Phishing Trip or Good Prospecting: Your Decision

I recently met with a friend who is an expert on IT security.   We were discussing Phishing, a technique internet scam artists use to attempt to get your personal or corporate information via fraudulent pretenses.   Examples include emails supposedly from your bank which tells you to verify your email address and personal information via some website links or your account will be inaccessible.  Or the famous note telling you they have 100,000 dollars for you if you can just help transfer 1,000,000 dollars by supplying a bank account number.  (You can learn more about this and remedies at www.phishtank.com).

In the corporate world, receptionists and others, get calls everyday asking to speak to the “person in charge of IT”.   Or,” I have been working with Joe Jones on a project with a consultant and it would be really helpful if you could share an organization chart or contact list.”   These people can be any number of individuals:  legitimate requestors, sales people attempting to penetrate your organization, competitors attempting to get proprietary information, and lastly recruiters or headhunters looking to snatch top talent.

In my organizations, we used a number of techniques that skate the borderline of phishing versus prospecting.   Some examples are:

1. Calling the receptionist and asking for the person in charge of IT
2. Leveraging the fact that nearly 60 plus percent of emails follow two specific formats and using company list or email addresses from contacts to hit numbers people in the organization
3. Using a social networking site (Plaxo, Tribe, LinkedIn, etc…) to find people who used to work at a company in a given role then calling the company to ask for them.  When the receptionist says they don’t work there anymore, you ask for the current person.
4. Taking the executive list from the website and using social networking to connect
5. Taking association lists, chamber of commerce, tech council, etc… contact names and using technique 1, 2, or 3 to penetrate

Sales organizations and telemarketers are encouraged to use these and other techniques to gain as many contacts as possible to expand their lists and thus their addressable universe.   More names, more calls  - more response.

Companies, on the other hand, are encouraging their employees to be more secure with their information.   They are beginning to change email formats to include middle initials or numbers to thwart the email spammers.  Employees are required to attend regular training on information security and what to look for in security scams.   And many have email SPAM filters that are getting more and more sophisticated.

Many inside sales representatives are finding it harder and harder to get past the gate keepers.   In the decade I have been working with Tele, I have found that those who are most successful do the following:

1. Are honest upfront.  They identify who they are and what they are looking to get and why.  Often gatekeepers will appreciate the honest and integrity of someone who is upfront.
2. Their homework.  They know who they are calling and what the company does so that when they speak to someone it is clear they are professional and understand what the company does.
3. Communicate a very clear and compelling value proposition.   Once you have gotten someone to listen, you have 10 seconds to convince them why they should let you in
4. Say thanks.   Regardless of outcome they are cordial and professional throughout a conversation and recognize the individual is sticking their neck out and taking time from their busy day.

As I said, there is a fine line between Phishing and solid prospecting.   It is all up to you whether you are phishing or using solid prospecting techniques.  If you approach you “target” with honesty and integrity, you won’t catch every one, but some day you will get the big “fish”.

Quality Counts

As the leader of inside sales teams I have often heard from my boss, the field and marketing - “You are not making enough calls.  or Are you filling out enough call review sheets?”

I have seen many initiatives come and go, those that fail or are seen as the latest response by the boss to apease the “big shots”.  I am not refering to the companywide quality/re-engineering efforts, rather the grassroots action plans meant to address specific issues.

What I have seen is those that endure follow four basic steps.  

1. Recognizing there is a quality issue – Not accepting that is just the way it is.  When I worked with a large IT company they had an issue regarding the number of inbound calls in a day.  It was always stated, well that’s just they way it is.  When pressed the first line managers acknowledged there were issues, but it they couldn’t do anything about it.   We got them to point out the specifics and were able to move ahead by recognizing there was an issue. 
2. Quantifying the issue and the reasons – You need to be specific.  What metric(s) needs to be improved and will have most impact?  A large financial services company I spoke with was having issues around number of outbound calls.   Through a systematic analysis we determined they needed to make more calls, but list issues and infrastructure got in the way.   When we corrected them numbers went up dramatically.
3. Set standards for achievement and communicate them clearly – Through benchmarking and quick studies you can establish a set of goals that make sense and are based in fact not conjecture.  At my last company, we were convinced we could only make X number of successful contacts per day
4. Have a well understood policy/plan for dealing with problems – Team members need to understand there are consequences for non-adhearance.  When we started our TeleWeb team, there were goals for number of calls reviewed by managers and it went it the reviews, but there were no real financial consequences.  Sales people are coin operated, so nothing got done.   The next year we added a bonus component that represented enough money that people paid attention.   Surprise, adherence and quality increased.

