Stephen Zarick, CEO, VO Group
Is it no wonder that telemarketing has a black eye.
At VO Group, we call “telemarketing” Sales Prospecting. This is different than doing email blasts, which could be called Marketing.
What we find is that most technology companies have their lead generation programs managed by Marketing, yet the companies wonder why the solutions that they sell for $200K plus are not properly qualified. Our experience shows there is a turf war between Sales and Marketing. In fact, Gartner did a study recently which reported that 70% of Marketing people thought that leads (in the tech space) were adequate, yet 70% of Sales people thought the leads were not adequate. Yet, 70% of the lead generation programs were operated by Marketing people. To us at VO Group, this is a staggering and illogical set up.
There is an obvious disconnect between Sales and Marketing that should be resolved, or could be resolved, and done so quite easily. Have the (SALES) Prospecting effort fall under Sales. Or simply embrace a philosophy within your organization, “Hired by Sales, Supported by Marketing.”
Sales people that deflect Sales Prospecting efforts to their Marketing people are the first to complain when the leads that come in are poor, when the Sales people should be the first to embrace that “Sales” Prospecting IS Sales, not Marketing.