Role of Emails in B2B Lead Generation

Emails are effective ways of communicating for B2B lead generation. Emails become necessary in this context because the call center is contacting with busy professionals. Telemarketing calls may not do the trick as you may never get them on the phone. You will have to email your call center services offer and other details. This email is just the opener. You will have to make follow-up calls, preferably on the same day that you send the email. Delays will make way for the email to be buried under piles of emails that they receive on a daily basis.

The emails that you draft for lead generation in B2B projects have to be well-written. The design, the template and the copy have to be professional. It’s the brochure that can get the call center sector the project. Make sure you personalize the email for the contact. Keep special attention to the kind of message that you are drafting. It must be written in a way that can grab and keep the attention of the reader. To make the email more authentic, include links to credible sources. You must pack the email with information that is relevant to the needs of the project. Include easy-to-find contact numbers so that they can easily get back to your inbound call center agents.

Websites for Lead Generation

Websites can be really useful as lead generation beds. But are the BPO units getting the most out of them? Seems that the answer is no! Let’s take a quick look at the ways in which call center units can work towards better sales lead generation through websites. To begin with, get the content right. Content drives not just traffic into the website, but also makes it possible for you to get repeat viewers. When the users like what they see on the website, both in terms of writing and designing, they will come back to know more. Keep adding fresh content every other day to keep the interest soaring.

Other ways to get lead generation going on the websites is to check up on what other features you can support. You can get online chat facilities that pop up on the website’s more popular pages. Your BPO agents need to be vigilant at all times to answer the chat enquiries that come in. Pack your website with action words like ‘Download Now’ and ‘Free Trial’. These help sales lead generation in that they call the user to action. You can also upload white papers and case studies of work that you have done in the telemarketing services chapter. These case studies are often the main reasons why a company would hire your call center services.

Tracking Metrics for BPO

The BPO industry has to develop flexible metrics for tracking their progress. For the traditional call center services like lead generation and telemarketing, they can continue to use the tried and tested formula. But for the new additions to the kitty, like online sales lead generation and customer service satisfaction, they have to work out different metrics. For example, you cannot measure customer satisfaction by checking out how many calls were received at the inbound call center desk. To estimate that, you will need to check for the number of first-call resolutions and hold time, etc. In other words, you will have to look at fresh perspectives to old processes.

As the case is, online lead generation is another area where the BPO units are not using their usual stringent tracking. It could be because the call centers are not comfortable with using the tracking tools like Google Analytics. However, the fact remains that much of the traffic coming into the websites is not being tapped to their potential. Similarly, the sales lead generation team is also losing out on more leads because they are not responding to the trends that work. It could be that there is a pattern that can get them more users, but the pattern lies in the wilderness because no one is keeping track of it.

Call Center Services on Different Channels

There are different channels on which call center services function these days. It’s not about the voice calls anymore. Telemarketing is now just a division of the call center. It’s not everything about the business process outsourcing. Non-voice methods like online lead generation and marketing through websites and emails are also prevalent. These new methods are taking BPO service towards fresh new territories. Clients want this multi-prong approach because that brings down the rate of failure. If they cannot tap the customer on one medium, they always have a second and third chance.

The ideal way to conduct call center services across the different media is to bring them all on a single platform. Make the different media complementary to each other. If you are making telemarketing calls for lead generation, back it up with the use of websites and emails. Similarly, when you are using websites and search engine optimization (SEO), you can direct the calls of the customers towards the inbound call center. When all of these different divisions are working in tandem, you have a better chance of generating rich revenues for the firm.

BPO Question Keeps Popping Up

The question of America’s attitude towards offshore BPO outsourcing kept popping up during President Barack Obama’s visit to India. The Indian contingent was much interested in knowing what the President had in mind about offshore call centers in India. If you rewind the clock back, Obama was primarily vocal about banning any form of telemarketing outsourcing to offshore destinations like India or the Philippines. He was compelled to take such a step because he wanted to bring back jobs to the American shores. The unemployment percentage is now just under 10% after alarming riding over that panic button.

During the President’s visit, the Indian call center delegates were much interested in knowing how things are going to change. The protectionist measures of Obama were severely criticized by the Indian businessmen because they thought that the telemarketing services sector would be hit hard by such measures. In the coming months, the BPO sector across the world is looking forward to the developments in USA. The primary reason for their concern is that the American market is the single largest provider of telemarketing and customer service projects. The European sector has provided only sporadic work over the years and is always regarded as a sort of bonus. The bulk provider being USA, these measures set off alarm bells for call centers across the globe.