The ability to deliver consistent results against a clear set of objectives is what differentiates high performing teams from others.  If you are reading this, you probably have recognized you have some quality issues, but may be uncertain how to proceed in a systematic way that is balanced and fair to all.    If you follow these four steps, you will be on the road to fixing your issue.

If you want more insights into each of these areas, I will be providing more detail and insights you can use to take your team to the next level.

Which 50% Is Wasted

Which 50% Are You Wasting?

As a Demand Generation  or marketing professional you probably find yourself asking:  “I know about 50% of my budget is being wasted, but which 50%?”   Or, which campaigns are most effective? 

Many organizations are clear on how much they are spending per piece on DM or as a total budget line item, but cannot relate it to cost per lead or opportunity.   If they do, they often fail to include costs for staff, incentives and offers, list rental fees and the cost of inbound agents or processing.

Email traditionally thought of as the low cost way of reaching lots of people, can be deceptively expensive, especially in the small and medium business markets.  In this market bad emails abound and yield rates can be under 0.5%.   So, for every dollar you spend on an email, the cost per response is $200!   And, notoriously, more than 50 percent of responses are tire kickers or unqualified doubling your cost per lead to $400.   Even so called “free media” such as, chat, organic search, Twitter, blogs, webinars, etc… has a cost such as inbound agents, landing pages or production.

You may never be able to eliminate “waste” 100%, but you can cut down on the amount that is wasted by taking a systematic approach. 

Before diving into the details, let me touch on campaign effectiveness.   All of the steps below can be related to campaigns, too.   In optimizing a campaign, seek to optimize both the individual tactics within a campaign, as well as, the various combinations.   It can be complicated, but my advice is to be simplistic in your approach and focus on the largest cost and highest impact areas of the campaign first and then branch out.  Use a systematic test plan to determine the right mix and sequence of touches.

Determine Actual Costs:  Perform a detailed audit of all the elements that touch a campaign or initiative and all items that are ongoing, such as Search, Chat, Organic Web, and others.   Develop a chart that categorizes all expenses into one of four categories:  List, Campaign, Metrics/Measures, and Customer.  

Correlate Costs to Goals:  Match each of these categories to the cost per outcome you are using as a goal.  For example, if you are using leads at the outcome, look at your list yields and determine how much you are spending per lead for a list.   Remember to include scrubbing, duplicates, bad names, cost to load in your system, and other impacts related to inbound and outbound costs.

Business and Strategic Plan:   Use these inputs to complete your Business Plan.  Then develop your strategy which maps to your goals and objectives, the what you need to do, and determines “how” you will do it.   Media mix, product focus, customer segmentation and budget must be part of it.  It must be comprehensive, yet provide a flexible framework to drive innovation and change in a systematic way. 

Benchmark Against Others: Now you have a “benchmark” for your organization, but how do you know if it is good or bad.   Benchmark other companies in your industry.   In the past, formal benchmark surveys conducted by research firms were the only way.  They are still the most reliable and unbiased, if you can afford them, but consider using Q&A tools on various social media such as Google, LinkedIn, Plaxo, or Tribe to get a general sense.   You’d be surprised what people are willing to share anonymously or to promote their intellect.

Set Goals:  Determine what your goals should be, e.g. getting to a 1.5% yield on email lists or decreasing number of non-revenue related chats by 25%.   This must be linked to your comprehensive DG strategy and budget.  It should be simple and have specific goals relating to your desired strategic outcomes.

