Download Better Sales Leads and Conversion Rates in a 360

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Growth Services
Selling Power:
Better Sales Leads and Conversion
Rates in a 360-Degree World
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Better Sales Leads and Conversion Rates
in a 360-Degree World
THE LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE:
A WEALTH OF DATA
Today, buyers are actively engaging online to research
products, share referrals, and evaluate purchase decisions.
They’re also highly active on social networks and leaning
heavily on mobile devices to consume content, engage
brands, and purchase products.
These shifts have had an enormous impact on
companies, particularly those that operate in highvolume selling environments. Consider the following
trends and statistics:
• Widespread online activity among consumers has left
companies with a wealth of data to sift through and
mine for selling opportunities. As of 2013, a full 90
percent of the world’s data was generated in 2011 and
2012 alone.1 Because the customers are entering the
buying process via many different touch points (e.g.,
Website interactions, social media channels, call centers,
etc.), companies must be equipped with systems, tools,
and processes to collect and intelligently leverage data
generated by these interactions.
• The sales cycle as it existed a decade ago no longer exists,
as up to 60 percent of the business-to-business (B2B)
sales cycle is complete before prospects talk with a sales
representative.2 This means there is more pressure than
ever on marketing teams to create a valuable experience
for customers before they talk with sales representatives.
Every interaction counts, which means that marketers are
getting more sophisticated in the ways they use analytics
and programmatic media buying.
• Industry experts say that social and mobile trends
are rising in tandem. “Mobile is inherently a digital
opportunity,” say International Data Corporation (IDC)
analysts Melissa O’Brien and Peter Marston. “Marketers
work to optimize messaging for mobile devices.”
In short, the challenge for sales and marketing leaders in
this era is to figure out how to effectively bridge the gaps
©2014 TeleTech Holdings, Inc. - All rights reserved.
between marketing, sales, and customer care in order to
deliver a cohesive customer experience that meets and
exceeds the needs and expectations of today’s buyer.
THE ROLE OF ANALYTICS AND AUTOMATION
Analyst firm IDC says analytics is vital to sales in this new
digital age. Effective tools must not only gather and report
lead, prospect, and customer data, but also interpret
the data and enable execution strategies based on this
interpretation. Enterprise companies already have many
existing processes and systems that reach across sales
and customer life cycles. The question becomes how to
tie these elements to marketing and salespeople to create
a completely automated experience.
Automation has usually been regarded by leaders as
an ideal way to establish more productive and efficient
systems across sales and marketing organizations. In
this era of the digitally empowered buyer, however,
automation has become a must. Thanks to the sheer
volume of data now available from social media, digital
Trends in Social and Mobile
The rise of social networks continues to have a major
influence on the way B2B buyers consume content and
establish relationships with brands. According to a recent
study from IDG Connect, 86 percent of information
technology buyers use social media today in their purchase
decision process.3 Because it is a prime source of customer
sentiment, it allows marketers to measure and quantify their
brand’s effectiveness in the market.
IDC says one practical reason sales is leveraging social is pure,
old-fashioned cost cutting. Companies are focusing marketing
spending on less expensive, more efficient solutions. Social
channels such as Facebook and Twitter provide free
marketing, and all digital channels offer much better measures
of ROI in marketing campaigns. So less money spent more
effectively on marketing enables lower pricing — always an
attraction for customers.
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marketing, and interaction with the mobile devices
customers now use, companies absolutely need to find
ways to integrate automated systems into their processes
(see sidebar, “Trends in Social and Mobile”).
Absent cutting-edge, intelligent, and comprehensive
automation, all the riches available in the digital age would
be more likely to swamp and paralyze organizations than
to enhance sales effectiveness. For example, O’Brien
and Marston have noted that customer feedback and
comments are rampant on email, social networks,
short message service (SMS), and other online forums.
According to O’Brien and Marston, “Companies are starting
to see the ability to use this
data to their advantage but
are struggling with how to
AQ360SM will typically
handle the volume.”
improve qualified leads
by 20 percent, and
sales reps’ conversion
rates will improve by
a further 20 percent.
Furthermore, this struggle
to intelligently handle huge
data volumes is taking place
while customer expectations
are shifting into high gear.
Customers now expect
companies to meet them
on their own terms but want to communicate easily
with a company in a cadence that works for them. The
customer also expects the company to know about these
communications, understand them, and react intelligently
to the questions or points made. If a company can do
this, it personalizes and dramatically strengthens its
relationship with the customer.
But if it cannot, all that extra communication may just
lead to frustration and dissatisfaction. “Customers also
expect personalization and seamless interactions when
dealing with a company at any point during the life cycle,”
O’Brien and Marston note. “Often, those expectations
are not met.”
MEETING THE NEW EXPECTATIONS
OF CUSTOMERS
Smart enterprise sales and marketing leaders are investing
in tools that help them leverage the rich data of the digital
age and turn customer interactions into a tight, seamless
circle across the organization. “We integrate sales and
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Growing Companies in a Real-Time World
TeleTech’s Growth Services division is truly real-time. Both
marketing focus and sales tactics reflect all the available,
up-to-the-moment data, converted to attract the best leads,
determine their interest, and convert them to customers. Its
tools have been proven and recognized. Indeed, the average
user of its digital demand-generation tools enjoys a 30 percent
increase in sales volume and 20 percent boost in ROI.
