The decision as to whether to run in-house telemarketing is always tricky when it comes to the important task of how best to fuel business growth. There’s a plethora of channels and options to generate B2B sales leads. And, there’s rarely a quick fix. What’s more, mistakes can prove expensive.
Just one of the options, to which organisations still turn, is telemarketing. But should companies employ internal staff to do the job, or should they look to specialist outsourced agencies? And, what are the pitfalls of in-house telemarketing?
Target Audiences to Boost Sales Leads
Using the telephone to drive sales leads can take a number of different forms. These include:
- Simple cold calling to a fresh marketing list to generate leads
- Warm calling to existing customers for cross-sell and upsell, or to introduce a new product or service
- Lapsed customer resuscitation
- Calls to low-spending clients
- Inbound enquiry management, fielding incoming enquiries
- Generating attendance at, or to follow up, an event
These are just a small number of the different types of calls that prospectors may need to carry out. And, calling may be used to support a range of other outcomes.
Equally, this form of activity can be utilised as part of an integrated lead generation strategy, to boost results from email marketing, LinkedIn outreach, events, or a range of other disciplines.
In-House Telemarketing or Outsource – What’s the Best Route?
Some companies prefer to run things in-house. That may be due to a perceived technical nature of the calls and/or buyers, or a desire to have greater control. To some extent, there’s no right answer as to whether to DIY or outsource. We’ve written several articles on the subject, exploring both sides. Check out the article earlier in this blog for a more balanced view.
But, this blog isn’t so much about the comparison. It’s more about my experience when it comes to the training I have done with hundreds of in-house callers, and the pitfalls that organisations need to be aware of when running campaigns exclusively with an in-house team.
Pitfalls to Avoid with In-House Telemarketing
Below are a number of the key aspects to consider when deciding whether to keep this activity in-house.
Productivity / Resource Inefficiency:
In-house calling teams typically deliver a call rate of between 4-8 calls per hour, significantly lower than a specialised agency’s circa. 15 calls per hour benchmark. That means that outsourced suppliers may deliver between 2-4 times more productivity per calling hour.
What’s more, internal staff may get pulled into other tasks that side-track them and reduces call time further. Subject to the nature and length of each call, agencies will generally achieve this ratio every hour. They provide KPIs to support this level of activity. And, whilst call rate is by no means the only basis upon which to measure the success of outbound calling, a disparity in calling momentum will almost certainly result in reduced contact rates with decision-makers. Consequently, this means fewer opportunities for doing business.
Lack of Skills Training:
Whilst there are expert in-house callers out there, this kind of work isn’t for the faint-hearted. You get a lot of rejection. Switchboards and gatekeepers don’t want to put you through. And, simply, decision-makers may not want to engage.
Therefore, those responsible for outbound calling, need to know what to do. On many occasions, I find that in-house staff are poorly trained, or not trained at all. They do not deploy appropriate techniques. In addition, they fail to build rapport which is a precursor for any sales success. They over-pitch. They do not understand benefits. And, they focus on what they offer, not on customer problems that they can solve. With these points in mind, it’s essential to ensure that your telemarketers are fit for purpose!
Lack of Active Management:
Lead generation is a process that requires active, consistent management. In-house callers can sometimes be left to their own devices. Without appropriate, active, guidance, KPIs can be missed, and campaigns may fail. Fundamental bases for success include daily KPI tracking, reviewing recorded calls, and weekly review meetings with an experienced operations manager who can steer campaign effectiveness. Without this, there is a much greater likelihood that you won’t reach your objectives in terms of leads created.
Inadequate Systems:
This might sound boring, but it’s mission-critical. While most companies have a CRM system, effective outbound calling requires a dedicated workflow to speed up the calling process. Ideally, everything should be on one screen, or, at least, it should be quick and intuitive for callers. This means, for example, that callers don’t have to look at separate screens for info and don’t struggle to schedule, and execute timely follow-ups. The longer it takes to locate, and utilise, call-specific information, the weaker the results will be. Likewise, minimising the use of Google and LinkedIn to ‘find’ details such as phone numbers, and correct contact names, that callers must key in manually, reduces error rates, and speeds up the process.
