Valerie Schlitt has seen plenty of changes in the world of telephone lead generation and B2B cold calling since starting VSA 23 years ago. In the past few years, though, those changes have been accelerating at a breakneck pace, forcing VSA to find new and innovative ways to serve our clients.
This month, we thought our newsletter readers would appreciate hearing from Valerie directly on the current state of telephone lead generation, the steps VSA has taken to remain a productive appointment-setting partner amidst this sea of changes, and the future of the industry.
Valerie recently took the time to answer these eight questions:
Q: What are the biggest recent changes you’ve seen with telephone lead generation?
The main change is that, in the past, it took far fewer phone calls to get through to a decision-maker. (The average number of cold call attempts to reach a prospect has more than doubled in the last 15 years, from 3.68 to more than 8.) So it’s a significant financial commitment for a company to invest in a cold calling campaign. No one doubts that having verbal conversations is still the best way to engage a prospect, but what it really comes down to is ensuring the profit margins of the offering are sufficient for a program to get through to ‘X’ number of people, and set appointments with a subset of that total.
Q: Why has it become so much harder to reach decision-makers?
A: It seems with COVID and people moving to home offices and not being co-located, it’s made it harder because you don’t always know which telephone number is best. Where are they? How do you get through? They’re probably answering their cellphone more often and aren’t answering their office phone as often.
And these days, there are all these automated attendants and IVRs, and there are not a lot of receptionists anymore. It’s all made getting through to a decision-maker a lot harder.
Q: So what tools must a lead generation company possess to rise above these changes?
A: It’s no longer enough to just plain dial. No one in the industry is doing that. You must have a platform that allows you to speed the process of dialing—from the dial itself to speeding up access to the decision-maker. Our platform allows us to make about 25% more dials than many of our competitors, which is a huge benefit for our clients in terms of increased conversations and appointments.
The right technology is so much more important than it used to be. It was always important, but beyond increasing your number of dials, it also gives you the ability to analyze messaging and understand factors like who is most likely to answer their phone, when they are likely to answer the phone, and how many times you should call before you face diminishing returns. Or if people are hanging up at the beginning of a conversation, the right analytics tool can tell you what the reason is, and you can address the problem. You really need to have these A.I. and analytics capabilities inherent in your tools; otherwise, you’re just wasting dials.
Q: What are some of the others steps a B2B lead gen company can implement to remain productive?
A: VSA relies much more on multiple touches than we did before. In addition to the phone and email and voicemail, we’re investing in developing our LinkedIn capabilities by partnering with an outside firm. I was even talking to someone recently about the old tried and true direct mail, and that might be a good complement as well. Having multiple touches is huge.
And capitalizing on intent data is more important than ever. Whenever you can leverage technology to find people on warm lists, you’re ahead of the game. We have a lot of clients where we call people who have raised their hands from some other sources, and it makes a difference in the conversion rate.
And, of course, having the best list-building resources, like ZoomInfo. Lists are a 60-70% predictor of a program’s success.
Q: In today’s environment, who is—and isn’t—an ideal client for the type of telephone lead generation services that VSA provides?
A: The most effective campaigns are the ones with sharp, effective messaging that gets right to the point quickly. The company’s products are understandable, they’re not nebulous, and they really solve a problem their prospects haven’t been able to solve. That’s the most effective use of the phone. Even if there are a lot of other companies that do solve the same problem, if you can position yourself as being the obvious only place for someone to go to get their problem solved, you’re likely to have a successful campaign.
As far as determining if cold calling is a good fit, it’s really about understanding your market and your offering. I do think, unfortunately, this prevents cold calling from being a viable option for some businesses. People need to understand the financials, their close ratios, and their margins to really assess if lead generation by phone is appropriate for their company.
Q: Potential buyers are bombarded with sales and marketing content these days—on social media, in their email inboxes, from telemarketers and robocalls, you name it. How does a company like VSA continue to cut through the clutter and deliver effective messaging on behalf of its clients?
A: It’s about speaking in terms of a product’s emotional benefits as opposed to its features. Especially if you reach a gatekeeper or someone who’s not the decision-maker, and they need to refer you, they don’t want to hear about all the bells and whistles. They want to know what problem you’re solving so they know how to refer you. Navigation skills are really important.
A lot of it comes down to just plain old great execution, and taking good notes that you can refer to the next time. Our people know like the back of their hands what to do when someone gives them an objection, or how to ask for the close when someone says no. Having skilled people is important. Of course, that’s always been important in this industry.
Q: Besides keeping up with the technology, what is another financial hurdle for lead gen companies in the years ahead?
A: Data security and privacy is a big deal. That’s why VSA is becoming SOC 2 certified this summer and is fully compliant with multiple industry regulations, including HIPAA and FERPA. We’ve been adjusting all our processes and technology to adapt to the need for data security and privacy. But it’s a big financial commitment that could become a barrier of entry for some people. This industry has always been fairly open, but my guess is this will no longer be the case for any firm that isn’t investing in data security and data privacy in the next five years. They’ll need to have deep pockets.
Q: What do you think the telephone lead generation industry will look like in five years?
A: No one has any idea, but I can guarantee the industry will keep evolving. There will continue to be a greater use of technology, but I can’t imagine the people aspect will ever fully go away, and there will continue to be a need for U.S.-based, executive-level people to talk on the phone. I do think the need to find leads will be greater than ever, because people just aren’t meeting face to face like they used to.
Whatever happens, VSA knows we’ll never be able to go back to making calls the way we once did. We plan to stay on the cutting edge of lead generation, so we can continue to find new ways to help our clients grow their business and achieve their sales goals.
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If you’d like to discuss any of these topics further with Valerie, give us a call. We’re always excited to talk about telephone lead generation!