Appointment setting campaign for LianLian Global’s UK launch delivers healthy pipeline and valuable market intelligence.

Founded in 2009, LianLian Global is a leading international cross-border service provider, powering a revolution in global commerce by making the movement of money faster, easier, safer, and cheaper. Its digital payment platform helps merchants simplify the complexity of operating in other countries, service providers safely integrate cross-border payments, and eCommerce platforms expand their seller base to new countries.

The company provides one-stop financial services for individual and SME customers worldwide by leveraging international networks, compliance and risk management capabilities, and expertise in the payments industry.

Campaign objective and project background

LianLian Global has a strong international presence with offices worldwide. The company wanted to extend its presence with a UK launch of its digital payments platform and needed an agency with direct sales experience in the financial services and foreign exchange sector.

The Sales Director at LianLian Global had worked with The Telemarketing Company (TTMC) at previous companies and knew the agency had deep and broad experience in the sector and solid credentials, including Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) authorisation. As a result, TTMC was appointed to undertake cold prospecting to generate new trading customers in the UK.

Project execution

The campaign needed to be set-up very quickly to achieve a clear window of calling before Christmas, the peak time for the target audience.

The goal was for TTMC to provide an outsourced sales development function, scheduling qualified appointments with businesses trading internationally, making or receiving cross-border payments. Given the highly competitive nature of the UK market and the fact that LianLian Global was not yet established here, it was agreed to target smaller ecommerce companies based on a minimum threshold of annual global payments. Target decision makers included Business Owners, Heads of Finance, Chief Accountants and Accounts Payable Managers.

A briefing was scheduled, and data provided by the client to be loaded into TTMC’s bespoke calling and reporting platform. The team was briefed in detail on the competitive landscape so they would be equipped to position the brand relative to large, well-established competitors in the market. Without immediate brand recognition, it would be vital for agents to create awareness and highlight LianLian Global’s unique selling points. They were given an in-depth overview of the full proposition, key customer persona and the likely pain points and issues that target audience might face.

The initial data pot had a high proportion of invalid numbers so additional data was provided and managed as a separate segment to enable benchmarking. Given the size of businesses targeted, reaching decision-makers was not an issue but agents needed to qualify prospects and validate data to ensure appointments were of good quality, confirming for example the level of overseas sales and that each contact had purchase authority.

Once engaged, agents had the task of educating the prospect on the brand, nurturing interest and building sufficient trust to secure appointments. Having established rapport, the team needed gather insight into current issues or gaps with current provider offerings in order to pinpoint the relevant benefits of LianLian Global’s proposition. Whilst the high-level message was helping companies save time and money making or receiving cross-border payments, it was important to tailor the proposition on each call to secure appointments. Whether speed of onboarding, access to better rates or service, or the ability to benchmark providers, agents needed to present a tailored proposition that differentiated the client’s offer.

Targeting a new market, the campaign had high potential to deliver valuable customer, market and competitor insight to help LianLian Global optimise their UK launch. Key profiling questions were included to capture information such as the current approval process, forward contracts and the impacts of seasonality. However, it was important to balance this will the other objectives of the call and avoid undermining the primary goal, which was to book the appointment.

Client and agency worked closely using call recordings to coach and support agents and optimise the approach as calling gained momentum. Shared call recordings and lead notes also provided vital insight for LianLian Global’s sales team in advance of appointments taking place, to increase the likelihood of conversion. Marketing materials were created to help educate prospects on the brand and nurture interest via email, alongside calls.

Results

TTMC has acted as an extension of LianLian Global’s own team, carefully positioning the brand with new prospects and skilfully tailoring the client’s offer. Performance has compared very favourably with in-house SDRs, generating a healthy pipeline of appointments with qualified decision makers.

The client has been very happy with the quality of agents, calls and results, as well as the agility of the agency, including the rapid turnaround of the campaign launch. Systematic qualification and robust quality assurance have ensured appointments have been set with the right businesses and individuals matching the target criteria.

In addition to a solid pipeline, LianLian Global has gained valuable insight to feed future strategy and develop the market based on hundreds of calls with qualified decision makers. The client now has a deeper understanding of how customers respond to their offer, how to position their brand and where they stand relative to competitors in the UK. In addition, they have a cleansed and refreshed database to support future activity.