Create a Systematic Learning Plan:  It is important that the learning plan include testing and be clearly linked to your overall strategic goals.   The plan should specifically speak to what you want to learn and what testing will be done to determine the best way to get there.  You may also want to include non-cost related things around messaging, look-n-feel, etc….   But Demand Gen is a science so make sure your plan has clear goals, a metric system to support it, and conclusions.  

Measure, Analyze, and Adjust:  If a strategic plan is the blue print to success, accurate metrics and reporting are the foundation.  While you are developing your learning plan be certain you can measure results accurately or reliably.   While we’d all love to have 100 percent accuracy in our results, this isn’t always possible, but if they are consistently measured with the same bias, you can use them to be directionally correct and leverage significant variances to drive change and innovation.

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate:   Results and analysis should be shared with as many key stakeholders as is practical.   It will allow them to adjust their inputs or resources to facilitate your strategy and help you gain buy-in.   Additionally, the more eyes and brains on a challenge the more likely you are to come up with breakthrough ideas that drive true innovation.

My friends who are Demand Generation Specialists remind me constantly that DG is part science and part art.   But by applying these steps to your Demand Generation initiatives/annual plans, you can cut down on waste, improve yields and create an atmosphere of innovation and change that can make you a competitive edge for your business.

What do you REALLY want?

Often we are confronted with difficult conversations we need to have with our boss or our team members.   Before diving into them, make sure you have answered the following question:   “What do I really want?”.  

This is question is at the heart of the work being doing by the Vital Smarts team through their Crucial Conversations work.   I once avoided difficult conversations, but after reading their books, I am much more comfortable.

In a recent exchange with a field VP I supported, I was push to the point of needing to have a crucial conversation about how he was treating my team.  My initial reaction was to be confrontational and accusatory.  But, having read the Crucial Conversations book, I backed off and asked myself what I really wanted. 

When I answered this question and the follow on, what do I want from this relationship, I was able to redirect my energy into getting mutual respect for the team and setting up regular conversations with the VP.   It worked and when the company was looking to lay people off, this VP became one of our advocates, and not detractors.

Before diving into your next important conversation, I encourage you to ask yourself, “What do I really want?”.   You will be amazed at the results.

To learn more about managing team, check out www.vitalsmarts.com

The Customer: The Little Voice in Your Head

Is that little voice in your head telling you something? Maybe you should listen.

I am not talking about the voices who tell you that you are really and alien prince or that you want to be a vampire and spend your life playing ball with Edward….  

I am talking about the little voice that comes over your headset when you are doing monitoring with your reps.   It’s the customer and he’s telling you something.

We all do monitoring, although not nearly enough.  Most of the time it is to help coach reps on how to improve their calling techniques.   We focus on openings.  Did they get past the gate keeper?   Did they talk too much about features and not benefits?   Did they advance the process forward or just let it languish?   This is great, but don’t miss the opportunity to hear what your customers are telling you.

Take time to listen to the customer.  Listen to a series of calls on a campaign or call blitz and don’t listen for the rep, but listen to the customer.   Is he telling you that cash is tight and there is no budget?   Did he tell you that if he could only reduce the time it takes for raw materials and components to become shipped goods by 10 percent he’d be a hero?  

Did the customer give you hints about how he perceives your product or service?   Is it as a commodity:  He knows what he wants and what he should pay?   Or, does he need you to help him understand what he needs and what it will cost?   Is he telling you something about your competition or lack thereof? 

All this is great information, but what do you do with it.   I suggest a three stage approach.

First, just start listening to calls yourself or with your team leads.   Weed out the good, the bad and the ugly.  Figure out what information is helpful and what is just customer rantings.   Try some small tests with your team in a controlled environment to see what happens. 

Take it to the next level:  Build a process.  It doesn’t need to be a complicated 5 level Visio document supported by a $100K software implementation.   A simple one that gathers specific information and shares it with key stakeholders is most effective.  It should be repeatable and adjustable.

For example, at my previous company one of my top Sales Managers led a weekly review with the Demand Gen and Marketing teams of key calls relating to the campaigns that were in play.   It was scheduled for every Wednesday at a specific time.   The manager prepared a set of 5 to 10 calls they could listen to and the team reviewed them and discussed the implications to messaging strategy, offers and potential next steps.   The result was a drastic improvement in quality of campaigns, campaign messaging and alignment around goals and objectives.

