The last couple of months of the year can be a stressful time for business leaders and owners. There’s often pressure to come up with the right strategy to finish 2023 strong and start 2024 on a high note.
The challenges of generating leads, increasing brand awareness, and growing your customer base and revenue streams in the new year can be overwhelming, especially for companies that lack the internal resources to adequately tackle these crucial tasks.
But businesses don’t have to face these hurdles alone. Partnering with an experienced lead generation and call center firm like VSA can go a long way toward helping companies achieve their end-of-the-year goals and set the tone for the year ahead.
Here are five ways we can help you finish the year strong and carry that momentum into 2024:
1. Updating your prospect list
With everything else on their plate this time of year, there’s a good chance your sales reps aren’t spending enough time making cold calls to potential customers. But even if they do have the time to reach out, how much of their effort is wasted due to outdated, incorrect, or incomplete data?
According to ZoomInfo, inaccurate B2B contact data wastes 27.3% of a sales rep’s time—or 546 hours a year per full-time inside sales rep. That’s a lot of time spent pursuing targets with very little chance of success.
VSA knows the list is perhaps the most important element of any ROI-positive lead generation campaign. We work with our clients to enrich their existing prospect list, or we build them a list from scratch based on their ideal customer profile. Either way, our multiple list-building resources help us determine the right people and companies to call on your behalf, and our data-driven processes allow us to quickly identify and address any issues with the list as the campaign progresses.
2. Connecting with current customers
According to Forbes, the probability of selling your goods or services to an existing customer is between 60-70%, compared to between 5-20% for new customers. But that’s assuming you have the time to maintain relationships with your existing customers and ensure they’re aware of new and improved offerings.
VSA regularly partners with clients who ask us to reach out to their existing customers; in some cases, we’ve built entire campaigns out of upselling and cross-selling.
There’s nothing wrong with sharing information or promotions in an email or social media. But the best way to make sure your message is being received is with direct, human-to-human telephone conversations. VSA becomes the voice of your company, and so with every customer our Business Development Representatives talk to on your behalf, it’s as if you and your sales team are making that valuable connection yourselves.
3. Strengthening your inbound customer service
How much business is lost every year because of frustrating customer service experiences? Recent statistics reveal that 90 percent of customers want an immediate response when they reach out to a company for assistance, and 80 percent believe the customer experience is just as important as a company’s products or services, if not more so.
VSA’s recently expanded inbound services ensure that your customers never have to wait long to speak to a live person, and don’t have to struggle to get their questions answered. Our experienced, professional, accent-neutral Customer Service Representatives, combined with a powerful omnichannel Contact Center Solution platform, make for a smooth customer service experience.
Especially during the upcoming holiday season, when customers are typically more harried and less patient, it’s crucial to keep their interactions with your company as stress-free as possible. Having a full- or part-time customer service team at your disposal can help keep your customers satisfied and prevent valuable business from slipping away.
4. Gathering market intelligence
The primary goal for most B2B outbound calling campaigns is to schedule sales appointments for your reps, but it’s also a great way to conduct market research. Learning as much as possible about your target customers’ pain points, needs, and purchasing habits, as well as your competition and the overall market, can pay major dividends in the future, even if prospects aren’t ready to buy now.
VSA has had plenty of clients over our 22-plus years who have utilized our telephone skills to survey prospects as part of the lead generation process. Even well-established companies know there’s always new information available that can give them a competitive advantage in their market.
5. Refreshing your message
It’s easy to rely on the same familiar message in telephone calls and emails to prospects, especially if that message has been effective in the past. But sometimes, adding an outside voice and a fresh perspective can be just the spark that’s needed to generate more curiosity and interest among your target audience.
VSA collaborates closely with our clients to develop messaging that best resonates with their prospects. Often, we prepare the first draft of the telephone scripts ourselves based on industry best practices and knowledge gained during client onboarding. Other times, we tweak clients’ existing scripts. In either case, the messaging, just like the calling list, is never set in stone. If the data shows a certain script isn’t connecting with prospects, we are always ready to adapt.
We also know that even within the same client program, not all messaging is equally relevant to all prospects. Many of our clients target multiple job titles, which often requires multiple phone scripts and emails. During any outbound campaign, it’s important to make sure you’re focusing on the pain points that matter most to the target you’re calling.
*****
The end of the year is a perfect time to consider new strategies to help grow your business and meet your sales goals.
As you prepare for 2024, consider partnering with VSA for your lead generation or appointment-setting needs. We’d love to talk about ways we can help your company grow in the new year—and beyond.