It’s mid-November, which means there’s a good chance you’re stressed about something right now. Could be preparing for the upcoming holidays, could be finances, could be your end-of-the-year obligations, could be the fact that there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish everything you need to get done.
Or maybe it’s some combination of all the above. Truth is, there are countless reasons to be stressed this time of year, and that’s especially the case for harried business owners and sales and marketing directors trying to juggle dozens of crises at once. (Although, let’s be honest, when is it not a stressful time for most business leaders?)
So what’s the cure? Well, in addition to the usual remedies (exercise, more sleep, better diet), one of most common recommendations for relieving stress is to seek outside support.
For B2B executives looking to reduce the stress of economic challenges and other common business hurdles, this could mean partnering with an outsourced firm for their lead generation, appointment-setting, or call center needs.
The right partnership can go a long way toward alleviating stress, not only around the holidays, but any time of the year. Here are five ways it can help.
1. A true collaborative partner
Imagine having someone in your corner who is fully committed to seeing you succeed in your business goals. Not just a vendor offering basic resources and services, but a true partner that’s looking to sustain a long-term, ROI-positive relationship through customized strategies, open communication, and full transparency.
Such is the nature of a partnership with VSA. From your initial conversations with our sales team, through the onboarding process, through the duration of your program, our goal is to learn as much as possible about your company and do whatever it takes to best represent your brand and help meet and exceed your sales goals.
Sure, not every program is going to produce the desired results, but with the right partner, it won’t be for lack of trying. VSA is constantly looking for ways to improve production for our clients, even on programs that are already successful. In the words of a manager at a software development company that partnered with us, “VSA is very easy to work with, and we feel that they’re personally invested in our success.”
2. Professional expertise
Nobody knows your business as well as you do, but keeping up with the latest best practices for generating leads and growing your sales funnel can be stressful. There’s a reason why 61% of marketers consider generating leads to be their biggest challenge, according to a 2022 HubSpot report.
Soliciting outside knowledge can really help strengthen the aspects of a lead gen campaign that impact productivity. For more than 22 years, VSA has been methodically testing and assessing what works and what doesn’t, accumulating crucial data, and developing proven lead generation techniques alongside the flexibility to think outside the box.
And let’s face it, your sales reps probably aren’t big fans of cold calling. (An oft-cited recent statistic reveals that 63% of sales reps call it the worst part of their job.) Having a partner with nearly two dozen years of cold calling expertise and experience can be a huge stress reliever for your team.
3. A time saver
Few things are more stressful than time crunches, deadlines, and packed calendars. How do you and your employees find the time to generate and nurture leads without sacrificing focus on your core business functions, or putting in long hours of overtime?
An outsourced partner eliminates that stressor. We’ve had countless clients tell us their internal sales team simply didn’t have the time to make cold calls to potential new prospects and/or reach out to warm leads that required immediate attention. Since expanding our inbound services last year, we’ve also had multiple clients utilize our advanced call center capabilities to ensure there’s always enough staff to satisfy customer service demands.
VSA can quicky scale up or down, so our clients never have to worry about devoting too many or too few hours to their program in a given week. We can cut back calling hours during Thanksgiving week, for example, and then immediately ramp back up the following Monday.
4. A cost saver
Perhaps the only thing more stressful than time is money. And while partnering with an outsourced lead gen partner isn’t cheap, the long-term financial benefits can be significant.
In most cases, the cost of hiring, training, and paying your own Business Development Representatives—not to mention the investment in lead gen technology and infrastructure—far exceeds the cost of working with an outside partner. Outsourcing also makes it easier to budget your lead generation efforts, since you know exactly how much you’re paying over a certain period of time. And the aforementioned scalability allows you to adjust your spending as your business needs change.
Every company’s offering and sales process are different, so there’s no set number of appointments that guarantees an ROI-positive campaign. But VSA works closely with our clients to establish realistic goals, then figures out the best ways to try to exceed them.
5. Somebody to do the “heavy lifting”
Businesses face so many potential headaches when developing in-house lead generation strategies. Employees who leave suddenly, or prove ineffective at their job. Drastic swings in production due to special projects or new product launches. Unexpected technology issues. And a million other fires that need to be put out.
An outside partner eliminates much of that stress. Knowing all your leads will be attended to in a professional, courteous, and timely fashion, all the phone calls will be made, all the emails and texts will be sent out, all the prospect data will be up to date, regardless of what else is going on at your company at any time, can do wonders for your peace of mind.
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If you’re stressed about your lead generation or customer service needs, or looking for new ways to grow your business, give VSA a call. We promise there’s no reason to stress over a conversation with us.