Magnus Marketing Blog

A client I work with has an old school sales guy. Every freaking week when we go over the report, he cries about metrics, metrics, metrics. His boss, who is a friend of mine, explained the metrics and said that it is important to him - but what is more critical is the LEADS.

Folks, when are we going to drop the number of calls made, connects, hours? Can we do this? It adds a lot of complexity to a really simple process. You pay me X for Y hours and I deliver Z leads. More importantly, of the Z leads I gave to you - how many were closed and if not closed, why weren't they closed. That is all anyone should care about. Cost of conversion the X Pay for Y Hours for leads. Many phone companies have flat monthly fees now don't they?

The reporter of CRN talked about how a reseller will win more business by pounding the phone more. Oh is he WRONG. Lets say I have a $10 hr person reading a script who makes 120 calls per day, of those 120 calls - he may connect with two people and get some interest. Chances are those two people are in the market, have been looking, and welcome the information. If the information is generically presented, you just helped these people complete their search - right, they can go to ANY vendor now....and the two people maybe will move to a meeting, maybe not.

Take my methodology. I research companies, find the best targets, craft a strong email, and then call. Maybe I make 10 calls a day, but I connect or get a response back from 6. The six are at the decision-maker level. I am shortlisted because I was compelling about my business which I know well and my well-above $10 hr professional prospecting agents can talk off script and intelligently about the industry. I get 3 meetings of the six. Did I bang the phone more? No.

Quality over quantity. I bet over time, more cost is dispensed in pounding the phone versus methodical intelligent prospecting.

Funny note: A telemarketing company prominently states that they do quality lead generation, real emphasis on quality. The website has no less than 5 spelling errors. Quality?

Let us can the old concepts of pounding the phone, connects, dials, and voicemails and concentrate on success factors like target messaging, lead definition, lead process, and closed business. In the end, the only thing that matters is results. Measurable, tangible, results.