What is telemarketing appointment setting?

Telemarketing, Lead Generating and Appointment Setting

• As a professional recruiter, we continually cold-call and market candidates and our skills for locating specifically qualified individuals for career opportunities ~ for a fee. This cold-call marketing requires a reasonable understanding of our business in order to reach the decision makers, determine if there is a need, if the company is interested in speaking with a professional recruiter and if they are authorized to pay a fee ~ if that recruiter performs as agreed. We are in search of a professional marketing firms (telephone marketing firms) who have enough understanding of the recruitment process to open doors and schedule well qualified call-back opportunities for us. We would then call that contact directly and promote our services, fee, agreement, etc. The one firm we discovered (the specific company name will be supplied confidentially) is a specialist out of the New York area and has a strong NE flavor, which we believe would not translate into positive results across the US. We work across the US and beyond. Our history (over 22 years) is predominately within product manufacturing and sales. We place candidates and locate qualified candidates (engineers, seasoned sales, professional managers ~ up to company President) for career opportunities starting at a $70,000.00 annual salary. We are involved in every aspect from interview scheduling and compensation negotiation to relocation. Our desire is to locate at least three telemarketing firms familiar with our service and a track record of securing pre-qualified telephone call-backs.

• Answer:

  MPC, Hi! This is an interesting question for me since I've been directly involved in outbound call centers over the years, and even managed one in a former life. It was fun digging into the industry again. Of course, there are several considerations when selecting the appropriate telemarketing firm with which to work. I tried to follow your guidelines as closely as possible: preferably East Coast, familiar with your industry, and focused on lead generation. I was unable to find a single firm that specifically said they emphasized executive search or personnel recruiting firms. And I'm really not surprised. The only way to determine this would be to get in touch with each firm individually. But, in my humble opinion, it may not be a good idea to concentrate exclusively on finding a firm with experience in the executive search industry. From my knowledge of your industry, I'm not aware of too many firms that use outside telemarketing for lead generation, so finding someone with that specific experience may be difficult. (Of course I may be wrong here, but that's just a knee-jerk reaction.) Also telemarketing firms, such as the one I was involved with, usually do a good job training their staff according to your specific needs. They are all quite qualified to reach decision makers, so they just need to come up to speed with your industry. And of course, I assume that eventually you'll pay by the lead anyway, so there is no downside. If I were you I'd certainly concentrate on getting a reliable, ethical firm with the most qualified personnel at a reasonable cost. Sadly, that's not a very easy task. Specifically, I think you might want to investigate telemarketing firms who have experience in product manufacturing and sales, since this is your area of emphasis. Your callers will know these people, know how to get to them, and have direct experience closing these decision-makers. This may be a better skill-set than knowing your industry. Given that, here's what I came up with. I went through a number of search engines and tried to visit each company site that emphasized lead-generation in their descriptive literature. Out of the approximately 350 nationally focused telemarketing firm descriptions I researched, I only found about 15 that emphasized lead generation, appointment setting or similar in their description. I then took that short list and toured each of their sites, reading their client list, etc. These are the four "winners" from that short list. Preston Enterprises 4232 Commercial Way Glenview, IL 60025 (847) 294.0740 (847) 294.0749 [email protected] http://www.telemarketingpros.com This firm advertises itself as the leading telemarketing firm in Chicago. They specialize in lead generation, prospecting, and appointment setting for sales people. I'm not very impressed with their website design, but that doesn't bother me. Sometimes the best call center managers are not the techies, but the down-and-dirty floor managers. Unicall International 3520 West Market St., Suite 205 Fairlawn, OH 44333 (877)864-2251 email [email protected] http://www.unicallinc.com Contact: Bob Kaiser Likewise, this company does a great deal of lead setting and has a very impressive list of clients you'd recognize. They also have a very nice Flash website. They seem to have clients in manufacturing and sales. Strategic Sales & Marketing, Inc. 790 Farmington Ave., Suite 3F Farmington, CT 06032 1-800-571-LEADS ext.2401 email: [email protected] http://www.ssmleads.com This company specifically works in lead generation, appointment setting, and lead management. Again, their site isn't the nicest, but they seem to have their act together. Double Digits Telemarketing Company Warner Center 21550 Oxnard Street, Suite 300 Woodland Hills, CA 91367 Tel: 818-596-2330 http://www.dd-telemarketing-company.com/ Although this is on the west coast I include it since it lists "consumer products" among its b2b client categories. I hope one of these companies works out. If by chance you specifically need to have a firm with experience in your industry, just reply with a clarification request and I'll get in touch with the other firms on my short list. I'll then see if anyone can give me a list of representative clients. However for one reasonor another, I've already passed on them, so I think you should find someone you're happy with from the abov list. No matter what happens, good luck on finding the right telemarketing firm, and thanks! Prof