Established in Germany in 2001, WELTEC was one of the first manufacturers and engineers of biogas plants specialising in anaerobic digestion.
Following success in their home markets, WELTEC BIOPOWER appointed JMB to launch and establish the WELTEC brand in the UK through a comprehensive lead generation campaign, to arrange appointments for WELTEC Senior Management to visit potential sites with a view defining the project requirements.
JMB held several meetings with WELTEC and Senior Managers to define the proposition, identify the key objectives and gain knowledge of the organisation, enabling JMB to become an extension of the WELTEC team.
Our next step was to develop a comprehensive pipeline targeting;
JMB’s role was to communicate WELTEC’s expertise, whilst educating and increasing the audience’s awareness of the offering.
Through direct communication, JMB would then secure one-2- one appointments for WELTEC to attend and conduct a site visit.
In addition to telemarketing, to support WELTEC’s UK market reach, JMB also supported WELTEC at a number of industry events to drive engagement and footfall, pre, during and post show activity.
Trade show exhibitors and attendees were identified prior to the events and outbound calls were made to book meeting programmes for WELTEC to conduct whilst at the show.
JMB secured over 100 high-value meetings and site visits for WELTEC. As a result of the introductions WELTEC have successfully penetrated the UK market and gained strong positioning with seven established sites which is continuing to grow.
Building on the successful launch of the WELTEC brand in the UK, the natural next step within was to launch a UK operation. The JMB Recruitment team were introduced to find a UK Sales Manager with relevant experience and a good understanding of the biopower sector in the UK.
Taking the time to understand the role requirements and the company culture of WELTEC, we successfully sourced, vetted and secured the services of an excellent candidate, who joined in the autumn of 2011.
Since project inception in 2011 JMB continues to work with WELTEC providing both sales & marketing and recruitment services.
Engagement, insight and member support is fundamental to the sustainability of any membership based organisation.
Understanding this, one of central London’s longest established ‘BID’ agencies selected JMB to conduct a membership engagement campaign.
Our role was multi-faceted. The primary task was to increase membership engagement by arranging one-one meetings for the Chief Executive and Business Manager to engage with senior business leaders of the member organisations, whilst also up-selling the multiple business services available to members.
The one-to-one meetings not only acted as a tool to bring the BID agency front of mind with their members, but is also a fundamental activity to gain member buy-in during the business consultation phase prior to the election period.
JMB held several meetings with the BID agency to define the proposition, identify the key objectives and gain knowledge of the organisation. A key part of our process when planning new client campaigns is to ensure the JMB team are fully equipped with knowledge of the product or service offering, and fully immersed within the brand culture. This ultimately enabled JMB to become an extension of the BID’s team.
JMB then commenced a comprehensive lead generation and membership engagement campaign, via telemarketing, to communicate the BID’s offering and their role within the business district. During this process, key objectives were to secure one-one appointments and upsell the services available to members.
Whether a public or private sector organisation, it is imperative to have understanding of the organisation – it’s practical role, in addition to its brand values, persona and identity.
This campaign was no different. To be fully immersed in the BID’s brand culture, the project team spent time at the BID’s offices to become familiar with the district first hand and developed strong relationships with the BID’s service suppliers, enabling us to become a core element of the team.
To ensure we connected and engaged with new members in the district as soon as possible, we enforced media monitoring to capture any new organisations that had moved into the area.
This enabled us to position the BID agency as a welcoming and informative voice of the area – bolstering the brand ID, whilst also acting as a catalyst for attending a meeting and up-selling services.
JMB successfully created significant up-sell of the business service offerings, whilst securing over 100 engagement meetings with BID members.
Using a combination of calls, emails and strategic media monitoring the approach was highly successfully in creating strong engagement which was imperative to generating up-sell of services for revenue creation; in addition to providing insight in preparation for consultation.
Effective B2B sales and lead generation is a skill. It is a communication and marketing tactic which requires a reactive approach, an attentive listener and a hunger for success. It takes a special kind of person.
Like any other business, at JMB we too are a prospect and a target for new business. So it’s no surprise we receive telemarketing and lead generation calls. We’re no different. What does make us different is that fact that lead generation is our business. So we often find ourselves critiquing and wincing at those ‘bad telemarketing’ and sales calls that give the industry and the skill of effective lead generation a bad rep.