Call Center Trends for 2011

Call center trends keep changing with the times. This is one industry that has never stagnated, nor ever will. The BPO sector has changed its approach towards similar goals with the times. For 2011, the hot trend in the telemarketing services is to invest in technology. The coming days will see some improvements in the technology that these units are using now. As the lead generation sector moves towards online methods, they will be investing in quality manpower. Generating leads online will mean that the call centers hire professionals that don’t really belong to the telemarketing sector. They will be other professionals like web designers and even writers.

Manpower is the prerequisite for the new-age call center. With the right kind of equipment, BPO units can do what the clients demand off them these days. Web 2.0 is in and for that the call centers would need software and other investments. In the context of outbound call center agents who will work on the projects, they have to be suitably trained. It’s a different ball game altogether on the online scenario. Agents have to be responsible and restrained when conducted sales lead generation online. If you go by the current trends, you will find that there is a conscious shift towards more quality call center services.

Security Concerns: Virtual Call Center Agents

Call center agents working from home can become security concerns for the BPO unit hiring them. In case they are hiring freelancers, the risks of danger can be quite high. To avoid getting into sticky situations, the call centers must take care to conduct checks and verifications before hiring anyone. Criminal records must be looked into as well. You can never rule out the chances of a scam hitting home when you are working with employees that don’t show up in the office. You read about telemarketing agents duping people all the time. You wouldn’t want that to happen when your brand name is associated with the matter.

Call center recruiting managers have a role to play here. When you are planning to hire someone, check out on the professional references. Make calls to previous BPO units that this prospect has worked in. Talk to the managers who hired them on previous occasions. Once you have established that they have clean records in telemarketing services, you can go ahead and hire them. Even then, you must take care always to monitor them. There is no certainty that telemarketing scams won’t happen or your data will not misused. In this context, call centers have to be vigilant because their reputation depends on this as well.

Special Customer Service

Customer service doesn’t always mean getting billing information or other enquiry details. Sometimes people call the answering service department to resolve serious issues that need a thorough knowledge on the part of the call center agent. For example, if the BPO is handling a tech support project, the agents have to be aware of the domain. They have to know the innards of a CPU well. Since general telemarketing agents will not know such technical matters, call centers hire technicians that double up as agents. They receive calls and resolve the issues of the callers on the first call itself.

There is a simple business sense in recruiting technical professionals for these projects. When the calls made at the answering desk are passed around to get someone capable to answer the call, the callers get frustrated. Their time is valued and the BPO unit has to respect that. That is exactly what happens when you hire technicians as customer service personnel. They resolve the issue immediately, making the caller realize that your phone answering desk is efficient and capable of attending to complicated issues. Clients want this sort of a professional behavior at the inbound call center desk. Call center units, on their part, pay a higher salary to these technicians and get them onboard.

Customer Services through Twitter

Twitter is one website that offers multiple opportunities on multiple fronts. Just when call centers were thinking that this micro-blogging site could be the ideal launch pad for online lead generation, experts have found out a way to use it for customer service. When you are creating a Twitter page for your client or the brand, you will have customers on the list of followers. When they have certain issues with their purchase, they can leave tweets on your page. The proactive BPO team can source out these tweets and act on them instantly. A simple phone call would make a lot of difference to the disgruntled customer. Once you have made the connection, try to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

Such methods of customer service do a world of good to the brand loyalty of your customers. They know that you are around to help them whenever they need you. Call centers have to work hard to establish this bond of trust. That comes from action rather than just promotional material written by your BPO writers. To make the right kind of brand loyalty, you will have to be there for the customers. Twitter is just another way to do it. If you have the intent of doing so, you can source more ways.

Wanted Telemarketing Calls!

Most know telemarketing calls to be something that you avoid and sometimes learn to tolerate as you would accept nightmares! What if the customers actually wanted those lead generation calls? Then the BPO agents would have more ground to make a sales pitch. They would also have better listeners on the other end of the receiver. But can that really happen? If you can create the right buzz through call center services and brand promotion, it is possible. You have to find out what makes the customers curious. You can go online and create something of a positive impact through social media channels and discussion boards. When you are popular among the netizens, you will be noted and the aura around your brand will attract them.

The cardinal rule of marketing is that when you push something under the nose of people, they tend to reject it. However, when call center services tease the users into believing that your brand can actually provide them something unique, they will surely come to you. They will call your customer service department and ask questions. They will write emails and leave comments on your client’s website. It will be a different ball game when you will be leading the way. The impact will be more significant and the consumers you are telemarketing too will be willing participants in the loop.