How do cold calling agencies work?

by Synnuh
9 replies
I'm ready to outsource the sales, but I'm not sure exactly what I'm getting into. How do cold calling agencies work?

Do they set appointments? Or do they only get paid on sales? Not sure if they're just getting me warm leads, or I can hand off the sales process to them, and let me VAs build the sites out.

I'd like to get an idea what I'm going into before I contact anyone.

Has anyone had luck with local sales guys? I've tried two and they were both lazy as fxck. That's one trait that will piss me off in a heartbeat.

I haven't been able to find someone who was actually motivated by money, and not just until they got the monkey off their back.
#agencies #calling #cold #work
  • Profile picture of the author SalesGod
    I run a large telemarketing and inside sales firm. I'm not looking for any additional work but I can give you some info so you don't get ripped off. What industry are you in?
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    Be careful.

    Check that anyone you hire is going to get one or two callers to specialize in calling for you. Otherwise the company may blow through your budget very quickly by having many callers start at once. The result would be many lousy quality calls.

    Make sure a caller is learning your market, your niche.
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  • Profile picture of the author SalesGod
    you defiantly want to dig deep when looking for a team of cold callers to represent you. you can very easily damage your reputation if your dealing with a bunch of rude armatures. don't expect them to be all the same. Most of the clients I deal with have been ripped off or had extremely bad experiences with 3-4 sometimes even more telemarketing companies before they find me or I find them. Look for confidence but not to the point where it seems unrealistic, ask for references or happy customers they've delt with in the past, give them the script or if they write it have them call you back and pitch your product or service to you. You can then decide if thats how you want the customers first encounter with your company to sound like.
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  • Profile picture of the author quadagon
    There tends to be two business models either you hire a sales force or lead generation team.

    There are pros and consistent to each and which way you go should be decided upon your business model and the infrastructure you have in place.

    For example if its lead generation what happens if you get two leads at once. If its appointment setting how do you deal with cross town appointments.

    When we've dealt with lead generation we usually agree:

    No of dialling hours to be dialled per week/month

    No of agents to be online at any one time

    Call to lead rate

    What penalties are to be imposed for idol time, wrap time and quality scores.

    What bonuses there are for over achievement of kpi's.

    When we do lead gen then there is normally no reward for sales. This can be problematic on the quality of the leads the client receives which is why we look to have knockout questions to prequalify leads.

    Databuying is normally handled by the client but some (like us) will try and get involved and use our experience and contacts.

    Data buying is a thread worthy subject so have a look into this.

    So in the above we may charge you £20 per dialling hour per agent. With an agreement of say 25 dialling hours per agent per week.

    This way you would know what your spend is.

    If it was a sales team you were hiring then the process is a little more detailed as we need to know exactly (to the smallest detail) what you can provide, legal issues, payment process, sales tracking.

    This generally means a slighlty longer set up process. Bonuses for the agency can then be based on a per sale basis/ profit generated/ x amount underwritten. There are any number of options.

    From your point quality and compliance are the big issues. No good having loads of poor sales that cancel (another thing to talk to the agency about).

    Again infrastructure could you deal with an extra 3,5 or 10 sales a day and maintain quality.

    Sorry that went longer than I planned.

    Any questions just ask.
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    I've got 99 problems but a niche ain't one
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  • Profile picture of the author Synnuh
    I'm building rank & rent sites for local contractors.

    SalesGod, anything you can give me. You mention writing the script -- is that on me? I already know I suck at writing them from my insurance days. I really don't like selling so I need to know what all I should be presenting to the agency, to make sure I don't come off as a complete neo and get reamed in the process.

    Jason, does your team have experience with rank and rent databases?

    quadagon, you mention the client providing the data... do I need to provide the lists? That's not something I'd thought about, actually. I'd just assumed it was on the sales team.

    Ideally, I'd like to have a point of contact I can give a list of sites I've developed to, and have them start calling the areas renting the sites out, upselling managed PPC and SEO.

    ---------------------------------

    What type of commission structure would this require? Is something like $50 a sale, or $100 a sale too little? Too much? What's the standard structure? I've paid local guys $100 a sale, and tried 50% profits, neither worked out very well.

    I'm a developer, not a sales guy. I need that role taken care of.

    I guess the main question is. Is it possible for me to build out these sites, hand off a list to a sales team with a payment subscription button, update the sites, start collecting payments and forward commissions to the team, then build out more sites, rinse and repeat? From a sales agency perspective?
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    • Profile picture of the author quadagon
      Originally Posted by Synnuh View Post

      quadagon, you mention the client providing the data... do I need to provide the lists? That's not something I'd thought about, actually. I'd just assumed it was on the sales team.
      We would normally work with a client on list development but normally it's the clients responsibility. You know your business and who is best matched to your offer ie industry, size, age etc.

      You can go to a list broker and get the data you need. Some agencies might have preferred suppliers and some may assist you.

      In the UK you normally rent a list for period of time say a month during which you can call them. Afterwards we send the data backto the client (normally we've also cleaned the list).

      Depending on the contract the client can then get free data or money back depending upon how much cleaning we've done.

      When you approach different companies check as it may also be an additional cost for you to consider.
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  • Profile picture of the author SalesGod
    I always write the script. If they can't write you a good script don't hire them. I pretty much demand to do it unless they have a script that's been working for years and years but that's rarely the case. My clients like that I write it because it shows confidence, makes you look like a professional, and your not hiring a bunch of money's to talk on the phone your hiring sales professionals and you should expect nothing less. I'm going to send you something in PM look out for it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Synnuh
    I'll take a look. I can't dig into too much tonight, but I'll go over it and get back to you tomorrow.
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  • Profile picture of the author thesadshow
    The best cold calling agencies are run by people who are really good cold callers themselves. Then they design scripts and a training regimen and teach people how to sell the way they do it.

    Trusting people to cold call on your behalf with even supervising them sounds like a nightmare to me. People can't be trusted when they can't be held accountable.
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