It is essential to reach a decision maker within a company or organization for B2B calling to be successful. As experts in B2B telemarketing, we know how common it is for a caller to get caught on the lower rungs of the corporate ladder.
For complex B2B sales, it is the decision maker who has the power to move the sales process further along.
Without proper messaging or experience, callers can get stuck at the “gatekeeper” and fail to reach decision makers and generate real, qualified leads.
How to Reach The Decision Maker
While each industry and call is unique, the following methods have proven successful for our own callers to get them connected with a decision maker faster.
Choose the Right Message
The first few seconds of a call are what can make or break it. Crafting the perfect pitch comes with time and experience, but knowledge of the company and the industry they are part of will put you on the right track.
Understanding who they are talking to, their role at the company, and their relationship to the decision maker allow callers to craft a message specifically for that prospect that will better appeal to the needs and wants of the company.
Getting past a gatekeeper can often be difficult, which is why your initial message is essential.
Even if you don’t reach the decision maker on the first attempt, your message is always important.
If you reach a prospect’s voicemail, always leave a message. Leaving a voicemail is a chance to introduce the prospect to your name and business before you attempt to reach out again.
Practice Professional Persistence
To reach the person with buying power, we practice “professional persistence” – in other words, making multiple calls to multiple representatives within an organization.
A representative should aim for six calls when attempting to make contact – this applies to every prospect targeted within the organization. If a caller stops their attempts before reaching six, they are cutting themselves short of an opportunity to connect.
Many representatives fail to make more than one or two calls for fear of being bothersome. This is understandable, but when the statistics tell us that it takes at least six touches to reach and connect with a decision maker, it is crucial to remain persistent and continue to make the calls. Otherwise, you are handing your prospects over to the competition.
Experienced Callers
Experience is a key factor in reaching a decision maker. Callers who understand the industry into which they are calling can uncover the needs of prospects through open-ended questions. These callers are much more likely to reach and connect with those with buying power than an inexperienced caller with a scripted pitch.
Business experience is what equips a B2B caller to start a conversation that can uncover opportunities.
Through our experience in B2B lead generation in healthcare and life sciences, IT, manufacturing, financial services, retail, and eCommerce, we’ve learned that understanding the details of an industry, as well as its terminology, is necessary to reach the decision makers.
Beyond understanding terminology, our callers have a deeper insight into how these industries work and can discern the needs of the companies within them.
The success of a call comes down to the caller; without experience or industry knowledge, a caller is unlikely to properly deliver a message that will resonate with a decision maker, and he or she will likely get stuck at the lower levels with little potential to move a prospect along the sales cycle.
Reaching a decision maker is a crucial step for successful B2B lead generation. If your callers don’t have the business experience and acumen to navigate an organization and engage with a decision maker, consider outsourcing to those who do.
