by Mark Silet
20. March 2012 07:24
How are you paying for your inbound call center services? We talk to a lot of prospects at trade shows that are frequently surprised by how flexible we can be with pricing our service. Most prospects seem to think that they are required to pay a per-minute charge in order to use a U.S. based inbound call center provider. We can bill clients a straight per minute rate that is competitive with any U.S. based call center, but we are also willing to work on a performance model. We have many clients that pay us based on a lead generated, sales closed or a call transferred. If a metric can be measured, we can charge based on only those actions. We do ask for a modest setup fee that includes campaign setup, agent training, and a set number of inbound call minutes in order to gather a baseline of performance metrics. Once the initial number of minutes has been reached, we can agree on a price per sale, per lead, per call transfer or any per other desired action a client sees as a success in their marketing program. Do not assume that you need to pay stateside call center a straight per minute rate. If you are looking to work with an inbound call center that is comfortable in their ability to deliver results, give us a call and see how we can help you meet your marketing goals.
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 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 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.
by Mark Silet
6. October 2011 06:24
Most of us think of pay for performance marketing and we instantly think of the Internet. We think of using pay per click (PPC) or pay per view (PPV) ads to drive traffic to our landing pages to come up with cost per lead (CPL) or cost per acquisition (CPA) marketing model. We just returned from the DMA 2011 show in Boston, MA and pay for performance lead generation exists in as many off-line media channels as it does online.
There were multiple vendors that can drive telephone calls via radio ads on a cost per inquiry (pay per call) model in a wide variety of verticals. Just to name a few verticals that are seeing success using this model - one vendor we spoke with about cost per inquiry radio is driving calls to do education market lead generation, home service lead generation, and senior lead generation. Believe it or not we had discussions with vendors about driving calls from the phone book on a pay per inquiry (pay per call) model. A handful of the affiliate networks have integrated with a technology provider named Ring Revenue to allow online affiliates to drive calls to vendors and get paid for each call transfer. Typically the caller needs to remain on the line for a certain amount of time to get paid.
A significant number of people we spoke with at the show were surprised to find out that we can drive leads out of our call center on a performance basis. We can generate leads on a cost per lead basis or call transfers on a cost per transfer basis doing education market lead generation, home services lead generation or senior lead generation. We also answer calls, close sales, and place outbound calls on behalf of some of our clients on a pay for performance basis.
I just finished reading an article from a purely online vendor who just started testing print ads in targeted magazines and is sharing preliminary testing results with their online affiliates. To be honest, they seem surprised that they are generating a profit... Too many companies have proclaimed the offline world as a thing of the past and are missing some of the more innovative approaches that off-line companies have been taking to driving leads and sales. Depending on your marketing vertical you may only be reaching a small sliver of your market by taking an online only approach to your marketing program.
by Mark Silet
15. September 2011 08:59
I am going to start this post by giving credit for these reminders to Seth Godin’s book Permission Marketing and an email from Dan Kennedy. A case study in Godin’s book walks the reader through the sales and marketing funnel of a summer camp (there were 3 or 4 step in the process) reminding the reader of the essentials of pitching the benefits of the call to action – not the end sale. The basic take-away is the all too familiar failure to sell the next step and try to sell the end product or service in a single step. An email came out from Dan Kennedy this past week highlighting this exact point with an advertisement for a fishing boat. The boat advertisement did a great job selling the boat, but not so great a job of getting the consumer to request an informational DVD – the next step in the sales and marketing funnel.
As lead generators we want to make sure the consumer knows all the benefits of owning the end product, but oftentimes at the expense of the benefits of the next step. Without selling the next step in the process, the consumer will never get to the point of purchasing the product or service. This is especially true in any larger expense item that requires several sales steps – you need to sell the next step in the process in addition to the end product. If you want a consumer to request a free brochure or DVD about your fantastic tropical travel destination, then you need to be selling why the consumer needs to request the free brochure or DVD – not just your fantastic travel destination. Sell all the great information that is in the brochure or in the DVD. Let the DVD and brochure take care of selling the step after that - keep things simple and pitch the benefits of your call to action.
by Mark Silet
1. September 2011 06:50
Telemarketing lead generation is accomplished in a similar manner to using online forms. Instead of driving a consumer to answer demographic and qualifying questions on an online form, the call center agents asks the questions and consumer verbally answered. The number one problem with leads generated online is the contactability of the leads – how many of the phone numbers are accurate? Not just working phone numbers, but phone numbers that will connect you to the proper party? One of the main benefits of telemarketing lead generation is the contactability of the end leads. The phone numbers on call center leads are proven to be both a viable number and the correct phone number for the contact. Leads generated via telemarketing should be digitally recorded to verify consumer have given consent to a return call from the client on whose behalf the leads are being generated.
These leads can be generated from call centers placing cold calls to consumers, follow-ups from internet requests for further information, or from inbound calls driven into a call center. Lead generation performed using telemarketing will typically provide much lower acquisition costs for leads than traditional marketing channels and both contact information and any qualifying questions have been not only given by the consumer, but also verified and digitally recorded. The ways in which to place or receive the calls are many, but the benefits are clear: digital recordings of the activity and leads with better contactability than online lead vendors are capable of providing
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