Success in a B2B industry demands a strong and productive sales team. While branding, e-commerce and digital advertising channels can all add value, in the end, it’s the “feet on the street” of your professional field sales team, distributors and manufacturer reps who drive most B2B revenue.
Having a dedicated inside sales team to manage sales prospecting, business development and lead nurturing is also critical for firms in manufacturing, technology, financial services and other B2B industries. Without these important resources, many B2B companies struggle to generate enough qualified leads to fuel their sales pipelines.
Optimize your B2B sales with a professional call center
Is your B2B sales team performing at peak levels?
Often, small changes can make a big impact on productivity for both inside sales and field sales teams. These adjustments can also improve overall sales ROI and your company’s ability to meet B2B sales and revenue goals.
Working with a professional outbound call center like Volkart May can be part of that solution. Our trained business development representative operate as an extension of our clients’ internal sales teams. We fill in the gaps and apply our 30 years of B2B lead generation experience to support B2B companies with ongoing calling or project-by-project work.
Solve these seven B2B sales problems with outsourced calling
Here are seven B2B sales problems that a professional call center can solve. Often, a single call can support several of these objectives at the same time.
1. Lackluster lead generation
Qualified leads are the lifeblood of a B2B company. But, relying solely on digital campaigns and events usually leaves gaps. Asking busy in-house sales reps to make cold calls can also fall flat, because upfront sales prospecting requires a core set of skills that are very different from those needed to build relationships, negotiate contracts and close deals.
If you’re struggling to feed your B2B sales team a consistent stream of qualified leads, working with a B2B call center can help. Our rigorous training process puts lead generation front and center, with experienced business development representatives and proven best practices.
2. Outdated data
B2B data decays at an alarming rate as decision-makers change roles and companies undergo mergers and acquisitions. A switch to working from home also impacts B2B contact data as stakeholders shift from landlines to mobile technologies.
If you’re not updating your sales and marketing database on a regular basis (at least once a year), then you’re likely wasting valuable time and money the next time you try to reach your target audiences. A B2B call center updates and improves your data as part of every lead generation call and sales prospecting effort. They can also elevate the quality of purchased lists by adding custom data and insights related to your specific market.
3. Delayed responses
When a potential customer contacts you via your website, email or other channels, timely follow-up is critical. Yet all too often, inbound B2B leads languish for days (and even weeks) before an internal sales rep finds time to connect. B2B companies also struggle with high volumes of incomplete leads where it’s difficult to nurture a relationship because there’s not enough information available.
A B2B call center is the perfect outlet for responsive follow-ups, gathering information and prioritizing inbound inquiries. Our work maximizes every opportunity.
4. Staffing shortages
As the COVID-19 pandemic eases, more employees are job-hunting. B2B companies are also eager to rev up sales efforts after a slower pace in 2020. That means months of hiring, training and retaining qualified sales reps—or outsourcing to a B2B call center that can launch your lead generation effort in a matter of weeks.
If you’re struggling to fill seats on the internal sales team, or just ready for a more cost-effective method, try a B2B call center. A pilot project is a great first step where you can demonstrate effectiveness and ROI to stakeholders before ramping up a more permanent solution.
5. Overlooked opportunities
With complex B2B sales, it’s rare for a qualified lead or potential prospect to be ready to buy immediately. That’s where lead nurturing adds value. Yet with a full slate of activities (or sales quotas that incent closing deals), many internal B2B sales reps move routine relationship-building calls to the back burner. Other companies lack resources and focus only on the largest accounts, overlooking the revenue opportunities with smaller organizations.
A B2B call center can tap into all these potential customers with a consistent schedule of outbound calling to cooler leads, smaller accounts and even for upsell or cross-sell opportunities with current customers.
6. Ups and downs in demand
Whether it’s a new product launch, a geographic expansion or the busy season in your industry, most B2B companies experience cycles where you need extra outreach and lead generation. Conversely, there may be dry spells where it’s tough to keep the internal sales team busy. Both of these scenarios result in staffing issues for the internal B2B sales organization.
If you don’t have enough work, you’re wasting budget on highly paid FTEs. If you have too much work and not enough people, you’re falling behind in the market and potentially ceding revenue to competitors. With a B2B call center, scaling your call volume and sales effort is as easy as turning the dial. We manage the hiring, so there’s always capacity and no waste in your budget.
7. Guesswork
Guesswork is the final obstacle that can impede B2B sales efforts. How often does the sales team rely on their gut instinct about a prospect? Where does a lack of concrete data and metrics impede leadership’s ability to manage the B2B sales pipeline effectively?
Every call by a B2B call center like Volkart May results in actionable data that improves your sales efforts. We work with each customer to identify the most important items that will fuel sales success, whether it’s contract expiration dates, competitive systems in use or opt-in email addresses. We also provide immediate, tangible metrics on completed calls, lead generated and potential ROI for accurate forecasting and the strongest possible performance.
Supporting B2B sales organizations for over 30 years
In a typical year, Volkart May callers make nearly one million outbound calls on behalf of leading B2B and medtech brands. We know the best practices for B2B lead generation, appointment-setting and sales support, from navigating past gatekeepers to finding ready buyers.
We’d love to discuss the opportunities in your B2B sales process. Schedule a time to talk with us about your needs.
