Sales and Marketing managers in the ICT sector. These are the people I have been in professional contact with for about 20 years now. I am fortunate that the The power of service calls great people belong to my own target group. How nice it is to be in contact every day as a salesperson with people who are jointly responsible for generating leads and converting them into orders.
In the articles that I write every now and then, I like to share knowledge and experience about the different situations in the marketing and sales domain. Perhaps you recognize things that you encounter or who knows, you might pick something out of it that you can use to your advantage. I think it would be great if it does that. Feel free to let me know if – and what – you find useful.
What are service calls The power of service calls
This week I want to zoom in on the subject of ‘service calls’. A concept that I came into contact with many years ago and that is still listened to with great interest when it comes up. This subject is more in the listening of Marketers than in Sales. Perhaps because it exposes a vulnerable side of Sales.
But okay. First perhaps explain how I mean the definition of service calls. A service call should be seen as a telephone contact moment with a (potential) customer with whom there has already been a previous contact moment. A lead, in other words. A lead that has already been rejected or a lead that is still in the pipeline at the sales channel. Or perhaps it concerns a customer with potential for cross- and up-selling.
The service call, of which we have now carried out countless times, was originally set up to ensure conversion in the indirect channel, but can also be used very well by your own sales team.
Practical case The power of service calls
A few years ago I came into contact with a large leading car importer for whom we actually only had to do a sample to measure how many of the (expensive) generated leads were followed up by the indirect channel (in this case the car dealers). The outcome of this sample was that about 65% of the leads were followed up. In our experience at the time with the follow-up of participant lists of congresses, that was not necessarily bad at all. After all, a much lower percentage of the list was followed up properly.
However, the marketing manager of the car importer was very upset about. The low follow-up percentage and made a bold promise to himself. His employer and to us that this follow-up would increase drastically in the foreseeable future.
To achieve this goal, two main components were set up:
- Part 1 was developing a defined process for lead follow-up, with serious agreements made with the partner channel . This agreement with the dealers consisted of a promise to follow up all provided leads within two weeks and a target with which a larger margin could be made on closed orders.
- Part 2 was the setup of a process to perform a ‘service call’. We performed this for all leads that were provided to the indirect channel.
Positive side effects of the service calls
The purpose of the service call was to show gratitude for the interest. The lead and to investigate whether the follow-up had been entirely satisfactory. The obvious consequence was that approximately 40%. Whom it had been demonstrated that they had not been followed up, also indicated this to us. This gave us the opportunity to catch these leads and still have them followed up if they so desired.
But we also experienced many positive side effects of these service calls. For example, we discovered that leads that had been followed up on, had often been rejected for the wrong reasons. We also brought these back into the sales process . But we also learned where incorrect or incomplete information was provided. This led to targeted training of the indirect channel.
We discovered that a serious portion
The leads that were not followed up, were not finland phone number library followed up for a good reason. This led to an adjustment at the beginning of the lead generation process so that. The quality of the leads to be followed up increased. We also discovered how much the extra bit of attention was appreciated. The leads and that they almost never experienced it as too much contact.
Understandably, there was resistance from the 5 tips to increase inside sales conversion channel at the start and there was concern about the controlling nature of the activity. However, the demonstrable improvements were visible so quickly and the added value for all involved was so great that the effort was quickly experienced as supportive.
Nice results The power of service calls
Ultimately, we managed to structurally increase lead follow-up by the entire channel to well above 90%. The conversion on the generated leads was also increased, with the icing on the cake being an increased appreciation for the brand and its image.
A good example from a sector other ch leads than IT, but a sector where the challenges in the indirect channel show many similarities with those in IT.
If the idea raises any questions or if you think it would be fun or useful to talk further about the possibilities of service calls, feel free to send me a message and I will be happy to share my experiences with you.