So to vent our outsourced sales frustrations, the JMB Partnership Team is standing up to those who give professional telemarketing a bad name and highlight our top irritations and examples of bad B2B telemarketing.
One of my favourite questions, “Do you know what we do?” then comes the silence…. An unprepared sales person is like a lamb to the wolves. Not only does it demonstrate a lack of understanding of your prospect’s business, sector and operational needs, but it’s careless. What happened to their brief? A quick flick to their website should immediately indicate whether a manufacturer, farmer or developer. In short, if you don’t know what your prospects do, how can you possible present an offering to them that will resonate or will be relevant.
How can you expect your audience to be engaged your sales rep’s aren’t? Lead generation consultants should be engaged, enthusiastic and professional. Now, I’m not suggesting we burst into song, however your outsourced telesales teams should be an extension of your internal staff, which begs the question ‘would you employ someone directly who wasn’t passionate out your offering or engaged with your business?’
Effective salespeople know that listening is the most important part of their job. The higher the listening skill, the higher the quality of conversation and ultimately lead handover. Why is this so important? Because when the lead generation consultant has listened, they will have understood and interpreted the prospects business needs so that the offering and response can be highly relevant and will ultimately resonate with them.
Remember the B2B telemarketing conversations you are having with your prospects should be relevant, informative and fluid – not a mini lecture.
Sorry? No Email Accounts?. We live in a digital age. One of the challenges of increasing your market share is the ability to effectively build credibility with your client-based, not only through proof of concept, but by accessibly and visibility. If you are unable to provide your sales prospects with a simple email or additional information you will be falling at the first hurdle.
Agreed, face-2-face meeting is one of the most powerful relationship building tools – we are human after all. However, we operate in an age where decision makers are time lean and a face-2-face meeting is an investment. ‘Time is money’. The option to have an initial conference call shouldn’t be deemed as a failure, yet viewed as a stage of the lead nurturing cycle prior to the prospect investing in both resource and financially.
If you refuse to accommodate or provide the option of a conference call you could potentially be losing a lead.
Would you send your intern into a pitch alone with a CEO? I’m guessing the answer’s no. So why is it ok to have inexperienced telemarketers reaching out to your most valuable prospects?
Understanding the industry landscape, jargon, the processes and pain points – this knowledge only comes from sector specific experience, but is fundamental when making early engagements with potential prospects. And will ensure your brand is conveyed in a professional, credible fashion.
Now I’m not suggesting you need to a recruit a telemarketing team with PHDs. But selecting an outsource sales team or internal team, that have experience of the market is invaluable. It means the sales team understand how and what your prospects will engage with, meaning greater cut-though and high quality dialogue. Quite simply, your telemarketing team will be speaking your prospect’s language.
A telemarketing caller that fails to introduce or reveal themselves is really up there. If telemarketing to senior decision makers or enterprise organisations, it is highly unlikely your call will land directly the desired DM. You may reach their PA or colleague. Failing to introduce yourself is not only rude, but misses an opportunity to gain free information which has the potential to enhance the efficiency of your telemarketing campaign and gain prospect insight, but also to gain a rapport with a potential stakeholder or advocate. Every call should count.
“I spoke to you earlier in the week”… a little bit pantomime, but “Oh no you didn’t”.
Outsourced sales and lead generation a fundamental to the success of your sales strategy. But the point is it should never be perceived as outsourced. The dialogue should be seamless, the engagement high and representation professional.
These are just a few of our telemarketing frustrations. But let’s not be negative, the JMB Team have plenty of great examples of how to conduct a compelling and highly effective telemarketing campaign. So next time you are looking for outsourced sales, we would love to talk and show you what great telemarketing looks like.
Our client is a multi-award winning mobile app developer & digital consultancy, working with both public and private sector clients.
Having successfully grown organically, our client recognised that in order to maintain a sustainable growth, they needed to proactively generate sales leads and reach new audiences.
