Blog

What are you trying to prove? The value of a proof of concept

Telemarketing is a channel well known for its ability to generate high-quality, sales-ready leads. Speaking directly to your prospects, understanding their needs, and crafting a tailored, compelling proposition can really accelerate your lead generation efforts.

However, beyond demand generation, a telemarketing programme involving hundreds of one-to-one conversations with customers and prospects is also the perfect opportunity to perform a thorough proof of concept (POC). A POC allows you to test different approaches, validate assumptions, make iterative improvements, and ensure your strategy is robust from the start.

Telemarketing is particularly well suited to this sort of pilot because it enables you to learn quickly and validate your approach in a systematic, transparent way, so you set off on a better track. It is:

  • Data-led and highly measurable: giving full transparency of what does and doesn’t work.

  • Agile: allowing you to test different approaches and make incremental refinements as your programme matures.

  • Highly personal: allowing you to connect with your target audience and hear the true ‘Voice of your Customer.’

  • Insightful: capturing up-to-date, accurate customer, market, and competitor intelligence.

  • Targetable: enabling you to reach and engage with a well-qualified and defined audience.

  • Scalable: allowing you to quickly ramp up once you have validated your approach.

What can you learn from a Proof of Concept?

A proof of concept can address the specific questions each business wants or needs to answer. It can help you test your approach and gather customer feedback and insights as it performs core functions such as lead generation, appointment setting, or full telesales. With a structured calling schedule incorporating key profiling questions it can flush out nuggets of valuable information, probing areas such as:

Your proposition

  • Does your proposition address the needs of your target audience?

  • Which features/benefits are most/least attractive and why?

  • Do your competitors offer additional features that you don’t?

  • Are there future customer needs that you can anticipate and address?

Your target audience/market

  • Which audience is most receptive to your offer?

  • Where are they active – which channels or media?

  • What are the key customer personas?

  • Where is demand highest and which market segments offer the best opportunity?

Your brand reputation

  • How is your brand perceived?

  • What values are you associated with?

  • How satisfied are your customers?

  • How do customers connect emotionally with your brand?

Your message and content

  • Is your message clear and fully understood?

  • Does it chime with your target audience?

  • Does it address the right needs and pain points?

  • Is your content easily digestible?

Delivering a proof of concept

An external agency is often better placed to deliver a proof of concept than an internal team, particularly in the case of a large, less agile business.

An agency can flex and experiment with multiple approaches. It has dedicated systems and analytics in place to track and report performance, for example, to gauge response across different segments or provide real-time visibility of results and campaign status. A specialist is also set up to capture valuable insight through call recordings, lead notes and defined call outcomes in a systematic way that makes it meaningful and actionable.

We recommend a proof of concept at the start of every engagement as it allows clients to test, iterate, and launch products quickly and effectively, providing insight to feed strategy and deliver faster growth.

Our clients really value the additional layers of learning a POC brings:


Their technology and set up including management information and call recording enabled a fast start and good tracking. The pilot quickly proved that the right approach to telemarketing can work for our market with a vastly reduced, time, cost and risk than if we had trialled this ourselves.

Co-Founder and COO, Exizent


"It’s been excellent working collaboratively with TTMC. Having access to call recordings – especially in the pilot stage – was essential, as it allowed us to adjust the telemarketer’s approach and language.

We were also happy with the CRM tool that TTMC use, meaning we could see the calls happening, read the notes, and listen to the calls themselves, all without suffering hundreds of emails and noise."

Customer Strategy Director, Smartdesc


“I was impressed with the efficiency and flexibility of the TTMC team. We have changed our tactic on several occasions, which they embraced and applied wonderfully. Very approachable and easy to work with. Due to their high productivity, proactiveness and constantly growing knowledge, they have provided us with great results and insights of the market.”

Internal Sales Team Manager, Person Centred Software


“Speed of delivery was rapid and the TTMC dashboard easy to use. Both the quantitative reporting and verbatim feedback has proved invaluable. Finally, the account team were excellent, responsive and keen to find solutions.”

Managing Director, Book Tokens Ltd


Whilst success is often measured by primary objectives such as leads generated, appointments booked, the depth and quality of insight provided by a telemarketing POC can offer value way beyond individual outcomes.

If you are struggling to understand why your current strategy isn’t working, uncertain about the best approach or keen to test different elements of your proposition/message, get in touch to discuss how we can help.
 

Related articles

Six strategies to drive sales growth in 2025

Six strategies to drive sales growth in 2025

Friday, November 29, 2024
Find out more
Personalised marketing - the power of the human touch in telemarketing

Personalised marketing - the power of the human touch in telemarketing

Wednesday, November 13, 2024
Find out more
Ethical telemarketing: a reality, not a myth

Ethical telemarketing: a reality, not a myth

Wednesday, October 9, 2024
Find out more
Maximising marketing ROI with telemarketing analytics

Maximising marketing ROI with telemarketing analytics

Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Find out more

Our full range of telephone services

Data Services

Flexible Data Services

Data Cleansing
Data Cleansing
Clean, up-to-date data delivers better quality leads and boosts sales
Read more
Data Enrichment
Data Enrichment
Data enrichment helps you better connect with your target audience and delivers actionable insights, improved conversion
Read more
Email Opt-ins: GDPR
Email Opt-ins: GDPR
Do you have a clean, compliant, opted-in database?
Read more

Pre Sales Research

Drive your sales strategy with telephone interviewing

Pre Sales Research
Pre Sales Research
Arm your sales and marketing teams with clear customer intelligence and actionable insight.
Read more

Telemarketing

Telemarketing that’s personal, agile, smart and insightful.

Lead Generation
Lead Generation
A steady stream of qualified buyers
Read more
Call Handling
Call Handling
We can provide your customers with an expert, personalised service - making every interaction count
Read more
Appointment Setting
Appointment Setting
Successful appointment setting requires meaningful human interaction with senior decision makers
Read more
Lead Management
Lead Management
Improve lead flow and quality - turn inbound leads into sales
Read more
Event Marketing
Event Marketing
Engage high value attendees and drive registrations
Read more
Lead Qualification / Nurture
Lead Qualification / Nurture
Move leads through the funnel more strategically with our expert lead qualification and lead nurturing services
Read more

Sales

High-performance Telesales

Telesales / Inside Sales
Telesales / Inside Sales
Flexible, high performance transactional telesales and complex inside sales services.
Read more
Account Based Marketing
Account Based Marketing
Increase profitability, reverse churn and increase customer lifetime value.
Read more

Post Sales Research

Strengthen customer relationships

Welcome Calls
Welcome Calls
A welcome call is an opportunity to reach out to new customers and reduce customer churn, as part of an effective customer management strategy.
Read more
Customer Satisfaction
Customer Satisfaction
Gain a more nuanced view of your customers’ experiences through phone-based surveys.
Read more
Treating Customers Fairly / Compliance
Treating Customers Fairly / Compliance
An FCA authorised and regulated business, our expert team can help you meet your TCF compliance needs.
Read more