converted consumers into a continutiy at rates of 10% to almost 50%. Again the higher converting programs are typically in the $20 per month cost with the lower converting at monthly charges of as much as a $100.
Bottom line customer satisfaction and back end strength rely on providing clear sales terms from the beginning of the process through the Inbound Call Center contact to the customer service handling of returns and exchanges. Everyone understands businesses are in business to make money but the most successful, long term companies communicate clearly to their prospects and customers. Your Inbound Call Center Service partner will be most successful when we start with good offer terms and quality product.
My next blog will focus on building great sales presentations and tweaking processes to improve conversion rates.
by Bob Aloisio
14. December 2011 07:11
All companies need to generate leads for their business. Naturally more leads typically turn into more sales, more revenues, more profits, more more more - I think you get the idea.
There are a variety of ways to generate leads...
Just flip on the television and chances are within a few seconds you'll see a commercial promoting the best and newest drug or a spot promoting the lowest insurance prices both with toll free numbers to call for information. Or, go to a web site and in order to surf that site you must register to have full access to every page. Even people handing out free samples at your local grocery store are in essence generating a leads for the products they're promoting.
The lead generation method decided on must fit into your marketing budget and draw the type of customer you're looking to attract. Not everyone can afford to run spots at half time of the Super Bowl. Having the neighborhood kids going door to door stuffing flyers into mailboxes isn't always the best way to go either if your promoting your psychiatric practice - but it will work for the local pizza delivery or dry cleaners.
Do your homework. Calculate how much you can afford to spend and then do the research into the various lead generating venues out there. Look at your customer base and figure out what the best ways are to attract as many qualified leads as you can while staying within your budget.
Good Luck and Continued Success in All of Your Marketing Ventures!
by Mark Silet
8. December 2011 10:40
Are you using the right qualifiers in your lead generation efforts? The questions you use to qualify your prospects will not only determine the take rate of your offer, but also the quality of the individual being passed on to the lead buyer and the ability to meet the needs of the prospect. Thus begins the balancing act between quality and quantity.
Lead buyers need to meet customer acquisition costs or they will stop buying leads, while lead generators need to meet effective ECPMs or other metrics to ensure a profitable campaign. One additional qualifying question might be the difference in the lead buyer ordering twice as many leads or stopping the campaign. One fewer qualifying question may be the difference between a profitable or money losing lead generation campaign for the lead generator.
If the lead buyer is unable to sell to people who are currently under contract for a competing product, then a qualifying question should be added to the lead generation process to filter out unqualified prospects. At the same time, the lead buyer shouldn’t be qualifying prospects using qualifying questions that aren’t required by the lead buyer.
Review the qualifying questions required by the lead buyer to make sure their needs are aligned with the lead generation effort. If a lead buyer can only close sales for individuals that own their own home – how is that criteria being determined? Is self-reported information from the consumer sufficient or is the lead seller matching consumer information against a homeowner database that may not align with what is self-reported to the lead generator? Is a self-reported credit score range adequate or is there a need to ask permission to pull a credit report? Make sure both lead sellers and buyers know how qualifying criteria will be judged and that they are using the same criteria.
Generating quality lead generation prospects needs to be a balanced effort to meet the needs of the prospect, the lead generator, and the lead buyer.
by Mark Silet
29. November 2011 07:39
It has long been said that the key to making money in lead generation is traffic + conversions. So why do so many of us simply look to increase our traffic? You are outlaying x number of dollars to gain traffic to your offer, but by maximizing your conversions you can increase your ROI instead of simply increasing your traffic spend.
Are you split testing every element of the offer from your heading to your benefit statements?
Are you customizing your messaging to align with the customers needs? If a consumer is clicking on an advertisement for PHP webhosting – don’t send them to a generic landing page and then make the dig through you site to find what the PHP webhosting section of your site – send them to the PHP webhosting section of your site.
Are you prioritizing and/or routing your leads based on skills or lead scoring to ensure the proper person is talking to the proper lead?
Oftentimes we send all customers through the same experience because it is easier for us. Optimizing conversions means customizing the experience to best meet the consumer’s needs and making the experience easy for them.
If you haven’t spent any significant time testing to improve your conversions you are going to be surprised by your findings. It is not difficult to see increases of 10-30% in conversion rates by making small changes – oftentimes not the changes you would have expected.