Third step:  add more structure by looking at what specific elements you want to review.   Week 1 could be competitive information:   Week 2 offers; Week 3 messaging.  Invite the stakeholders from marketing, vendor management, demand gen or vendors themselves, to help improve calls and messaging.  Also, make sure that stakeholders have accountability for improving something and bringing something to the table.   There can be no passive players.  Marketing should come with specific questions around messaging:  Demand Gen Services about tactics and vendor management about the quality of leads adherence to BANT.  Everyone is an owner, no benchwarmers.

I strongly recommend linking it to any learning plans or systematic improvement initiatives you might have in place.   Have a road map and direction in mind and use these reviews as a check of progress.

Now what?  Get started.  Take the initiative and have a pizza lunch to listen to calls.   Learn about what those little voices are trying to tell you and build a systematic way to share it with your colleagues.   No one will think you are crazy for listening to voices – you may even become and evil genius customer advocate!!!!

Lost on the Road to Tele Success

Imagine you are driving on I10 doing 75 mph (alright really 85 to 90).   You have plenty of fuel and you are making good time having not stopped for even one bathroom break in over 3 hours.   But, you have a sneaking suspicion all is not right.  You see a sign up ahead that says “Los Angeles 100 miles”.  You curse yourself because you really wanted to go to San Diego a few hundred miles south. 

Everything was going so smoothly.  What could have happened? 

You either didn’t have a map (Plan) or more likely haven’t been checking it along the way.

So often, organizations create exhaustive upfront plans that include waterfall charts, time lines, and milestones that are reviewed with senior management and executed to every detail.  And, over the first six months strict adherence is paid to the plan and milestones.  Then something happens. 

Our teams hit quota and 70 percent of the sales reps hit their targets.  Quotas are raised.   The team buckles down and overachieves.   The next year rolls around and again, the quotas are set and the team is driving towards them.   Everyone is happy….

Except, E:R is above target and your are still not achieving the volume and velocity model you needed.  Your lead sources are unclear and you have a consistent feeling the “incremental” revenue, really isn’t.   The answer:  consult the map. Go back to your original plan and determine if you are meeting the milestones you set for yourself.  Ask yourself a few questions around these areas.

Financials:

• Has the really field shifted lower complexity transactions to the Inside Sales team?
• Have you eliminated double compensation for field and inside sales or balanced it so each one is doing what he is supposed to? 
• Are you still using the same systems and sales processes that the field uses in an effort to “Consolidate”?  Most sales processes weren’t designed for volume and velocity.
• Are you still hiring at the original higher salaries or have you scaled back as intended?  (Often teams will hire on the high side initially to get seasoned talent and scale back later)

Routes to Market (or as I like to say customer route to company XYZ) 

• Who owns what customers?  
• Who manages partners?  And, what is the role of Inside Sales in supporting them?
• Are there products/markets that are exclusively tele or have you failed to get there yet?  
• What about leads… are the inside sales teams still qualifying leads and handing off to the field?
• What is the appropriate balance of cold calling, lead qualification and selling?

 

 

Organization

• Where does your tele team report? 
• Have you established it as a separate channel?   Or, is it still sitting in the Strategy or Operations team that was designed to be the incubator organization?  
• Is it in marketing and focused on leads? 
• Is it in sales and taking direction from the regional sales teams and thus not achieving the economies of scale and flexibility you intended?
• Are you top heavy and haven’t achieved the span of control you expected?  Or vice versa, to maintain costs the managers have too many direct reports and can’t spend enough time monitoring, mentoring and managing?
• Is Inside Sales really turning into your “farm team”?  Is there a career path for ISE’s to the field?

