For the owner and operator of a local fundraising franchise, cold calling into schools is a necessary part of the job. The Midwestern-based territory manager relies on scheduling in-person appointments with coaches and other school organization directors to generate new leads.
Unfortunately, with all the other responsibilities his position entails, he doesn’t have the time to work the phones the way he would like.
So this spring, the owner decided to utilize VSA’s lead generation and appointment-setting services for a third time. The first campaign was not particularly fruitful, but the knowledge gained during the program (the best times to call, the best decision-makers to target) led to far more successful results last fall, with 11 appointments scheduled over a brief stretch of calling.
The owner was banking on similar results this spring, even though the VSA team again faced a limited window in which to reach decision-makers due to school calendars and the timing of the campaign.
Despite these obstacles, VSA easily exceeded expectations, scheduling double the number of appointments the owner needed to meet his sales goals.
Earlier this month, we spoke to the owner about the campaign and his experiences working with VSA.
Q: Tell us about your business and what you do there.
A: I am the owner, operator, and territory manager for a local fundraising franchise. Cold calling is a necessary evil for what we do. We need to make phone calls to the directors of various school organizations to generate interest and new business, but realistically, we don’t have the time to accomplish that while still running the business the way we would like.
Q: How did you come to work with VSA?
A: My friend first utilized VSA about 10 years ago. I hopped onboard because I didn’t want to make phone calls anymore. I wasn’t reaching out to enough people that we could scale up. Ultimately, this partnership with VSA allows us to scale our business.
Q: What challenge were you trying to address with VSA?
A: Not having to make phone calls. It’s the time of the school year when I need to be calling, but I also need to be doing other stuff. We utilized VSA to reach out to contacts both known and unknown, in an appointment-setting situation, to get us out in front of more people in a well-time-managed manner. Being able to have a partner to do 40 hours’ worth of calling while I’m able to do 40 hours’ worth of other stuff is probably the greatest trade-off I could want.
Q: What was the scope of their involvement?
A: Michelle (the Program Manager) and the team took the time to learn our business thoroughly enough to do well in the timeframe that I needed them to do well in. I gave them the contact list and made sure they had all the right information to be successful, and they were able to get out there and start churning out calls. The timing was crucial—if we didn’t reach people by a certain time of the spring, we were going to lose them to the end of the school year. Even a week later wouldn’t work.
I knew from past experience they would handle the calls professionally and do their jobs as well as I needed them to. That really gave me peace of mind.
Q: Were there any unique challenges that arose during the campaign?
A: Weather issues forced me to move a few of the meetings to Zoom, but it was nice to know that VSA had good enough conversations with prospects that they didn’t hesitate to reschedule. It’s very nice to know that VSA is professional enough that each call is not just another appointment to them, but a real conversation with the people I need to engage with.
Q: What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
A: We hadn’t really discussed a target number. They set 11 appointments last fall, and I was expecting about 8 this spring because we got started a little late in the game. We ended up with 16. When you set 16 appointments and I probably only needed 8 to get the results I needed, I’d say that’s a pretty good amount of success.
Q: How did VSA perform from a project management standpoint?
A: We didn’t need to meet during the campaign because I knew they had everything under control. Michelle sent weekly updates, but I didn’t even open them because I knew after working with VSA last fall that they were competent. I knew if I gave them the right information, they would be successful, and if it didn’t work, something was wrong on my end. It worked.
Q: What did you find most impressive about them?
A: Just how efficient they are. I got the email invitations for appointments as soon as they were scheduled, with detailed notes about what the VSA reps talked about with the prospect. It almost felt like I set the meeting myself. They were even able to reschedule three or four meetings for me within the limited window we had—it really provides peace of mind to work with a company that can accomplish that.
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Interested in learning how VSA can develop an appointment-setting campaign to benefit your business? Give us a call or drop us a message. We’re always excited to talk about ways to help companies fill their sales funnels.