A performance lever for the sales force
18 July 2008
Read by 1993 persons
Software publisher Itesoft has abandoned all trade show presence in favor of an internal telemarketing unit responsible for preparing the ground for the sales force.
For companies with an internal sales force, performance depends, among other things, on the complete allocation of salespeople to a strict sales conversion mission. Telemarketing makes it possible to relieve them of all prospecting work. This is the gamble that Itesoft, a software publisher with 110 employees in France, about fifteen in Great Britain and ten in Germany, took three years ago. Itesoft's sales problem fits into a B-to-B scheme: a broad target of major accounts, an offer characterized by long lifecycles, for an average turnover per project of around 100,000 euros. "Our software is expensive. We therefore carry out a limited number of projects per year. As a result, the cost per lead of a presence at trade shows was not sustainable," explains Magali Michel, marketing and communication director.
In 2002, Itesoft abandoned all participation in trade shows and decided to test telemarketing in project detection, in order to prepare the ground for its fifteen sales engineers. Initially, the task was entrusted to a single person, recruited specifically for their experience in remote project detection. "Seven years ago, we had carried out some outsourced telemarketing actions. It turned out to be catastrophic. We work on an offer that is too technical and too financially "involved" for our clients to entrust its marketing to subcontracted teleoperators," comments Magali Michel.
Today, the telemarketing unit comprises three people, recruited on permanent contracts with a bac + 4/5 level, who work part-time between project detection by telephone and the organization of seminars. "Setting up client and prospect events allows telemarketers to maintain technical control of our offer and to enrich their arguments with testimonials, which proves invaluable for selling complex products." Itesoft organizes around thirty seminars each year, each bringing together between one hundred and three hundred people. Five years ago, the publisher generated all its sales leads through trade shows and seminars. Now, telemarketing alone generates two-thirds of the leads, with the remaining third coming from links established through seminars.
According to the marketing director, telemarketing generates a cost per lead five times lower than that of seminars and ten times lower than that of trade shows. As for the total volume of leads, it has doubled in recent years. Every day, the telemarketing unit records around thirty useful contacts (for an average call duration of 10 to 15 minutes), of which one-tenth are leads. Itesoft's German and British subsidiaries have already adopted the same sales organization model.
Published on September 1, 2005
Posted online on July 18, 2008
chefdentreprise.com
For companies with an internal sales force, performance depends, among other things, on the complete allocation of salespeople to a strict sales conversion mission. Telemarketing makes it possible to relieve them of all prospecting work. This is the gamble that Itesoft, a software publisher with 110 employees in France, about fifteen in Great Britain and ten in Germany, took three years ago. Itesoft's sales problem fits into a B-to-B scheme: a broad target of major accounts, an offer characterized by long lifecycles, for an average turnover per project of around 100,000 euros. "Our software is expensive. We therefore carry out a limited number of projects per year. As a result, the cost per lead of a presence at trade shows was not sustainable," explains Magali Michel, marketing and communication director.
In 2002, Itesoft abandoned all participation in trade shows and decided to test telemarketing in project detection, in order to prepare the ground for its fifteen sales engineers. Initially, the task was entrusted to a single person, recruited specifically for their experience in remote project detection. "Seven years ago, we had carried out some outsourced telemarketing actions. It turned out to be catastrophic. We work on an offer that is too technical and too financially "involved" for our clients to entrust its marketing to subcontracted teleoperators," comments Magali Michel.
Today, the telemarketing unit comprises three people, recruited on permanent contracts with a bac + 4/5 level, who work part-time between project detection by telephone and the organization of seminars. "Setting up client and prospect events allows telemarketers to maintain technical control of our offer and to enrich their arguments with testimonials, which proves invaluable for selling complex products." Itesoft organizes around thirty seminars each year, each bringing together between one hundred and three hundred people. Five years ago, the publisher generated all its sales leads through trade shows and seminars. Now, telemarketing alone generates two-thirds of the leads, with the remaining third coming from links established through seminars.
According to the marketing director, telemarketing generates a cost per lead five times lower than that of seminars and ten times lower than that of trade shows. As for the total volume of leads, it has doubled in recent years. Every day, the telemarketing unit records around thirty useful contacts (for an average call duration of 10 to 15 minutes), of which one-tenth are leads. Itesoft's German and British subsidiaries have already adopted the same sales organization model.
Published on September 1, 2005
Posted online on July 18, 2008
chefdentreprise.com
