(known as telesales
in the UK and Ireland) is a method of direct marketing
in which a salesperson solicits to prospective
customers to buy products or services, either over the phone or
through a subsequent face to face or Web conferencing appointment
scheduled during the call.
Call
Centre
A call centre is a centralised
office used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large
volume of requests by telephone. A call centre is operated by
a company to administer incoming product support or information
inquiries from consumers. Outgoing calls for telemarketing, clientele,
product services, and debt collection are also made. In addition
to a call centre, collective handling of letters, faxes, live
chat, and e-mails at one location is known as a contact centre.
Lead
Generation
Lead generation (commonly
abbreviated as lead-gen) is a marketing term that refers to the
creation or generation of prospective consumer interest or inquiry
into a business' products or services. Leads can be generated
for a variety of purposes - list building, e-newsletter list acquisition
or for winning customers.
B2B
Business-to-business (B2B) describes commerce transactions
between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler,
or between a wholesaler and a retailer. Contrasting terms are business-to-consumer
(B2C) and business-to-government (B2G).
The volume of B2B transactions is much higher than the volume
of B2C transactions. The primary reason for this is that in a
typical supply chain there will be many B2B transactions involving
subcomponent or raw materials, and only one B2C transaction, specifically
sale of the finished product to the end customer. For example,
an automobile manufacturer makes several B2B transactions such
as buying tires, glass for windshields, and rubber hoses for its
vehicles. The final transaction, a finished vehicle sold to the
consumer, is a single (B2C) transaction.
Sales Pipeline
A Sales tunnel (also called a Sales pipeline, or
a Sales funnel to emphasise the volumetric changes in deals) is
the way that both direct sales persons and SFA systems visualise
the sales process of a company. In any step of the sales process
prospects drop out of it, and from the large number of initially
interested persons on the narrow end of orders only a fraction of
the initially interested people remain and actually place an order[1].
The structure may start at various process steps (e.g. a sales lead,
or later, a sales offer) to a closed/finished contract or Deal Transaction.
The Sales Funnel metaphor has its roots in the real world use
of funnels. A large amount of liquid, or sales opportunities,
can fit into the top wide portion of the funnel. However, as you
move down toward the funnel neck, less and less opportunities
can fit.
A sales funnel is constructed by stacking several layers together[2].
Typical layers include:
1. New Opportunity
2. Initial Communication
3. Fact Finding
4. Develop Solution
5. Propose Solution
6. Solution Evaluation
7. Negotiation
8. Purchase Order
9. Account Maintenance
New opportunities are put in the top and worked through the
funnel until they either issue a purchase order, or become a disqualified
lead. The key to surviving in sales is to make sure that each
layer never goes empty. You should always know how many companies
are in each layer. The adage is "Fat pipeline equals skinny
kids." One-call closers have fat kids with better toys.
Knowing that it can take weeks or months to walk prospects through
the funnel process, you better have multiple prospects at all
the layers of the funnel.
So the bottom line is pretty straightforward. Make sure that
you have action at all levels in the sales funnel and you'll never
be desperate for a deal to close again.
Marketing
Marketing is an integrated communications-based
process through which individuals and communities discover that
existing and newly-identified needs and wants may be satisfied
by the products and services of others.