Keep testing and make sure you track everything you test do you can start maximizing you conversions and increase your number of leads without increasing your spend on traffic.
by Mark Silet
14. November 2011 12:15
Systems are about putting together individual repeatable steps that when pulled together form a system that works to solve a problem. Lead generation systems are about building systems that satisfy the needs of both the consumer and seller in a particular market and then replicating the system to serve other markets.
Build systems that satisfy consumers by simplifying searches for services or by saving them time. If your lead generation system doesn’t help the consumer compare and contrast vendors or save them time - then they consumer is better off contacting a multitude of vendors on their own. You can save the consumer time by having them supply contact and qualifying information once and then giving them the ability to submit that information to any number of vendors they choose. You can simplify their search for vendors or services by using a recommendation or comparing process that holds some measure of value to the consumer. If you are generating leads in the education market then you can help consumers by identifying those schools that offer the particular degree being searched for by the consumer. You can supply the office hours and rates of a series of local vendors or compare a series of different attributes between vendors in order to simplify the process for the consumer. Consumer reviews and recommendations are another angle to supplying consumers with information to help them make informed decisions and generating leads for suppliers of those services.
Ask what qualifying questions will best help the consumer find a vendor that can help them solve their problem. If a consumer is going to need a good credit rating in order to best be served by certain vendors then make sure you system asks for some measure of credit rating in order to best match the consumer with vendors. You can inquire whether the consumer has a credit card or checking account in order to assess a basic level of creditworthiness. By understanding the qualification and selling process of the vendor, you can work to find the proper balance between the having the right number of qualifying questions to match the consumer with the right vendors and having enough vendors to give the consumer a choice.
by Mary Shanley
10. November 2011 08:00
WHY YOU MUST ADVERTISE NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO
“You can’t advertise today and quit tomorrow. You’re not talking to a mass meeting. You’re talking to a parade.”
—Bruce Barton, 1930
Bruce Barton was a famous Advertising executive and the 2nd B in BBDO. He died in 1967 after a long career as one of the most successful advertising experts in the early 20th century. I came accross his quote many years ago and found this very simple message one of the most important marketing and advertising rules of all time.
Take out advertising and replace it with generating leads and the rule still applies. You are not marketing to a mass meeting. You are marketing to a parade. People come and go in your neighborhood, region and vertical. People die and people are born. Your advertising, marketing and lead generation efforts must be an ongoing effort, or the parade will pass you and your company right by.
by Mark Silet
4. November 2011 05:29
What is a call verified lead? A call verified lead is a lead in which the consumer has provided some or all of their information online in response to an offer and then confirmed and/or expanded answers to qualifying questions over the phone during a verification call. The strength of these types of leads can be two-fold. First off, the phone numbers on these leads have been verified not only to connect to a household, but also to the proper name on the lead. You can run all of your online leads against the myriad of data verification companies out there, but none of these are as accurate as picking up the phone and calling to verify the information and the intent of the consumer. Secondly, these leads are essentially double opt-ins. The consumer provided at least their contact information in response to an offer online and then verified that information along with their interest in the same offer over the phone. The number of qualifying questions answered online or over the phone can vary depending on the offer and the price points of the lead.
The call verification process screens out a significant number of leads either due to bad contact information or for lack of interest in the offer – both of which are in the best interest of the lead buyer. This process leads to the lead buyer spending less on leads and spending less paying for follow-up on the leads. Call verified leads can typically add a cost-effective additional lead source to your sales funnel. In addition to providing cost-effective, highly contactable leads, the phone conversation for call verified leads are typically digitally recorded in case any additional questions arise or a lead buyer simply wants to audit the conversations taking place with the consumer.
by Bob Aloisio
27. October 2011 06:59
Today I would like to examine a question that many lead generators, lead buyers and marketers are asking themselves:
How many times should a lead be sold, what’s too many?
If you poll 100 people in the lead generating industries you’ll get a variety of answers with no clear cut answers. Most of the lead generators look at it from a revenue generating stand point. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to calculate out that if they can sell the same lead multiple times at the same rate they can triple and even quadruple their incoming revenues with no additional effort or spend on their side. So with this thinking, generators want to get the most bang for their generating efforts and sell that lead again and again and again.
But how does this impact the lead buyer? The lead buyer knows that they have a much better chance of selling their products / services to an exclusive lead. However, exclusive leads are more expensive than a shared lead and can be as much as 2-3 times the price of a shared lead. If you can afford exclusive leads go for it. These leads should perform much better than a lead being shared between you and 2, 3 or 4 of your competitors.
