Recently, we posted an article on the cost of telemarketing. Within it, we included a section on "The Heineken Effect". This topic prompted a discussion, which we felt would be worth expanding on. The Heineken Effect refers to Heineken’s claim to “refresh the parts that other beers cannot reach.” Whilst telemarketing makes no claims to refresh any part of you, it certainly can reach audience segments that other marketing channels simply can’t reach.

Tim Newman, Telemarketing Specialist

Telemarketing vs Email Marketing

One objection to telemarketing that we often hear revolves around the low cost of an email marketing approach. If we were to do a straight comparison on price, of course, sending an email would always win, it costs literally nothing.

What telemarketing does offer, however, is the ability to speak directly to the right people. As we all know only too well, your beautifully crafted email might simply end up in the spam folder, or at a generic destination where it is deleted or, if it does by some miracle reach the correct person, it might remain unopened.

A well conceived and structured telemarketing campaign will pinpoint the exact companies and individuals that your company wants to approach. At The Telemarketing Company, we call via our bespoke calling platform, either direct to the target individual or via the main switchboard initially, and from there, we are diverted to the person who we believe will suit your product or service best.

Then, if the person we speak to is not the correct person (after all, some company structures can be bewildering), the person we are speaking to will, more often than not, know exactly who we need to speak with and, crucially, give names and sometimes contact details for us to pursue with a follow up call.

So, rather than an email going to someone, somewhere, we have a direct conversation with the exact person who is likely to be interested in the proposition you are offering.

This approach cannot be beaten by any other marketing channel. Whether the data you have is up to the minute or not, changes are constantly taking place. There is no way to hit the exact decision maker by any other means than a direct phone call.

The Human Touch

Even if we play devil’s advocate and pretend that an email or brochure has reached the correct person, it does happen sometimes, telemarketing still comes up trumps. Once we are speaking to an individual we have a human conversation with them.

This means that as we are speaking to them, we can tailor the offering to suit their needs. We can skip irrelevant features and play up the ones that the contact is most likely to be interested in.

Our telemarketers are trained to be persuasive, but not pushy. They are polite and business like. They ask pertinent questions so that, even if the prospect is not interested, business-relevant information can still be gleaned and passed back to you. This might include information about what products they are already using, why they are using them and when they are reviewing their current package. None of this information can be collected from a faceless email drop.

The Untouchables

There are still segments of the business world that are untouchable by any other channels. Some people are rarely office based and only contactable by phone, due to the nature of the sector in which they work.

Other audience segments ignore spam as a matter of course. Others still do not engage in social media, either because they don’t have the time, find it impersonal, or they may be technology averse.

Because these people are hounded less by businesses attempting to attract their attention, they can often react much more favourably to a telemarketing call. They may be slightly less jaded by marketing communication, or may by nature prefer to interact with a human, rather than a device.

Telemarketing vs Social

Social media has forever changed the way in which business is done. But social media does not offer the same level of interaction as a phone conversation. It’s true that companies are easier to talk to, but if a company you are looking to engage isn’t looking to engage with you, they are not likely to find your LinkedIn or Facebook page.

The internet also offers a whole raft of ways to advertise to businesses. But, with the rise of ad blockers, even this channel cannot be relied upon to bring home the bacon. A recent report claims that mobile ad blocking has increased 90% in the last 12 months, with one in five Smartphone users blocking ads. In addition, whilst the number of impressions your ad receives may seem incredibly high, the ROI may not be quite as impressive.

In conclusion, although telemarketing will cost more than a LinkedIn or Facebook ad campaign, or an email shot, the ROI is almost guaranteed to be better. We speak directly to the people responsible for making the relevant decisions. We interact, human to human, and have a two-way conversation. Rather than producing little more than brand awareness, we set up meetings where you can pitch to companies that you are excited about pitching to - face to face.

Telemarketing fills in the gaps. Whether used alone, or as part of a larger campaign, it is a worthy string to your bow.

If you are evaluating channels and looking for cost effective lead generation, telemarketing may seem expensive. However, when considering options, keep ‘The Heineken Effect’ in mind. Telemarketing is the only channel that, like a particular brand of beer; is guaranteed to reach parts other channels cannot reach.