There was once a time when a business seeking to build sales leads would primarily – or only – use cold calling to this end. Cold calling has ancient roots – however, these days, it isn’t always considered to have been proven a meaningful success in attracting a loyal customer base.
Hence, you should seriously consider focusing more of your attention on inbound marketing, where you would create value that makes customers initiate contact – including by phone…
Reasons to largely abandon cold calling
Does cold calling still bring results in modern marketing? Yes, it can – but, evidently, not particularly abundantly. According to a study by the Texas-based Baylor University, a mere 1% of cold calls are converted into appointments. This figure may not startle if you have been at either end of a cold call.
When repeatedly calling potential prospects to which you pitch your company’s offering over the phone, you could be faced with one rejection after another – to your increasing despair. Meanwhile, the other person could lack much time to spend listening just to blatant self-promotion.
Why could you benefit from an inbound strategy?
So, if you can’t realistically expect considerable success with cold calling, how should you tweak your approach? As explained in a definition posted by Business 2 Community, inbound marketing aims to provide relevant and useful content for customers who would come across it through such channels as search engines, blogs and social media.
Naturally, that content should include – or lead to – a phone number which potential customers can use to contact your company. Some sectors are especially reliant on inbound calls. Search Engine Journal points out that, in healthcare, 88% of patients make phone bookings, while 75% of people seeking insurance do so through calling.
Find out where exactly those calls are coming from
As we can see, businesses in particular fields are especially well-positioned to benefit from optimising their inbound call strategy. If your business is one of them, you can start by implementing what is known as call tracking.
At Planet Telecom, we offer a call tracking service that would let your company pick up various numbers and match them to different call sources. For example, you could place a different number in each of several newspaper advertisements. You could then, using an online portal, discern which of these advertisements are generating the most calls.
When call is said and done
With each call tracking service that we provide, you can add complementary “virtual office” services which help you maximise the promotional benefits. A call whisper service would indicate the specific number being called before you answer, giving you precious time to prepare a tailored response.
That response can help you further your goal of providing information relevant to that particular potential customer. You could later follow up that call with our help; we enable businesses to make cheap calls to India and various other markets worldwide. More details are at hand if you phone our company on 0800 0886 886.
