At first glance, the mountain seems like a mammoth task and it is so easy to set your sights on reaching the summit, often forgetting about the beautiful views on the way up! Yes, your ultimate goal should be to set appointments and generate leads, but you should also reap the benefits of each stage of the marketing journey.
The journey to getting an appointment may be instantaneous, but it could also take you days, perhaps months, making use of all the resources available to you.
Stage 1: Data
The first stage of any marketing journey is all about data. How can you position your brand properly if you don’t know who you are targeting? It is vital that you understand your data universe, build your buyer personas and profile your accounts. Getting to know your audience is like reaching base camp!
Stage 2: Insight
The next stage of the journey is to gather insight. It is at this stage that you begin to profile your accounts, analyse the size of contracts available and research your audience. You need to understand where your prospect is in the buyers’ cycle; are they ready to be sold to? Do they have a need? Would it be more appropriate to nurture them? For both sales and marketing departments, time is precious, so you can use your resources to pre-qualify or qualify out any prospects who for one reason or another could not be promoted to a lead. As we talked about in our blog ‘Social media gives telemarketing a new lease of life’, make the most out of the readily available information and use it to your advantage. LinkedIn is a fantastic way of connecting with like-minded professionals and is an effective way of warming up a cold call.
Stage 3: Dialogue
So you have passed basecamp and have continued to climb towards getting those leads and appointments, but how are you going to do it? This is where dialogue comes in. Using a combination of digital methods to support telemarketing, you are more likely to reach the right person at the right time. Although the end goal is to book the appointment or to generate a lead, it is also important to build brand awareness and trust. Using e-shots and social media, you are able to become an industry thinker and build trust and credibility. Although digital marketing can be highly effective, there is nothing better than picking up the phone and talking to someone. Don’t lose sight of the importance of the human touch. When done correctly, you are able to book appointments and generate leads without jumping straight into a cold call.
Stage 4: Appointment
With these elements used in combination, you'll place yourself well on the way to booking that appointment. If you want to drill down into how to navigate the minefields of setting an appointment, how using these different elements will help, and the techniques to drive more sales for you and your team, download our guide "The B2B Appointment Setting Techniques Which Drive More Sales".
“There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing” Sir Rannulph Fiennes
