A family is enjoying dinner together for the first time in weeks when the telephone rings. Within seconds of answering, you wish you hadn’t. When the person on the other ends starts his sales pitch, you want to shout “take me off your list!” and slam down the receiver.

Calls like this have given telemarketing (and telemarketers) a bad reputation. In fact, this may be the reason why you long ago ruled out the practice for your contract-cleaning business. But it might be wise to reconsider. While not for every building service contractor, cold sales calls can be a cost-effective means for prospecting for new business.

Unlike those annoying dinnertime calls you get each night, outbound business-to-business telemarketing is a positive, proactive sales approach. You make calls to a targeted group of potential customers and try to sell them your service. Whether you go it alone or seek professional help, this type of telemarketing can help your company’s bottom line.

It’s not for everyone
So who should pick up the phone and start dialing? The easier answer is who should not (it’s a short list).

“If a company is at 100 percent capacity — they are doing all the work that they can and the phone is ringing off the hook — they don’t need to be doing much marketing,” says Al Davidson, owner of Strategic Sales & Marketing, whose clientele includes several BSCs. “That’s an uncommon scenario in a down economy like we are in now, but in an up market, it’s not uncommon to see companies almost overheating with new business.”

Sparkling Klean in Omaha, Neb., is one of these lucky businesses. The company has never used telemarketing and has no plans to. When it first opened, the company started with a small, but solid customer base of property management firms and large businesses in the area.

Those businesses talked up Sparkling Klean. This word of mouth (plus Chamber of Commerce and Better Business Bureau membership and advertisements in the Yellow Pages and business journal) have kept business strong. Despite its success, the company hasn’t completely written off telemarketing.

“We might consider business-to-business telemarketing should we decide to expand into retail, grocery, or small business markets, but we have no intention on doing so at this time,” says company president Sandy Hammers.

Get professional help
If Sparkling Klean ever adds cold calling to its marketing campaign, the company will probably turn to a well-trained firm for help. Like the list of businesses that shouldn’t use telemarketing, the list of who should do it themselves is short.

“When you are brand new in the business, you have a lot of time on your hands and you don’t have any business,” says Davidson. “That’s a good time to do your own work and build up some business.”

Others who may want to go it alone include business owners who have a strong background in sales and marketing or large businesses that can afford to add a telemarketing staff.

For everyone else, however, the smartest move is to hire a pro. Telemarketing requires three things many business owners just don’t have — people skills, technology and time.

A good personality and a strong background in sales are essential. Mishandle a cold call and you can quickly alienate or anger potential clients. Just as important as personality and experience is technology.

“Trying to do it without technology is one of the biggest mistakes,” says Davidson. “A lot of people think all they need is a phone, but that’s not the case. There’s a lot of people who try to wing it and that’s why most in-house operations fail.”

There are many good, inexpensive tools for do-it-yourself telemarketing. Contact management programs, such as Goldmine or Act, are user-friendly databases that cost about $200 per user. In addition to the cost of software, telemarketing expenses include additional phone lines and time spent making calls. These expenses are all weighed against how many good leads are generated.
For many BSCs — particularly small owner-operated businesses — the amount of time required to be successful is reason enough to hire a pro.

“Even if the owner has the skills and they understand selling and have the resources and tools, they may have no time,” says Davidson. “A lot of our customers are out in the field managing crews. If you are out in the field, you certainly can’t be generating new business. We are able to generate an opportunity that the operator can just go out on. If we set an appointment, the owner can just go—all of the work that led up to the event is done for them.”

The fees charged by lead generation companies can vary greatly. Some charge an hourly rate of $10 to $40, plus a fee for creating a script. FBG Service Corp. in Omaha is regularly approached by telemarketing firms offering to make 400 calls per month for about $1,000, according to FBG’s marketing director Barbara Luna.

Whatever the cost, Davidson strongly suggests seeking out a firm that has experience selling specifically for contractors.

Going it alone
If you are capable of tackling your own telemarketing, here are a few tips for making your program a success.

“The best way we have found to do it is in conjunction with a limited mail campaign,” says Brian Welker, owner of Great Panes Window Cleaning, in Statesboro, Ga.

Welker finds appropriate properties, calls these targeted prospects to get the contact information for the person in charge, and then sends a personal introductory letter explaining his services. Welker finishes each letter by saying he will call in a few days to answer questions or to set up an appointment.

“This has enabled us to reach a market that is otherwise very difficult to penetrate,” says Welker, who worked as a professional telemarketer for five years before starting his company in 1992.

Luna says FBG’s sales force identifies potential new bids (based on new construction, word of mouth, or information in business journals) and then calls the businesses to ask for a meeting or for the procedure to submit them.

“Some people have better luck than others. Sometimes it takes 20 calls to get through to one person,” says Luna.

Luna’s staff has discovered that while reaching the right person is difficult, keeping him or her on the phone is even harder.

“Most people don’t have time to meet with every sales person that comes by so they are likely to say ‘no’ right away,” says Luna. “Sometimes it helps if you are very up-front and get to the point early on.”

It’s important to remember that success probably won’t come right away. It will take time and patience before telemarketing efforts make a significant difference in business.

“As with any marketing campaign, consistent effort is always rewarded,” says Welker.”

Becky Mollenkamp is a business writer in Des Moines, Iowa.




POSTED ON: 8/1/2003