Here’s an important tip – If you buy shared leads you need to set up what’s ever necessary to get that lead from the lead generator near to real time as possible and follow up as soon as you get it. Believe me your competition is doing this exact thing!
Here’s another important tip - If you buy exclusive leads you need to set up what’s ever necessary to get that lead from the lead generator near to real time as possible and follow up as soon as you get it. Believe me your competition is doing this exact thing!
So what’s the correct answer? I don’t know and I don’t think anyone else really does either. Poll enough people in the industry and you’ll get multiple answers. Shared leads may work with ABC Widgets while only exclusive leads work for Acme Widgets. Don’t automatically accept the theory that paying twice as much for an exclusive lead won’t work simply because of the cost increase. That exclusive lead, while costing you more money initially, may increase your sales conversion substantially.
Test exclusive and shared leads and see what’s most cost effective, fits your budget and works best for you.
by Mark Silet
21. October 2011 07:00
One outbound telemarketing strategy that I have seen tested many times over the years is whether to use a one call or two call close for telemarketing sales. Let’s define the difference between a one call close and a two call close. A one call close is a telemarketing strategy in which a single group of telemarketing agents will both qualify a prospect and close the sale. A two call close is typically set-up with a group of agents that qualify raw data or generate leads for a second group of sales agents that will call on these leads to close the sale.
I have seen this strategy work extremely well when the agent that is qualifying leads has the ability to transfer calls directly into the second group once a prospect has been qualified. This of course begs the question – if I can transfer the call and get the lead to stay on the phone – why not always go with a one call close. Typically this comes down to the price point of the sale and the comfort level of the consumer with the company selling the product or service. You will need a two call close for higher price point sales or for lesser known companies - a consumer may not have not had enough time or contact to establish a comfort level with your brand. If you are generating inbound calls – you may be able to send the consumer direct to your sales group as the consumer had enough of a comfort level with your marketing message to initiate the call to your company.
An outbound telemarketing rep that can qualify prospects is more than able to close a $30 or $40 sale, but this is not typically the same agent you want trying to close a loan or a several hundred dollar product.
I have seen online lead gen forms that ask a couple of qualifying questions act as the 1st call of the 2 call close in which case you can typically have a sales person make these follow-up calls.
Depending on the amount of branding you have done and based on the price point of the sale you are working with you are likely to find a 2 step process will yield better results in the end. You need to test and re-test your own process, but you can find efficiencies in keeping your lead generation distinct from your sales.
by Mark Silet
13. October 2011 10:48
Best practices dictate the need to vary your lead generation methods. Of course you could base your entire strategy on repeatedly posting classified ads with phone numbers into various cities on Craigslist, Backpage, or Oodle using a proxy server to attempt to mask your ip address, hope your ads don’t get shutdown, and then wait for the phone to ring. Or you could decide to only buy secondhand data from online form fills, pray that the vendor who told you all these records were scrubbed against the appropriate do not call (DNC) lists was right and then you call people back (let’s hope your vendor knows about the various state DNC lists and the wireless list and scrubbed those too - not to mention that your company needs to purchase a SAN number to do this.)
Of all the lead generation methods I have seen, some clearly seem like better ideas than others. Most importantly - make sure you have a wide variety of lead generation methods in play at any given time – especially if you are relying on any of the aforementioned methods. If you are relying solely on PPC from Google to drive traffic to your lead generation forms and tomorrow Google decides they don’t like the consumer experience of your site – your lead flow stops. If you are solely relying on one vendor to deliver telemarketing leads and they get a higher offer for those leads – your lead flow stops.
The principle of not having all of your eggs in one basket is far from new, but it seems that more and more people keep forgetting to diversify their lead generation methods. I know several individuals whose businesses have been significantly impacted by a Google slap or their main lead vendor getting a higher payout. Work with long standing reputable U.S. call centers that can deliver call verified leads or call transfers. Work with reputable online agencies to deliver online lead form fills. Work with lesser known vendors to deliver multiple PPC sources to drive traffic to your online forms like 7search, Ezanga, or Looksmart. Test contextual traffic from Trafficvance or Affinity. Test driving inbound calls by working with a company like Sales Portal. You simply can’t stop testing various methods of lead generation if you want to continue to maintain a well diversified flow of lead sources.
Subscribe