“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr
Now, I’m not usually a fan of paradoxes, but in the marketing industry, this one holds an important truth. It doesn’t matter how advanced marketing technology becomes; the ultimate goal will remain the same – to create revenue by generating a demand for a product or service. Why state the obvious? Because in their drive to innovate and adopt increasingly complex systems, some businesses sometimes forget the basics. They forget that sales and marketing are all about the art of communication, an activity that, above all else, requires a human touch.
My concern is that businesses, in their adoption of analytics, marketing automation, and other digital systems (all very necessary) are forgetting how to speak to their customers. The belief among some businesses is that if they simply keep up with the latest in technology, they will be able to compete in an increasingly crowded business environment. Not so.
Yes, marketing technology (even telemarketing technology) has to be advanced, but, at the same time, it’s developers and users have to keep the end goal in mind: conversations between real people whose interactions result in a relationship beneficial to both. To effectively use technology you have to remember that it’s supposed to facilitate better conversations.
Demand for expert B2B telemarketing services will drive innovation
Ever since the advent of the low cost, offshore call centre, qualified British telemarketers have had to mitigate the damage that poor quality services have done to the image of the industry. Fortunately, more and more businesses are starting to see the value in using expert, unscripted B2B telemarketing to give their marketing departments a human voice, with many businesses have integrated a telemarketing channel into their marketing mix.
The demand for expert telemarketing services now drives the integration of telemarketing into existing marketing strategies. Many businesses have started to realise that they lose much by running their marketing and sales campaigns in silos, as the data generated by any marketing element can be used to guide the use of other marketing tools.
Telemarketing will benefit from digital and vice versa
Consider the many digital channels and all the data they collect. Could this information not also be used by telemarketers to prepare better calls? Effective appointment setting is all about understanding the needs of a prospect, and the plethora of information out there gives savvy telemarketers all they need to know – if they know where to look for it.
But, it’s not only a case of telemarketing benefiting from digital. Telemarketing also has the potential to improve digitally-focussed campaigns like those using inbound marketing. The premise behind inbound marketing is that you can prompt the right reaction from a lead by delivering the right message at the right time. The right time, in this case, is when a certain level of interest has been roused.
The only drawback to this approach is that inbound strategies usually rely on email to qualify leads, and email workflows take time. A tactful phone call, on the other hand, can qualify a lead immediately and with a greater degree of accuracy. If the lead is almost ready to buy, they can be given that little extra bit of information that will prompt a sale. And if they are not, the telemarketer can put them into a workflow designed specifically for their interest level.
Technology and its use will change, but the need for dialogue will not
So, the paradox does make sense. Even as technology and its use changes, the end goal for those using it should stay the same. Businesses will continue to use telemarketing to start productive conversations with their customers, but they will integrate these operations into their larger marketing strategies for greater efficiency and effectiveness. B2B telemarketing has incredible potential for inspiring business growth, and you only have to look how it is currently used to understand why. To learn more, you can download our B2B telemarketing guide for more information.
