Equifax and TTMC partnership on track for ‘best-in-class’ demand generation.

Equifax is a global data, analytics and technology company offering a unique blend of differentiated data, analytics and cloud technology. It provides insights that help financial institutions, companies, employers and government agencies make critical decisions with greater confidence and deliver a seamless and positive experience for their clients during life’s pivotal moments.

Headquartered in Atlanta and supported by more than 14,000 employees worldwide, Equifax operates or has investments in 24 countries in North America, Central and South America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region.

Campaign objective and project background

Equifax was facing a number of challenges with its existing marketing operations model and had therefore determined to transform its strategy. In addition to improving lead quality, priorities were to streamline processes, increase productivity, improve the customer experience and reduce lead response times.

The company needed a partner with the right experience and expertise to integrate with its own team and facilitate the journey to ‘best-in-class’ demand generation and approached The Telemarketing Company (TTMC) to request a proposal. Voice specialist TTMC, brought in its B2B specialist digital partner, Modern Media, in order to present a fully integrated solution to Equifax’s demand generation and operation needs.

A thorough procurement process resulted in a shortlist of two agencies, followed by the appointment of TTMC and Modern Media’s combined proposal based on the depth and breadth of the partners’ skills, expertise, and relevant experience.

Project execution

The transformation initiative set out ambitious goals with a priority on improving lead quality through the addition of phone pre-qualification.

Dealing with high volumes of unqualified leads was eating up valuable sales time, negatively affecting conversion rates and delivering a limited customer experience. Given the size and complexity of the initiative and the need to completely re-engineer lead flow, a comprehensive onboarding programme was set up involving senior management and a series of pre-launch meetings. Systems integration was a crucial component so TTMC’s IT specialists were assigned to map out new processes, with all actions and responsibilities tracked within a robust project plan.

Initially, TTMC would manage leads from three main sources which required seamless information exchange across multiple platforms. Call dispositions within the TTMC Connect calling platform were aligned to Equifax’s sales stages and custom exports established to ensure an integrated approach. An inbound phone line was also set up so that agents could manage live phone enquiries on behalf of the client.

At launch, the main workstream for TTMC was lead qualification, responding to inbound enquiries, reactivating leads and qualifying new leads based on a strict criteria to ensure only high-quality reached the sales teams. Agents conducted thorough and systematic phone qualification with profiling questions capturing the information needed for sales qualification. Leads were then assigned to sales teams with complete, up-to-date information, qualified interest and fit.

As new digital campaigns were launched, lead volumes began to grow. To maintain the quality of the customer experience, TTMC established strict Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for key performance criteria including response times, which were initially a vital area for improvement.

As trust in the partnership and TTMC’s capabilities grew, other parts of the customer journey and areas of the business were identified where voice-based services could add value. New workstreams were assigned to TTMC including:

• Event and webinar promotion – proactively calling event registrants to qualify interest and flush out sales leads.   

• Customer research to define client Net Promoter Scores.

• Outbound calling to promote relevant products to relevant audiences.

As the programme has expanded it has been reinforced by a shared culture of continuous improvement with regular calls, review meetings and a solid feedback loop. Marketing dashboards, call recordings, Smartsheets and TTMC Connect, the agency’s real-time reporting platform, have tightened collaboration, shared insight, and tracked progress towards objectives. The demand generation transformation has gathered pace benefiting from more clearly defined processes, integrated systems and workflows, systematic lead qualification and increased productivity from a dedicated team and bespoke calling platform. With well-defined SLAs and more responsive lead management, the customer journey is also much smoother and more cohesive.

Results

Equifax hit its marketing lead targets in 2022, proving the value of lead pre-qualification and voice-based services. Considerable progress has been made on the journey towards demand generation excellence including:

• Better alignment of sales and marketing.

• A tighter feedback loop that delivers actionable insight.

• Robust qualification that has increased the quality of leads to the sales team.

• A refined lead flow, improved customer journey and response times.

Sales teams receiving higher quality leads has resulted in an increase of 131% in number of wins, and 300% in opportunity value year on year.

2022’s success has given Equifax confidence that the partnership will continue to support them in achieving even more ambitious targets, tighter integration and continued improvements in the quality of their customers’ experience. There is a clear roadmap for the ongoing transformation of their demand generation model and priorities have been set for the next stage on the journey.