Opportunity Cost of Staff Misallocation:
It’s pretty obvious but, using staff members for calling who could otherwise contribute more effectively in other roles diminishes overall productivity. Their skills may be underutilised, where specialised expertise is crucial. We often find that there can be an ‘expectation’ that every member of the sales team should get on the phone. In our experience, it’s not uncommon to find that they don’t enjoy doing this (preferring face-to-face interaction), and they’re not particularly competent at doing it. Many just default to using email as a means for communication, and follow-up. Hence, it just makes sense to allocate key personnel to roles to which they are best suited, and use expert callers for the groundwork needed to generate leads.
Lack of Consistency and Persistence:
To a significant extent, sales success is a numbers game. Of course, you need to focus, profile, segment, and build the right approach. Yet, good results come from consistent calling and persistence. In-house telemarketing callers can sometimes be guilty of not being in a position to consistently deliver high call rates, and to follow through on leads due to other commitments. To some extent, this is connected to our last point. However, everyday tasks just get in the way. Swiftly, following up event leads, or inbound enquiries that come in from a contact form is vital. And, doing so until there is a definite outcome is even more important. When attention switches to other pressing issues, momentum drops, and golden opportunities can be missed.
Recruiting and Retaining Staff:
Naturally, some companies have got in-house telemarketing cracked. They have competent callers, and they’ve been successful for some time running in-house campaigns. Others have found it to be more of a ‘trial and error’ situation, with callers coming and going. Recruitment of good telemarketers is never easy, and holding on to them may also be challenging. Recruitment is often an expensive headache. This chopping and changing does not help. The smaller your business, often, the more difficult it is to attract and retain qualified people. Experienced telesales agents want an environment conducive to success. And, they like being part of a team. Thus, the inability to provide the right environment for them to thrive may be an impediment to success.
Missed Opportunities with Prospects:
Inexperienced callers may miss opportunities both because they don’t know how to generate them, and because they are not credible. Senior decision-maker buyers judge your business by the quality of the caller. Having listened to thousands of calls, the callers I listen to, that do achieve some results, can sometimes just get lucky. It depends on the target audience. I’ve heard production managers, engineering decision-makers and others who are surprisingly open despite the lack of ability of the caller. Yet, in most cases, that won’t work. Good quality calls must be on a peer-to-peer, unscripted level. Failure to engage appropriately will certainly lead to failure. And, that failure will be swift.
External telemarketing ensures that calls are handled with a degree of professionalism. No calls are made until there is an understanding of the company’s offering, making it more likely to succeed where inexperienced callers might fail.
Brand Risk from Poor Execution:
Following on from the last point, inexperienced or poorly trained operators can damage your business’s brand reputation during customer interactions. Professional callers are trained to uphold and enhance the brand’s image with every call. I have listened to many client calls and the quality can be quite weak, especially amongst younger callers. The person that represents your business is as much part of the sales process as the product or service you’re offering. Therefore, especially for higher value sales propositions, it’s crucial that the caller that represents the solution being offered makes a strong positive impression right from the start of the call.
The Inability to Optimise Large Customer Databases
In-house CRM systems are often full of key account customers, prospects, low-spending customers, infrequent spenders, and lapsed customers. That’s aside the outdated legacy records that have been decaying, unvalidated, for years. This significantly impedes success. See below for more on this.
However, alongside these outdated targets, there will be those that are ripe for upsell cross-sell, and more. It’s rare that in-house callers focus on these segments since they’re often directed towards ‘new’ business. Field sales teams have nowhere near enough time to reach out to other than key accounts. If they do find time, they don’t do it in a concerted manner to call thoroughly through all of the available data. Using an outsourced agency, possibly as a bolt-on to busy in-house callers, will ensure that you maximise latent opportunities sitting on the CRM system.
