The Internet has completely changed the way that we live. Millions of people go online each and everyday just to connect with friends and even to go shopping, do research; a lot more things than you can imagine. The Internet has not affected only how our personal and private lives flow, it has also affected business. Many are now getting into Internet marketing, and more each day. So the question for marketers is… what has happened to lead generation telemarketing?
Lead generation is a marketing term which that is used to describe the generation of interest into the products/services that a business has to offer. Back then, it seemed that B2B telemarketing was the preferred method to use in performing lead generation. And it still is today. However, it faces a new challenge as the Internet has become bigger and is only getting larger as more and more methods to market online are being discovered.
So what is to become of lead generation through telemarketing? Has the Internet rendered this timeless approach useless and about to be thrown into the metaphorical trash bin? So now let us explore the question of who wins in the Internet vs. lead generation telemarketing!
To help us out we have decided to quote business2community.com contributor Matt Ford, taking from his article Has the Internet Made Telemarketing for B2B Leads Obsolete?
Who has the advantage?
“With b2b telemarketing, speed and precision targeting are the names of the game. The World Wide Web has little methods that are fast enough when it comes to getting in touch with targeted prospects. Things like doing web chat may be fast and direct, but there are times that Internet connections are so unreliable. There are lags, and even disconnection issues that can come from time to time,” Says Ford.
It’s true that when it comes to communicating with prospects that you need to have a stable connection. Phone lines have been in place for decades and technology at its best to make it work as well as it should. The Internet however, no matter how big it has grown, is still just a baby; it still needs to grow and be perfected. As such, we may find that the time it takes for your message to reach your prospect via online means has some lag time, or if your Internet suddenly dies then you have no further ways to reconnect in a small amount of time.
Communication through the phone is easy. It is also very stable and disconnections can be fixed with a single hit on the redial button. It’s safe to say that telemarketing has a one-up on the Internet here when it comes to lead generation.
Who wins in lead acquisition rate?
“The beauty of telemarketing for b2b leads generation is the pace that you get when contacting targeted prospects. On average, a cold call will last at around three to five minutes at a time. If one plans to call prospects on an eight-hour work day, then they can call at an average of 150 businesspeople on that day,” Says Ford.
The Internet has an advantage in that it is accessible 24/7. So to speak, your online marketing campaign is capable of generating leads anytime. Telemarketing, however, is limited to how many hours we spend at work as well as the current timezones our prospects are in; we can’t just make a phone call and disturb someone who may be quite busy or even asleep.
When it comes to the number of people we can reach with our lead generation campaigns, telemarketing is limited due to the number of staff we have that call our prospects as well as our work hours. The Internet is up 24/7 and anybody could just leave an inquiry even as you’re reading this article. It’s easy to see here that the Internet wins this question.
The key to success in lead generation, however, is not to side with a single method. Rather, lead generation companies should now start learning the right marketing mix when it comes to generating leads for their clients. The Internet and telemarketing are not lead generation methods which should be apart, rather they should blend together to become a more powerful marketing approach to prospects.