Hello,

The first step is to take a hard look at your customer database. One rule of direct marketing lead generation that applies to all lead generation efforts is" You next customer will look a lot like your last customer". When you know their industry, titles, age geo etc you can now look for lead generation partners that have experience working with your target market. This also is critical when searching for the right list to call, mail or email. Match you clients to a list that looks the same.

If you are looking for a good telemarketing lead generation company that will not break the bank, I can recommend one to you.

tom@palmesedirect.com

Thank you
Tom

posted January 20, 2009

Hi Jared, great question. From my perspective as a user of telemarketing services and now as an owner of telemarketing company, the number 1 criteria that I have looked for throughout my career and that the ability to understand fully the customers goals and objectives. By understanding their objectives you can then set the right qualification criteria, implement the right metrics and measurements to measure the success of the lead generation. When selecting a provider, you should be attracted to those supplier who offer a risk v reward payment option, what I mean by this is that they accept a significantly reduced rate but backends their fee with success driven commissions. Hope this helps.

Mike

Links:

• http://www.myacorn.co.uk

posted January 20, 2009

Jared,

I'm of the belief that the Quality of leads is paramount to the value of a lead generation vendor. Of course, quantity never hurts, but there has to be a balance. I've seen programs that result in a huge number of leads, but they are barely qualified, and very few, if any sales result from them.

To muddy the waters, you also need to look at the additional value that a vendor is providing to you. You need to consider things such as:

- Are they an extension of your marketing program, or just an outside group that you throw programs over the fence?
- How well do they represent your company and solution to the market?
- Is your team experienced and mature in understanding and being able to effectively market your solution?
- What else is being provided to create an integrated initiative?
- Do they provide contact data for your use?
- Are you achieving increased brand awareness and name recognition as part of your marketing programs?

These are just a few of the softer values that a vendor can provide, and are all a key part of considering your partnership. Feel free to contact me if you'd like to discuss further. (and yes, that's the business that my firm is in...)

Alan
888-762-5041

posted January 20, 2009

Jared,

I'd guess most would suggest that caliber/quality of leads, understanding of your business/market, engagement process, clear expectations/metrics, and operating model of the firm, etc. are the most important criteria to evaluate a B2B Lead Generation Provider. I agree that these components are critical, but all are commodities nonetheless and any firm worth its salt should have these criteria down cold (or at least state they do!).

I'd offer that the *single most critical* differentiating factor when evaluating providers is simply this: The caliber, experience, presence/polish, skill and business acumen of the human professionals that will actually be representing YOUR company.

My research indicates that nearly all firms in this space employ average - above average telesales staff, who are usually adept enough to adequately produce decent results in a low-to-mid value sale. The more complex your solutions are will drastically reduce the number of firms capable of truly driving strong new revenue opportunities. Frankly, there are only about a handful that have this capability and the staff resources to be considered elite, domain experts that can earn exceptional credibility with your target audience of new business prospects.

And by all means, please remember to be extremely cautious if you are considering overseas outsourcing. Inexpensive and fine to sell printers to Mom & Pop businesses and set appointments for small-scale facility servicing providers etc., extremely bad idea for higher-value offerings.

Current economic landscape and business-to-business marketing dynamics require what I call 'First Impression Perfection' to be successful in direct lead development activities. That can only be achieved by the quality, experience, knowledge and excellence in the craft that you get from a seasoned, proven, polished expert.

For complex solutions new business development and lead qualification, try Sellerant. They are one of the 'handful' I referred to.

Best of luck!

Kenan

Links:

• http://www.sellerant.com

posted January 20, 2009

Hi Jared,

Wow, an ineteresting question that has sparked some interesting responses. Ralph is definitely on the button when he mentions that quality and accuracy of leads is important.

I also agree with Tom that if you can evaluate your current market/customers then you can determine who you should be targeting. After all, we may think we know who our target market is, but further evaluation of our customer list may surprise us.

I personally feel that the quality of a lead is determined by the source from where the leads are derived. If we are looking for a CEO in a medium sized corporation, we can not expect great results from a consumer coupon website. If we wanted to target mechanics at their place of work, we would like to talk to subscribers of Motor Magazine, not Martha Stewart Living Magazine, for example. The best source of quality business leads would be a network that is made up of quality business sites.

I hope this helps!

Karl Renelt
845-731-4178

posted January 21, 2009

Not enough time to elaborate, but a short answer worth paying attention to:

pay for performance

If your vendor is not willing to put their performance up as the only criteria of success, then find another vendor. Pay per lead, or pay per appointment, or pay per event registration. Anything else is open to billing abuse and lack of quality incentives.

Market with Courage!

Mike Damphousse
Green Leads, LLC

Links:

• http://www.green-leads.com/

posted January 21, 2009