Answers to these questions will provide you with some insights around where your opportunities lie.   But more importantly, by examining these areas you will be forced to revisit your original business plan.   Then take the following steps:

1. Diagnose where you went off track and why.  Focus on determining the crucial few behaviors and influencers of those behaviors
2. Re-evaluate your Tele Business and Strategy plan and update it to reflect current situation
3. Re-engage your change management process and ensure your key stakeholders are aligned and remain committed. 
4. Create a learning plan/map and determine the two or three key goals you want to achieve (outside hitting revenue target) and use the plan to drive a systematic improvement process with specific measures of success, timelines and milestones
5.  Set up reward and recognition systems and management processes that reinforce desired behaviors and outcomes
6. Hold regular reviews of strategy and direction to ensure you remain on the road to success

By executing these simple steps you can focus your energies on the things that really matter and drive the results you wanted to achieve.   Like the driver who missed his exit on the way to San Diego you can now get back on track and reach your destination on the “Road to Tele Success”.

Outsourcing Tele – Think Twice

Outsourcing Tele: Better Think Twice

With pressure on the bottom line and the need to cut expenses, manage headcount and trim infrastructure many companies are looking to “Outsource Tele”. And, while many companies are successful, you had better think twice or even 3 or 4 times before moving ahead. I am NOT suggesting outsourcing is bad, what I am saying is that it is an important decision that requires critical thinking on the part of the organization and a conscious, concerted effort to execute. Do not make it lightly.

First determine the core competencies you want to keep within your company and decide what you want to outsource. Include in the decision process the following:

     • Costs: Include physical infrastructure such as specialized calls systems to handle volume calling and call monitoring. (Note: Do NOT deceive yourself into thinking call center systems are just an add-on to the existing phones. I have seen a couple of companies make this mistake and it caused headaches for years. There are specialized reporting and quality tools that are essential to running a solid team and require specialized knowledge. This is important: Don’t skimp) Cost of people to manage vendors, cost of systems connections and cost in terms of time. Also, honestly assess your tolerance for cost overruns or your ability to trust others to manage them.

     • HR Issues: Do you want the Inside Sales team to be a farm team for the Field? How closely do the Inside Sales or TeleCoverage people need to work with the field. This is not as easy with an external group.

     • Economies of Scale: One of the main benefits of outsourcing lead gen is the shear scale that quality partners can deliver. And, many of them are specialized in providing a unique service in a unique way. Some set appointments others know retail or public sector.

     • Intangibles: How much time, effort and support are you willing to dedicate to supporting tele? How complicated is the sales process? How important is it to have the voice of the customer inside? Once you have made your decision – STICK TO IT! Too many times I have seen companies waffle back and forth each year. This is counter-productive and will ultimately cost more money and sub-optimize the potential results. Decide what you want to outsource to a partner and just as importantly what you don’t.

Now that you have decided to outsource make sure you do the following:

1. Pick a strong leader who will own it and empower them. Do not choose a part-timer or someone who does it on the side. It will require an owner and empower them. Just as in a Tele launch, some difficult decisions and crucial conversations will need to be had. Give them the room and backing to do it.

2. Communicate the decision clearly and let stakeholders know that the change is inevitable. This will thwart the naysayers who are dying for failure.

3. Create management structures and rewards systems that ensure that each of the parts of the process is complementary. Misaligned goals and objectives are one of the top reasons why these initiatives fail. If your lead team only cares about leads and your sales team only cares about closed sales, you can create a situation in which you hit your lead goal, but miss revenue.

 4. Establish systems and processes that provide a closed loop feedback mechanism and hold all members of the team accountable for owning it. The worst scenario is when the vendor blames the marketing team for not providing feedback on the quality of leads or vice versa.

5. Develop a clear and regular communications strategy and plan. Daily, weekly and monthly reviews are a must, especially in the early going. You cannot over communicate.

6. Ensure that Marketing, Sales, Operations and your vendor partners are aligned. Assign owners to the relationships and hold them accountable. At the same time, give them the flexibility to execute and move. Too much structure will kill the flexibility needed to react quickly to market conditions and gain the cost efficiencies you desire.

7. Treat everyone at the table as a partner in the outcome. Do not treat the “vendor” as a vendor; rather treat them as a partner and a member of the team.

Outsourcing aspects of your telemanagement organization can deliver outstanding results. You can reduce costs, improve efficiencies and increase customer satisfaction. If you make your decision in a conscious way, stick with it and include the few simple things outlined above you will achieve outstanding results.

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