ROI of Outsourcing B2B Telemarketing Services?

Like most B2B marketers, you probably agree that the most successful way to create qualified leads is by using a human touch.

In its study, B2B Marketing found that 40% of marketers believe telemarketing is the best vehicle for generating high-quality leads. That’s second only to live, in-person events that were cited by 43% of respondents. Even in the era of online marketing these traditional tactics, where we talk one-on-one with prospects, stand out.

It’s one thing, however, to know that you need to add telemarketing to your marketing initiatives. It’s another to make it happen.
Selling telemarketing to the powers that be and ensuring it pays off comes down to executing it the right way — the way that’s most likely to maximize ROI.

While some marketing leaders want to test the telemarketing waters by doing it in-house, this isn’t a fair test. Why? Because statistics show that the ROI of in-house telemarketing isn’t as high as when it’s outsourced. Read more.

The Skinny on In-House Telemarketing

In general, there are two breeds of in-house telemarketing, ad-hoc and delegating the job to the inside sales department.

Ad-Hoc Telemarketing

Here’s a typical situation. The marketing department returns from a trade show with hundreds of leads. They know someone needs to follow up on them to ferret out those worth pursuing further. So they grab Sally, the administrative assistant, and Joe, the intern, and tell them to make some calls in between their other projects.

Sally cannot handle rejection. Joe has more attention-grabbing projects that he’s juggling. So, making calls is not their priority. Also, there’s no training, no plan, no reporting, and, you guessed it … virtually no results.

Inside Sales and Telemarketing

If the company already has an inside sales department, it may add telemarketing to their responsibilities. Just because inside sales agents are used to talking on the phone, however, it doesn’t mean they’re adept at telemarketing. They don’t want to nurture leads; they want to close deals. Other problems include high turnover, elevated pay, the need to manage other responsibilities and more.
Hiring a Telemarketing Firm

Hiring a B2B telemarketing company can solve these problems. They’re the specialists. They have people in place who are well-educated, trained in telemarketing best practices, good listeners and who enjoy making consultative calls — just what you need for marketing a complex product. Plus, all the systems are in place to support them, as well as measure and maximize results.

The Bottom Line

To calculate the ROI, you need to look at both the costs and the results. Costs for internal telemarketing include:

  • Agent and management salaries
  • Phone and information technology costs
  • Office space and other overhead
  • Recruitment and training (for inside sales)

In general, these costs will run slightly higher than outsourcing telemarketing. The real difference is results. Telemarketing specialists will:

  • Complete more calls
  • Set more appointments
  • Have a higher ratio of marketing-qualified lead to sale