Jay Leonard
A lot has already been said about the benefits of business to business telemarketing, but companies are often confused whether to establish their own telemarketing call center or outsource to a telemarketing company. To give you a side by side comparison, here are the pros and cons of both in-house and outsourced telemarketers.
In-house professional b2b telemarketers
Pros
• You will have complete control over the direction of your telemarketing campaign.
• You will not be bound by contracts and can end your campaign whenever you deem adequate.
• Your sales and marketing teams will be better able to get along with each other.
• Having established everything yourself, you can make sure that your telemarketers adhere to rules and regulations set by telemarketing-governing bodies.
Cons
• Your b2b telemarketers can be easily affected when problems arise in your other business departments.
• Sales and marketing teams can get competitive with each other.
• You have to hire, train and provide equipment for all your telemarketers; you also have to establish a separate network structure to be used by your telemarketers when making and receiving calls.
• You must be dedicated to regularly doing b2b telemarketing campaigns because telemarketing equipments are usually expensive and would be a waste if you only use them sparingly.
• You will have to shoulder all maintenance of telemarketing equipment.
• You have to monitor the observance of your b2b telemarketers to standard rules and best practices, such as removing numbers registered in the DNC (Do Not Call) list from your telemarketing list.
Outsourced professional b2b telemarketers
Pros
• A trustworthy telemarketing company will ensure that all telemarketers adhere to regulations established by telemarketing-regulating bodies so that you don’t have to worry about anything.
• No headaches related with hiring, training and management of your b2b telemarketers.
• No additional expenses for buying telemarketing equipment and establishing additional networks.
• You can leave the majority of planning your telemarketing campaign to professionals with years of experience under their belts.
• Because you don’t need to buy equipment, you can do a telemarketing campaign only when you need to, or in addition to another lead generation strategy.
• Once your b2b telemarketer is not able to report for work, an equally knowledgeable telemarketer will be ready to take his place, keeping your telemarketing campaign running smoothly.
• Your telemarketer’s salary will be based on the benchmarked salary in his home country, which can be significantly lower than the standard in your own country, making it cheaper.
Cons
• Finding a reliable telemarketing firm usually requires thorough research.
• You will have to stick to a contract of 3-6 months or more.
• Certain decisions pertaining to your telemarketing campaign may be decided by the telemarketing firm.
• Unless you do proper research, you might hire b2b telemarketers who are not well versed about your industry.
If you think b2b telemarketing would not be a good fit for your company because of the negative view of telemarketing as a whole, think about this, you will be represented by professional telemarketers who will be calling targeted business phone numbers, not your business leads’ home phone number. Professional telemarketers only makes calls during business hours, ensuring that your b2b sales leads will not be disturbed in the comfort of their homes.
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Jay Leonard.
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Excellent article with some very valid points. From my experience, when outsourcing, tying into long contracts is not as common place as it used to be (albeit perhaps more so when a Pay-Per-Appointment option is taken).
Another noteworthy consideration is the seniority of the decision maker. Depending on who is actually calling (either in or outsourced) will be a huge factor in aiding success. Outsourcing to those who have industry knowledge and engage the DM at their own level will always win over the lesser option. In my opinion of course!
Agree with you on that Martin. It is best to hire someone who has industry knowledge, that way they can communicate well with the DM.
Good morning,
Interesting article Amber, though with regards the Cons of outsourcing telemarketing efforts, I would like to advise the following:
“Finding a reliable telemarketing firm usually requires thorough research.”
MY ADVICE: Where possible, ask for referrals – whether you ask for details of reputable telemarketing companies via LinkedIn or at your next B2B networking event. Word of mouth is the best way forward.
“You will have to stick to a contract of 3-6 months or more.”
MY ADVICE: This is not always true. For example at Qualifa (where I work) we offer a Cost-per-Lead business model, whereby you only pay for what you order. And if we can’t offer a CPL structure immediately, then we’ll run an agreed upon trial beforehand so that we can define the right commercials and deliverables with our clients.
We’re not like traditional telemarketing companies whereby you pay a lump sum or sign a binding contract and hope for the best.
“Certain decisions pertaining to your telemarketing campaign may be decided by the telemarketing firm.”
MY ADVICE: Ask questions before signing anything! Ensure you know about the telemarketing firm you intend to choose. Here are some helpful questions to ask a telemarketing company before you sign on the dotted line – http://www.resourcenation.com/article/10-questions-ask-hiring-telemarketing-firm.
Qualifa is a professional multi-lingual telemarketing company that offers complete transparency with full guidance from begin to end of your campaigns. We deeply value our client relationships and although we will advise as to when is best to run your campaign based on our experience with your target market demographic criteria, we won’t go against your wishes.
“Unless you do proper research, you might hire b2b telemarketers who are not well versed about your industry.”
MY ADVICE: Similar to the last two points point – ask for referrals and clue yourself up about the telemarketing companies that have case studies and clients that work within your industry, you may even want to go to http://www.hoovers.com to find out Company Information.
I hope the above all makes sense, however if you have any questions at all, please feel free to get in touch.
Many thanks Amber for the opportunity to comment on your article.
Best Regards,
Becky Rowland
Head of Marketing & Business Development
Qualifa, Brighton, UK
Tel.: 0203 195 0001
Email: [email protected]