With an in-house marketing team, our client was conducting some email and content marketing campaigns to a historic sales pipeline. A pipeline which had not been nurtured, segmented, replenished or fully qualified. Meaning that despite investing in their marketing assets, there was no mechanism to identifying the effectiveness of the campaigns or the ability to generate or convert them into meaningful sales prospects.
Working in partnership with our client, JMB developed a strategic approach to ensure short and long-term objectives were achieved.
Statistically B2B telemarketing is one of the most effective tools within the marketing mix. It is a highly effective, measurable and flexible route to market.
However, in recent years, prospects’ buying behaviours have evolved and typically it can take between 8-15 touch points to engage a prospect into a buying cycle. Therefore, the lead nurturing process is imperative to enhancing conversion.
Consequently, an integrated campaign was adopted to enhance prospect engagement and optimise sales conversion.
In a nutshell, by employing MA in a lead generation campaign facilitates highly-analytical lead ranking. Telemarketing efforts can then be focused on high-propensity contacts that present greater opportunities – resulting in lower lead time and greater conversion from the resource allocated to generate up to 53% increased ROI.
JMB cleansed the existing data assets and supplemented with a highly targeted qualified data set, ensured messaging was relevant for enhanced ‘cut through’ whilst extending their market reach.
All leads were monitored via the integrated CRM, providing a 360˚view of activity & the level of commercial opportunity.
Throughout the campaign, both current and future opportunities were captured, facilitating a continuous flow of new sales opportunities.
Integrated IP tracking also provided;
Email marketing is paramount as 62% of contacts that interact with email content will ultimately purchase. It is also a highly effective mechanism for contributing to the ‘touch point’ requirement prior to conversion, which averages between 8-15 dependent on segment.
JMB developed a content calendar and corresponding workflows within the platform – designed to guide the user through the lead nurturing process and create a platform to communicate our clients ‘brand story’.
The emails broadcast were a combination of ‘thought leadership’, drip and operational. Prospects would automatically receive messaging based on their segment and online behaviours – ensuring content would be highly relevant and ultimately heighten engagement.
Drip campaign and A/B testing was also facilitated via the platform for continued campaign improvement and ‘cut through’.
Creating a direct relationship with prospects is paramount to building trust and ultimately converting sales prospects.
Recognising this, JMB utilised telemarketing to build direct relations with prospects and gain valuable insight into the level of opportunity and suitability of the prospect, which would not otherwise be accessible. It also acts as the catalyst for converting sales leads into confirmed meetings.
By utilising the insight provided by the Marketing Automation solution, the telemarketing resource could be focused on calling the highest scoring leads.
Meaning that the telemarketing resource was optimised by ensuring;
The campaign was highly successful in identifying and securing commercial meetings with fully qualified sales leads.
Regular content reinforced through personal engagement enhanced brand awareness, the clients offering and supported the prospect through the lead nurturing process, ultimately accelerating the sales cycle.
The behavioural insight provided by MA enabled the telemarketing team to focus on the highest propensity leads, ensuring the resource was focused on those who were most engaged and likely to convert – resulting in increased ROI in the telemarketing resource.
MA also provided a 360˚view of the campaign, channel effectiveness and the vital insight as to the type of touch points required in order to map the user journey from an unqualified contact to a confirmed sales meeting – creating increased efficiency, reduced lead time and ultimately improved campaign ROI.
With the UK top of the European leader board for inward investment, fulfilling the staffing requirements for the newly formed operation is a key consideration for many expanding organisations.
Recruiting those initial, key personnel and early stage employees in the UK is critical to the success of a new or developing operation. Hiring the very best available and those equipped to succeed in start-up mode, remote from most of their colleagues, will help gain more traction in your new market.
In essence, your initial and early stage employees will be critical to ensuring you have the expertise and experience on hand to drive your UK operations forward.
Remote or overseas recruitment needn’t be an arduous task. It is a rewarding exercise and the final accompaniment to the success you have already gained. So congratulates and now is the time to look forward with the recruitment of your initial key personnel and we have put together a few of our top recruitment tips to get you started.
Just as important as seeking local expertise from suppliers, clients and networks, is to engage with a local recruiter at the early stages of planning. A good recruiter will provide a professional view of the national and regional market in the UK for the skills you seek, as well as providing useful information on issues such as remuneration. If a recruiter shows little interest ahead of a real vacancy – find another one.
