While we must first win the battle against the coronavirus, business leaders across all sectors in most countries will need to consider the costs it has incurred, prepare to bear the price, and recover.
Facing and overcoming fear: how to do it?
We have experienced extremely severe crises that the world has never seen—something we tend to forget. These include two world wars.
With the current crisis, we will have successfully navigated another (third) crisis—one of the most severe since the 1939-1945 war. Humanity will have experienced significant fear, and even the most solid businesses will have been weakened, with their operations disrupted and transformed (such as the rise of remote work and the resulting new organizational structures).
This crisis is hitting the global economy, its financial markets, and directly impacting large, medium, and small businesses.
We will not sugarcoat the truth. Economic indicators will remind us: recession is no longer a threat, we are in it. Entire sectors will be devastated for months or even years, some businesses will face difficulties and become further indebted, and others will disappear.
Typology of Businesses That Withstand the Crisis
1. These are the ones that have prepared for uncertainties
As the French philosopher Edgar Morin recently said (https://lejournal.cnrs.fr/articles/edgar-morin-nous-devons-vivre-avec-lincertitude): “The arrival of this virus should remind us that uncertainty remains an impregnable element of the human condition (...) All the social insurance you can subscribe to will never be able to guarantee that you won’t fall ill or that you will be happy in your marriage! We try to surround ourselves with as many certainties as possible, but living means navigating a sea of uncertainties, through islands and archipelagos of certainties on which we refuel..." "I do not live in constant anxiety, but I expect more or less catastrophic events to arise (...) This is part of my philosophy: ‘Expect the unexpected.’”
This philosophy is adopted by several savvy business leaders who have managed to integrate it into their company's culture.
2. These are the ones currently preparing their sales and markets
Businesses that are prepared for uncertainties know that this is the time to prospect and position themselves for the upcoming growth. Through relevant lead generation actions, these companies fill their order books and prepare for recovery.
In this way, they ensure that their sales teams have filled agendas with new opportunities. They will have a competitive edge over their rivals who are paralyzed by fear. However, to overcome fear, you must not give it time to take hold and settle in. Waiting will only amplify it, leading the company to catastrophic scenarios and ultimately validating the dreaded virus.
Among the most effective tools for lead generation: telemarketing (as shown in this graph).
According to this study, telemarketing and inside sales remain the most effective tools for generating leads.
You can see this in the graph.
Its effectiveness is proven in B2C and is even more formidable in B2B.
Advantages of Telemarketing for Lead Generation
A true expertise has developed in recent years.
For companies like Leads Provider, which work with high-value products such as software and technology, there has been an evolution. Telemarketers have become salespeople, Inside Sales.
A true expertise has developed in recent years. It is the telemarketing companies that have evolved by investing in their human resources that make the difference in the success of a lead generation campaign. In these companies, the salesperson has earned their stripes.
Engage in constructive discussions with prospects
These are outbound sales representatives who master the art of engaging in constructive conversations with prospects and focus on qualifying leads to then pass them on to clients, who finalize the sale.
The goal of our Inside Sales team is to provide a constant flow of qualified leads so that the clients' sales pipeline is regularly filled with qualified opportunities.
Collect relevant information
The télémarketing It is a very responsive tool; it is the only medium that allows salespeople to speak directly with prospects and clients. This is very important because they collect invaluable information, such as the reasons for refusals, which they categorize for analysis and record in a CRM.
The company obtains information to refine its pitch and enhance objection handling for future calls.
Unlike emails, which might be read and filed or discarded, etc.
The impact of outsourced lead generation.
Today, setting up an inside sales team to generate qualified leads quickly and at reasonable costs is a must for companies that want to sell.
Let’s examine the initial investment required to recruit an Inside Sales team:
In 2017, a study conducted by Manpower showed that recruiting real salespeople is among the most difficult skills to find, even before engineers, management, and executive positions. Recruiting salespeople is a significant investment. The recruitment process encroaches on your employees' time and, consequently, on their projects to find the right candidates. Typically, this is an investment of between 30 and 90 days, followed by 4 to 6 weeks for onboarding and training new recruits. Afterwards, it takes an average of 6 months for a salesperson to become effective and autonomous.
The retention rate of a salesperson who successfully passes the recruitment and onboarding process is only one to two years. According to Harvard Business Review, the average turnover rate for salespeople is 30% per year. From an investment perspective, this is equivalent to recruiting and training the entire sales team every three or four years. Replacing a single telemarketer can cost between €70,000 and €85,000. However, in some cases, the cost can reach up to €280,000, not including the lost sales during the transition.
This investment is not limited to human resources. The company must also factor in the costs related to technology, software, and the infrastructure necessary for the salesperson to perform their job effectively.
Added to all this are solutions for automating calls, BI tools for generating reports, making the bill quite hefty for the company.
How telemarketing companies eliminate these costs
Using a telemarketing company for lead generation drastically reduces this investment. You will cut costs related to recruitment and training. An outsourced telemarketing company has already made this investment and has a fully trained and immediately operational sales team. Thus, you will have immediate access to these skills and, most importantly, you will receive your first qualified leads within the first few days.
You will be protected from turnover. If your Inside Sales staff leave your company, you would need to restart the entire process from scratch! Telemarketing companies ensure uninterrupted lead generation and have established and protected processes thanks to their infrastructure and technology.
Thus, your organization can continue to focus on its core competencies and the quality of its products and services.
3. Last but not least. Crisis-resistant companies take care of their clients
You have certainly invested a lot of resources, energy, and investment to attract and persuade your clients to buy.
Creating and retaining customers is a company's purpose, according to economist Theodore Levitt.
Your clients are the most valuable yet also the most fragile intangible asset.
Marcel Pagnol's saying, "better than a friend, a client," is more relevant than ever during this crisis.
This pandemic will cause companies that do not nurture this asset to lose clients; some will be overwhelmed by debt and potentially disappear, while others will be sidelined in the competition, later finding that they have lost clients to their competitors.
In a recessionary economy, a company has no choice but to maintain constant contact with its clients, delighting them and even exceeding their expectations.
The simplest way to maintain growth is to continue acquiring more clients through lead generation and to retain existing clients. Implementing a customer-oriented strategy to gain a competitive advantage is imperative.
At the time of writing, many decision-makers and business leaders are grappling with numerous questions, unable to make decisions and paralyzed by the uncertainty caused by the Coronavirus. While leadership is indeed challenging, succumbing to inertia is easy and its consequences are disastrous. Now is the time to act, to rejuvenate your business with qualified prospects, delight them, and sell. Your company will then be positioned for sustainability and success.