At the risk of depressing school students everywhere, summer is fading fast, and autumn will be here before we know it. It won’t be long before the “lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer” (as the old song goes) are replaced by homework, Halloween decorations, and pumpkin-spice everything.
Students and their teachers aren’t the only ones whose lives get more hectic come the fall. September’s impending arrival often means busier days for business people, as well. Workloads typically increase this time of year, leaving fewer hours for generating leads and attracting new prospects.
For companies looking to finish the year strong and start 2023 on a high note, it’s quite the quandary. How do their salespeople juggle closing deals with discovering potential new customers and reconnecting with past clients? An unpredictable economy only further complicates matters.
One of the most effective means of easing this load and building relationships with both untapped and existing leads is by teaming with a lead generation and appointment-setting firm like VSA. Kicking off a program with us in September ensures a solid three months of calls on your behalf before the end of the year.
Here are four of the ways partnering with VSA can help you finish 2022 strong and enter 2023 with a full pipeline:
Cold calling with a smile
Chances are, your reps cringe at the thought of making cold calls. Recent statistics compiled by Zippia.com reveal that 63 percent of salespeople describe cold calling as the least-liked part of their job. Those type of negative feelings almost certainly reduce the number of calls made per day and impact the quality of the conversation.
That isn’t a problem at VSA, where our sole focus for most programs is on outbound calling. Our skilled and experienced Business Development Representatives are always enthusiastic and professional on the phone. A big part of that is our team-based calling model, which creates a supportive and collaborative environment and allows our BDRs to learn from each other’s best practices. They also receive regular coaching from our Quality & Training Department, so they’re always finding new ways to improve their skills.
No matter what your attitude is toward cold calling, it remains an effective means of generating leads. According to the Zippia report, 82 percent of buyers say they’ve accepted sales meetings after a connection that began with a cold call. Delivering these calls with enthusiasm can make them significantly more productive.
Following up with warm leads
Here’s a sobering statistic: 44 percent of salespeople give up on a prospect after one follow-up call. Considering how difficult it can be to reach certain high-level decision-makers, that’s a recipe for disaster.
In this age of modern marketing automation tools such as Marketo, Pardot, and Hubspot that allow companies to rank leads and determine their so-called “sales-readiness”, it’s understandable why busy reps might decide some prospects are less worthy of follow-ups. But really, you can’t know their level of interest without some form of direct communication—and the most effective way to achieve this is the phone.
VSA uses data to help determine how many calls per prospect make the most sense for each campaign; we never give up if there’s still a reasonable chance of booking a meeting or engaging in a meaningful conversation.
Reaching out to old or existing clients
It’s easy to forget about former clients, especially if your company hasn’t done business with them in a while. But if they benefited from your services in the past, it’s a safe bet they’d be willing to work with you again. Maybe a quick call would be all it takes to rekindle the relationship.
Your former clients will most likely feel appreciated hearing from you again, especially if they’re looking for ways to grow in the new year. They already know who you are and what you do, so the sales process could be considerably shorter. But even if they don’t become return customers, they could still provide useful marketing information, such as the reason they left in the first place. Maybe they’ll even offer referrals.
This level of familiarity also pertains to existing customers. VSA recently shifted gears for one of our long-time technology clients and focused on calling current customers who might be in a need of upgraded services. The rate of scheduled meetings immediately skyrocketed.
If you’ve got former customers you haven’t connected with in a while, or current customers who might be unaware of new offerings, an outsourced call center like VSA could be the perfect partner for generating additional revenue.
Building the best lists
One of the most challenging aspects of any lead generation campaign is creating a high-quality target list. Knowing the right companies to call, the best names and titles to ask for, and the easiest way to get in touch with them can make or break a program’s success.
VSA has partnered with top-tier providers ZoomInfo and SalesIntel.io, in addition to our other custom list-building tools, to ensure we’re reaching out to the prospects that make the most sense for each client. Even if you’ve got your own list already, we can make it stronger. Perhaps you’ve got email addresses for your contacts but no direct phone numbers. Or maybe your list doesn’t include cellphone numbers. We can help fill those gaps.
And as with all other elements of our calling campaigns, we’re constantly analyzing the data and collaborating closely with clients to ensure their lists are delivering maximum productivity. If after a few weeks we realize we’re having far more conversations with certain titles, or certain-sized companies, we can filter the list to focus more on those groups. The list we start calling in late September might look significantly different by early November, but it’s all about finding ways to improve our dial-to-connect rate, which ultimately leads to scheduling more meetings.
Conclusion
Whether you’re a student heading back to school or a business executive about to enter your busy season, the start of fall can be a hectic time. Having a trusted partner to help ease the pressure can go a long way toward ensuring success in the months ahead.
For 21 years, VSA has been helping companies in a wide range of industries meet their in-house challenges and achieve their sales goals.
If you’re looking to finish the year strong and start 2023 off right, let’s talk. Summer may be almost over, but we’re always warm to new partnerships.