TTMC’s technology sector expertise delivers healthy pipeline of sales-ready leads for Circle Cloud

Circle Cloud are official Microsoft Gold Cloud Platform Partners with extensive experience in delivering Office 365 and Azure projects.

As Microsoft Cloud experts, they specialise in the design, implementation and management of Office 365, Azure and Microsoft Teams Calling. Their specialist consultants offer design, build and migration services advising clients on how best to achieve their goals.

Campaign objective and project background

Through their partnership network, Circle Cloud had access to The Telemarketing Company’s (TTMC) demand generation and telemarketing services. As a technology sector specialist, TTMC had been engaged to provide tailored campaigns to each of the businesses within the managed partner programme.

Circle Cloud had not previously used the telemarketing channel and were keen to evaluate its potential to extend their marketing capabilities and develop new areas of business. They therefore approached the agency with a brief for a pilot campaign tailored around their Azure scoping proposition.

Project execution

The aim for Circle Cloud was to increase their customer base in the Microsoft Azure space with a calling programme communicating their ‘Azure Scoping’ proposition to IT decision makers in businesses with 50-500 IT users. The goal for TTMC was to qualify prospects based on agreed criteria and schedule high-quality meetings with a Circle Cloud consultant.

Rather than selling the benefits of Azure, calls needed to identify prospects actively considering Azure, those wanting to make the move but needing direction as to how to get there. Consultants would then meet with qualified prospects to show how Circle Cloud’s Azure Scoping Package could help with the transition and deliver a technical architecture tailored to their business requirements.

Through their network of trusted data providers, TTMC sourced data to match the target audience, which they then loaded and segmented within their bespoke calling platform to track performance independently across multiple sectors. During a live, interactive briefing session the client gave detailed insight into their proposition, the competitive landscape and their target audience including the relevant pain points and objections agents might face.

As calling began, initial results were promising and TTMC was able to schedule multiple meetings within a short timeframe. However, once meetings had taken place, it became clear that the length of the sales cycle for the scoping proposition might not allow for a full evaluation or return on investment within the limited eight-week pilot period.

On this basis, Circle Cloud approached TTMC to see if it was possible to pivot the pilot to a different proposition, one with broader appeal and a shorter purchase window. This would be Circle Cloud’s Office 365 Security Scoping Package, a two-day security audit of Office 365 infrastructure leading to a comprehensive set of recommendations from one of Circle Cloud’s specialist consultants.

TTMC was happy to adapt and quickly re-briefed the team and restructured the calling schedule. The change proved fruitful very quickly, doubling the rate and quantity of leads generated. The client and agency worked closely together to further optimise performance using shared call recordings and TTMC’s real time reporting capabilities to supply a robust feedback loop.

Whilst IT decision makers are one of the hardest-to-reach audiences, the campaign benefited from the skill and tenacity of the calling team, and their expertise engaging prospects in the technology sector. Using their data management capabilities and experience running hundreds of campaigns for other technology clients, TTMC also honed the sector focus and unearthed new potential markets including education.

Results

Having quickly understood the limitations of the original brief, the client was extremely impressed with the agility of the agency and the telemarketing channel in pivoting at short notice to accommodate a new strategy.

By the end of the eight-week pilot period, TTMC had already secured one customer and delivered a mature pipeline of leads and opportunities. In addition, they had captured valuable insight on longer-term prospects which they nurtured and provided to the client as a qualified database for future sales and marketing activity.

The pilot surpassed client expectations and has opened their eyes to a strategic, flexible channel that can integrate with and enhance their current marketing mix. The quality and quantity of results delivered has proven the value of the channel and identified a trusted partner and technology-sector specialist that can support their future needs.