Telemarketing is traditionally seen as a cheap, competitive and quick method of lead generation and sales; often involving a list of contacts and a prewritten script, combined with a hit and miss approach. Success is often down to luck. There are clear issues with this method- little to no research is put into the process, meaning the prospect is not in the centre of the conversation; consequently, telemarketers are often approaching individuals with products that are of no interest to them. As we head into 2018, moving away from this dated approach is crucial.
Account Based Approach
Moving forward, it is important for sales and marketing to align as one; at Operatix, we work to an account based approach. Engaging is key, and identifying and speaking with the relevant people is a way of working towards success. By researching the prospect you wish to approach, you already have improved knowledge, which you can then use to tailor your communications. It also means you can adapt based on the type of organisation you are hoping to sell to. For instance, if a business is small, a one to many approach may be taken – this means that there may be more people within the marketing and sales team actually working on that specific account; whereas in comparison, a large enterprise benefits from the one to one approach.
This also allows you to take into account external factors, which are important factors in the sales process, for instance, GDPR. The concept of data privacy may have an increased prominence for large accounts; it is these businesses who may be the most aware of the impending regulations, and who may be facing the biggest challenges with it themselves. By understanding the business you are approaching, it becomes easier to evaluate a variety of these – and other relevant – factors.
Here at Operatix, we believe in account based everything; we bridge the gap between marketing and sales and they work successfully in unison.
New Technologies
New technologies are also an option in the journey away from telemarketing. Although not fully ready for the market yet, operative selling and machine learning could prove beneficial; they can help ultimately lead to a more refined, tailored approach, and bring discipline to the process. New technologies should, however, not be leading the sales or marketing approach, and instead be facilitating, to take some of the burden off teams, thus increasing their productivity.
It is becoming increasingly important to move away from traditional telemarketing. The shape and form of B2B marketing and sales is changing. Marketers now face an uphill battle in their day to day roles to ensure they do not put themselves at risk or find themselves not complying with important privacy regulations. By moving away from telemarketing and following a more account-based approach, perhaps with new technologies integrated into it, marketers will be able to ensure they are familiar with each prospect, thus approaching them with relevant materials and information.
Keen to understand how we support IT Software Companies to accelerate pipeline and revenue through our account based approach? Get in touch with our Sales Team here.
