They say all good things must come to an end, but fortunately, in the world of B2B lead generation collaborations, “the end” doesn’t have to be permanent.
Over our 22 years, VSA has had plenty of clients who have relied on our lead gen, appointment-setting, and other call center services for multiple B2B sales and marketing campaigns. There are several reasons a client might choose to halt their partnership with us, only to resume months or even years later. For example:
- Their offering is cyclical, requiring them to outsource their lead generation needs only a certain time of year
- They have expanded or altered their list of potential prospects, targeting previously untouched industries or geographical regions
- They have a new or upgraded offering to market or sell
Regardless of the reason a client leaves and returns, they wouldn’t come back if they weren’t pleased with the initial partnership. It’s a testament to the perseverance, dedication, and hard work of the Program Manager assigned to their campaign, the Business Development Representatives who call on their behalf, and the VSA team as a whole. We are committed to building truly collaborative relationships, and few things make us prouder than earning a client’s repeat business.
One such client, a technology provider targeting a niche industry, has partnered with us multiple times over the past decade, most recently hiring us to schedule in-person or virtual demos with attendees at an annual conference.
The campaign has been extremely productive from the start, with more than 100 demos scheduled during the first three weeks of calling—a higher success rate than last year at this time.
Here are five of the reasons our latest campaign for this client has been so successful and why they keep coming back:
1. List enrichment
The client provided us with the names of more than a thousand prospects but did not have direct phone numbers for them. We used our vast list-building resources to obtain this information, creating a much “smarter” prospect list.
In instances where we couldn’t acquire the numbers through our usual sources, two of the BDRs working on the program were tasked with researching the contact information on their own. It was truly an all-hands-on-deck effort: the Program Manager, BDRs, List-Building team, and Tech team were all involved in the enrichment process.
2. Flexible scheduling
Because this program required reaching out to so many prospects in a relatively short period of time, we needed to account for far more weekly calling hours than a typical lead generation program. The calling window was relatively brief—we had to reach out to every prospect before the conference, but we didn’t want to call too far in advance, because that increases the chances of dropped appointments.
Our Scheduling department rose to the challenge, assembling a large team of BDRs and accommodating all the required calling hours within the necessary timeframe without missing a beat on any of our other client programs.
3. Follow-ups and referrals
No matter how strong the list, you’re never going to reach all your intended prospects on the first attempt. Nor will every prospect you target be the correct decision-maker (for example, they no longer work at the company you’re calling). So it’s imperative to allow sufficient time for follow-up calls. This was especially true for this campaign, which relied exclusively on phone calls to reach prospects (as opposed to also incorporating emails and text messages).
VSA’s persistence on the phone paid off, as most of the demos were scheduled during follow-up calls. Leaving voicemails or messages with gatekeepers helped create brand awareness, so when our BDRs circled back, the prospects had an idea what they were calling about and were more likely to engage.
4. Close collaboration with the client
VSA strives to develop a close rapport with all our clients. Admittedly, that’s easier with a repeat client, since we’ve already worked together. That was certainly the case on this program. Our experience working with them in the past and familiarity with their services allowed us to streamline the onboarding process, even with the list-building and scheduling challenges.
Once the program got underway, we collaborated closely with the client to keep things on track, providing daily reports and immediately addressing potential issues—most notably the “problem” of scheduling too many demos and running out of space on the client’s calendar. While that’s certainly a nice dilemma to have, it still required us working in tandem with the client to find a solution.
5. Brand knowledge
One of VSA’s mottos is: “We don’t just assist your inside sales team. We become your team.” That doesn’t necessarily mean becoming experts in our clients’ offerings, but it does mean learning enough to represent the client confidently and professionally and give the prosect no indication that they’re talking to a third party.
Because we were already familiar with this client, the learning curve was relatively short. Still, that didn’t stop the client from meeting directly with the BDR team and thoroughly explaining the product they would be calling about. When the meeting was over, we had little doubt we could successfully sell the benefits of scheduling a demo. It was another example of close collaboration paying great benefits.
*****
VSA never likes to see our client partnerships end, but as we’ve learned over the last two-plus decades, “goodbyes” are not always permanent. We take great pride in having a client return, and we work extremely hard to make sure their confidence in us gets rewarded.
If you’ve worked with VSA in the past—or are looking to outsource your lead generation needs for the first time—let’s connect. We’re always excited to find new ways to help companies grow their business and fill their sales pipeline.