B2B telemarketing is extremely important for businesses for several reasons, right from finding suitable clients for their products to building mutually beneficial relationships with other companies. However, this term is often confused with telemarketing, and while the two may seem similar, there are certain differences. But first, let’s look at what it is.
What exactly is B2B Telemarketing?
When a business calls another business to market or sell its products or services and establish a rapport, they are essentially engaging in B2B telemarketing. Through these calls, companies reach out to potential business customers (as opposed to consumers) to communicate the value of their product or service, receive feedback, and decide on the next steps to establish a relationship. What differentiates B2B telemarketing from B2C telemarketing is that in B2B, there is an emphasis on relationships due to a smaller audience size, whereas in B2C, the process is product-driven.
B2B Telemarketing can be outbound, where a business contacts another company to target prospects and give them solutions for their pain points, or inbound, where it handles incoming calls from contacts as a result of say, their email campaigns.
Since it’s a cost-effective method of interaction, businesses use this form of telemarketing for several purposes such as:
- Lead generation: By contacting other businesses, you can identify potential customers who are a good fit for your product or service
- Prospect Qualification: By reaching out to people who interacted with your business (by downloading an ebook, etc), you can define which customers are interested in your services
- Brand Awareness: Especially if you’re targeting a new niche or audience base, you can make them aware of the solutions you provide
- Market Research: You can find out what other businesses need and how your product can fit in with their requirements
- Partnerships: By interacting with similar-minded organizations, your business can work together to achieve a common goal (for instance, you can co-host an event which will help land you more customers).
Here, calls are directly made to decision makers who represent their corporations so that lead qualification happens faster and a quick assessment of compatibility is made.
Types of B2B Telemarketing Campaigns
Depending upon your goals, your B2B telemarketing campaign will vary:
Outbound lead generation
Here, your telemarketers would call up business prospects based on a predefined contact list. They directly speak with the decision maker, trying to generate interest in their business, and how their services fit in with the prospect’s goals. Based on a set of pre-qualifying questions, the salesperson assesses prospect requirements. If they are a sales qualified prospect, a follow-up is immediately scheduled so that the lead can be nurtured for future business.
Inbound Support
Here, you’re interacting with business prospects who call you to enquire about the product or service. A dedicated inbound sales team is assigned to handle these calls and answer queries and other information prospects may require. Qualification is done based on these calls, with your team scheduling follow-ups with the most qualified leads. Regardless of the level of qualification, follow-up material is sent to callers via email or text to remind contacts of your value.
Outbound Support
In this type of B2B telemarketing campaign, you’re calling your prospects to boost other campaigns. For instance, if you’re hosting a webinar or an offline event, you would call them beforehand to increase the number of people who attend. You would also send them an invitation so that they are aware of all the details.
B2B telemarketing generally has a long sales cycle due to the nurturing that leads have to go through before becoming your clients, but the results are definitely worth it. Hopefully, this article has provided you with a good idea of what B2B telemarketing is and how your business can benefit from it.
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Feature image source: René Ranisch/Unsplash