The UK has a wealth of industry specific and business networks, so utilise them. Not only are they an essential tool for meeting and engaging potential prospects, but they present a great platform to knowledge share and build relations with industry peers.
The UK is committed to Inward Investment. There is a wealth of business support and guidance available from UK bodies and networks, including DIT (previously UKTI), the various Chambers of Commerce throughout the UK and location specific development agencies. Utilise these networks to build your own and gain further insight into bolstering and staffing your UK operation.
Just as important as face-face networking, social networking can provide insight into UK industry trends and topics but also the individuals who are ‘thought leaders’ in their field. Networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter offer valuable insight into an individual’s knowledge, persona and experience of a candidate.
Employment laws and legislation may vary dramatically from your home market. When recruiting ensure you have full understanding of the legal obligations as a UK employer. This includes contract termination, contract vs permanent employment and the process in which recruitment is carried out. It is also important to ensure that elements of legislation are built into your recruitment and salary budget including 28 days statutory holiday allowance, as well as a statutory sick pay (SSP).
The UK has a wealth of talent across a variety of industries. With some of the world’s most innovative Global organisations and well respected universities based in the UK, capturing the attention of the highest calibre candidates can be a competitive task. Whilst your company name may be a well known and respected brand in your domestic market, this may not yet be the case in the UK. As such, joining you as an initial employee may be perceived as a risk by the best candidates. Work closely with your chosen recruiter to articulate the proposition which will appeal to the candidate pool you wish to attract. Even in a tough employment market, the best candidates will have other options.
While taking the advice from your recruitment agent at stage one of the interview process and utilising technologies such as Skype and Zoom can be fantastic for the initial interviews, when you have reached a short list and are ready to make an employment decision, it’s best to travel to meet with your potential new employee. Meeting face-face not only allows you to create a bond between you and your candidate, but reinforces your company’s commitment to the candidate and the UK market.
Having helped hundreds of companies launch and resource their UK operation JMB Recruitment team understand the logistical, cultural and operational challenges of launching a UK operation. Yet, launching and recruiting for your UK operation is a rewarding experience and a natural development of the sales cycle. Just remember to utilise your contacts, take advice and articulate your employment offering.
Lopez Landa is a leading provider of full interior fit-out services. A Spanish company by origin, Lopez Landa has offices in Bilbao, Madrid, Barcelona and Seville. Following their success in home markets our client decided to expand internationally and selected the UK as their destination of choice.
Having undertaken initial research to establish the viability of the UK market, it was clear that there would be a need to establish a UK subsidiary and to seek a UK Managing Director to launch and drive the UK operation forward.
Lopez Landa appointed JMB Partnership’s recruitment team to carry out the recruitment campaign, to seek the ideal candidate and the Managing Director of the subsidiary in the UK.
JMB held several meetings with Lopez Landa and seniors managers to define the candidate’s profile and ensure the JMB Recruitment personnel were fully equipped with the knowledge of Lopez Landa’s UK plans.
JMB also provided vital UK insight, such as salary and market expectations to support Lopez Landa in defining their ideal candidate.
A search & selection campaign was launched to address the recruitment brief. The search encompassed both candidates currently based in the UK and others based in Spain but with previous UK history.
Upon short-listing JMB Recruitment conducted initial interviews based on pre-agreed selection criteria.
JMB Recruitment identified a number of potential candidates to take to the final interview stages. This led to the appointment of a Spanish born construction industry professional who had been resident in the South of England for some years; and who was at a career stage appropriate to Lopez Landa’s needs and had the ambition to launch a new business whose success he could influence.
Following the successful recruitment campaign, JMB continued its partnership with Lopez Landa with the execution of a proactive sales & lead generation campaign to accelerate Lopez Landa’s UK business growth.
“After initial market analysis, it was clear that in order to drive our UK business operation forward, Lopez Landa would require Direction at a local level. JMB were instrumental in helping us to develop the profile of our ideal candidate and proactively identify suitable persons. At every stage JMB provided valuable guidance and support, helping to strengthen our UK operation.”
Guillermo Lázaro Baró, Lopez Landa, Managing Director
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