Unnecessary Overhead Costs
Maintaining an in-house team requires investment in people, infrastructure, technology, and systems to drive campaigns. That’s outside of the additional on-costs of National Insurance, and pension payments. Some companies provide further benefits. These costs can be significant compared to outsourcing, where such expenses are absorbed by the service provider. In addition, sick pay, let along covering for absence, causes further cost and inconvenience for the business.
What’s more, outsourced calling activity can be focused on, and limited to, key periods, only when required, meaning that unnecessary costs are minimised.
Lack of Scalability
Scaling an in-house operation to handle peak periods or unexpected demand is often slower and more cumbersome than with an outsourced partner who can adjust resources more swiftly and efficiently. It isn’t easy to pivot with in-house teams that are focused on a narrow number of core tasks. And, if a big sales push is required, it’s often almost impossible to scale up to generate, or meet, demand.
The last thing a company wants is chaos. Mobilising staff that are focused elsewhere presents risks that risk destabilising the core business. Bringing in temporary staff is an option. However, this increases the likelihood of encountering some of the problems above.
Poor Targeting
Properly managing and utilising large datasets requires sophisticated systems and expertise. When we run external lead generation campaigns, we regularly experience poor data when receiving lists from clients. If they are using the data internally, it’s no wonder that the results are not forthcoming.
Segmentation, and profiling, are key components of sales success. You can’t sell anything to anyone. Therefore, campaigns need precise targeting to maximise success. In-house teams often lack the tools and know-how to leverage data effectively, leading to missed opportunities and outdated contact lists that impede positive outcomes.
Data Inaccuracy
Following on from the point above, inaccurate data significantly affects campaign performance. Data is the lifeblood of lead generation campaigns. Data ages, and one third of B2B data goes out of date every year. There is no such thing as a fully up-to-date target list. Poor data, that slows callers down, massively impacts success, and motivation. Data inaccuracy isn’t just when it comes to prospects. Existing customer data must be kept fresh or there is a large risk of attrition. if data is not handled correctly, campaigns will fail. And, in-house teams are rarely experts in the area of data management
Compliance and Legal Risks
Companies must complete a legitimate interest impact assessment to comply with GDPR rules in order to legitimately undertake telemarketing campaigns in the UK. The same rules apply for Europe. In addition, they must screen every phone number against the Opt-out register (CTPS) every 28 days to be compliant. Most companies that we work with are not aware of this. Outbound calling is highly regulated by GDPR, and non-compliance can result in legal issues and fines. Reputable agencies maintain strict compliance with laws, reducing your risk exposure. In our experience, companies that run calling campaigns in-house are often unaware of their obligations.
Conclusion
Ultimately, whilst there is no right answer, parochially, of course we’d suggest testing outsource. But, not just any outsourced telemarketing provider. They come in all shapes and sizes. Providers such as those offshore may be cheap, but may fail both in terms of results, and the brand damage they cause. We’ve all received poor cold calls. Need I say more? The key is to find a reputable provider that has been around the block a few times.
We’ve written several articles outlining the reasons why outsourcing is a good idea. A couple of these are below:
11 Reasons to Outsource your Telemarketing
Why Use an External Telemarketing Agency
There are few guarantees when it comes to the likelihood of achieving marketing success. If it were that easy, we’d all be successful and there would be no need for external agencies. Regardless which channel, or media, you use, you need to assess whether it’s right for your business, and your customer base. Mistakes can be expensive. Equally, being wedded to an approach that fails to deliver is not sensible.
Benchmarking success is essential. And, finding good quality people is probably the most important component of success. Yet, even with good people, campaigns can fail if they are not implemented correctly. Unfortunately, that can be the case when using in-house telemarketing if the aspects surrounding the campaign are not handled appropriately.
If you’d like to discuss your B2B telemarketing requirements, give us a call or complete the contact form on this site.
