If you're leery about embarking on a telemarketing campaign to generate leads, there is good reason for your hesitation. Old school Telemarketing techniques are not producing good ROI and the way to market and sell is changing at a fast pace because of the Internet. 

What's Wrong with Telemarketing?

Getting In Touch with Buyers Is Harder Than Ever

We're all familiar with the concept of a cold call. In years past, outbound marketing was the way to generate sales leads. Telemarketing is a direct marketing tool that relies on a salesperson soliciting potential customers by phone or through a web conferencing appointment scheduled during a call.

Yes, calls can generate personal relationships, but, for the most part, this method is simply less effective.

Lets take a look at some stats(gathered by OpenView Labs): 

Ask yourself this question, “would a sales call prompt me to act?” In some cases, the answer is yes, but overwhelmingly, consumers are building relationships with companies through the process of inbound marketing.

What is Inbound Marketing?

Inbound marketing is a proven MIT methodology that allows companies to target and attract the right kind of visitors, convert those visitors to leads and then close them as customers. Inbound marketing brings leads to you, and not only new prospects, but appropriate prospects. In fact, a recent MIT Sloan School of Management Report noted that use of inbound marketing practices also improves the quality of leads.

Creating relevant content and incentives is key to building a solid inbound marketing strategy. Customers seek out information and provide contact information in order to gain access to that information. Why is this a perfect fit for an MSP? Well, you are IT experts, so you have plenty of valuable information to share. When you provide useful information, that’s easy to find (due to Search Engine Optimization), your website becomes the go-to spot for consumers looking for the services that you just so happen to provide.

Inbound vs. Outbound Marketing

Telemarketing is a quintessential outbound marketing technique. Prior to the internet age, consumers trusted the expertise of a salesperson when deciding what to purchase. Telemarketing, along with other outbound strategies like direct mail, print ads and commercials captured attention because the type of information that potential clients were seeking was not available elsewhere.

Bestselling author and consumer behavior expert Dan Pink states in his book To Sell is Human, “Only a short time ago, buyers faced several obstacles to solving problems on their own. So they relied on sellers, because sellers had access to information that the buyers did not. But today, the same move from information asymmetry to something approaching information equality that gave rise to the principle of caveat venditor is also reshaping what buyers can do for themselves and therefore what sellers must do to avoid irrelevance”. To sum this up, a salesperson needs to be an expert in their craft to be able to guide buyer into making the right choice based on the information that is readily available. No longer does the education of the buyer rely solely on the seller. 

Inbound marketing has some additional perks. Besides generating leads that really want the services that you provide, inbound marketing is more cost efficient, and places less stress on your sales staff. Telemarketing just doesn’t provide the ROI that inbound marketing boasts for MSPs.

Still not convinced? Here are some inbound marketing statistics that might change your mind.

• 54% more leads are generated by the use of inbound, rather than outbound marketing (Hubspot).
• Inbound marketing costs 62% less per lead than outbound marketing (Mashable).
• Per dollar, content marketing produces 3 times more leads (Eloqua).

If you are ready to embrace inbound marketing, let a Rizen Inbound Specialist help you develop the perfect campaign for your business.