For example, the sales and marketing analytics in AQ360SM
have helped various companies achieve the following results:
• Lifted the conversion rate of a global delivery service company
by 30 percent and increased sales 20 percent year over year.
• Generated $20 million in additional revenue in the pipeline for
a multinational computer technology corporation, with more
than 90 percent of passed leads accepted by sales.
• Generated new leads with 30 to 45 percent conversion rates in
various markets for a multinational automobile manufacturer.
• Generated $300 million in additional sales for a multinational
corporation specializing in Internet services and offerings.
Accolades have followed achievement: Revana, a part of
TeleTech’s Growth Services division, has been named Sales
Outsourcing Provider of the Year for three consecutive years.
It is also one of the 25 fastest growing search agencies in the
United States.
marketing and provide the technology and data to better
segment and get better ROI [return on investment],” says
Michael Behrens, senior vice president of TeleTech’s
Growth Services division.
For example, AQ360SM enables firms to enhance
high-volume, fast-cycle sales by leveraging the mobile
and social interactions of customers. The end-to-end
solution helps sales teams harness more than 400
data points — including more than 300 from marketing,
15 from live sales contacts, and 150 from sales
operations — and makes sure sellers and marketers have
easy access to intelligence from digital sales interactions,
marketing automation, lead nurturing data, and personal
sales conversations.
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Pricing Models for AQ360SM
The solutions and the stunning improvements they can bring
to organizations are available on attractive terms. Revana has
two pricing models for AQ360SM. The first is a combination
of a percentage of online media managed plus a fee for
professional sales services. The second is performance in
accordance with such performance metrics as delivery of
digital demand generated, qualified leads, sales conversions
and/or revenue — all of which TeleTech’s Growth Services
division is completely responsible for and controls.
In today’s digital environment, this kind of solution bridges
the gaps between marketing management, online visits
and content, salespeople, and sales management. The
tool has a tremendous capacity to influence business
strategy and leadership decisions. Consider the insight
AQ360SM provides; it tracks
• the amount of the sale,
• how long the entire cycle took,
• geographic location of the prospect,
• what kinds of content the prospect has consumed
on your Website,
• Website interactions,
• how many conversations with the prospect
were required,
• and how long each conversation took.
The product also relates these variables to characteristics
such as mobile device used by the prospect, keyword to
which the prospect responded, and even time of day. All
of this rich prospect data is not simply tracked, analyzed,
and reported. It is constantly translated into adjustments
in both digital marketing and personal sales tactics.
This is highly valuable insight for sales and marketing
leaders and essential to their ability to succeed at the
ground level. For example, the data rolled up by AQ360SM
determines the priorities of digital leads, to which sales
rep a lead is routed, which offer is made to the prospect,
and the sales script the rep uses (see sidebar, “Growing
Companies in a Real-Time World”). All the while, leads,
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prospects, and even current customers are being
contacted and treated the way they want to be contacted
and treated, even if they have not said so explicitly. “We
provide dynamic optimization,” says Behrens, “the right
script to the right rep to make the right offer. No one else
does it as dynamically as we do.”
AQ360SM detects prospect preferences from their
behavior, not a survey. This instant adjustment of sales
strategy to preferences can make a huge difference. For
example, AQ360SM found that people who contacted a
financial-services company using a smartphone had not
done much research, unlike those who used a laptop. By
changing the script to reflect this difference, mobile sales
increased 221 percent year over year and conversions went
up 1,064 percent, according to Jonathan Gray, marketing
vice president of TeleTech’s Growth Services Division.
The dynamic capabilities of AQ360SM are constantly sifting
those 400-plus data points, looking for just these kinds of
improvements. The big discoveries about how prospects
prefer to be sold come quickly, but new insight steadily
emerges as AQ360SM obtains more data and can segment
leads by more variables and combinations of variables.
These unique capabilities thus work best for high
volumes of digital inquiries and contacts, and they are
most effective for sales with relatively short cycles, for
example in the insurance, health, or financial industries.
Prospects do a lot of research online for these products,
and purchasing decisions can be made in as little as 15
minutes of a sales call. In these kinds of markets, Gray
estimates that AQ360SM will typically improve the
efficiency of marketing spend in generating qualified
leads by 20 percent, and sales reps’ conversion rates will
improve by a further 20 percent (see sidebar, “Pricing
Models for AQ360SM”).
Comprehensive, dynamic, detailed, and digital, AQ360SM
is a combination of automation and smart professional
services that leading analysts have been calling for, and it
is gaining recognition for truly impressive sales results.
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ABOUT TELETECH
TeleTech, founded in 1982, is a leading global provider of analytics-driven, technology-enabled customer experience business
solutions. The Company offers an integrated platform that combines consulting, technology, care and growth services to
simplify and personalize interactions that build deep engagement between people and brands. This holistic, multichannel
approach improves customer satisfaction, increases customer loyalty and drives long-term profitability and growth. From
strategic consulting to operational execution, TeleTech’s over 40,000 employees speaking over 50 languages deliver results
for Global 1000 clients in the automotive, communications and media, financial services, government, healthcare, technology,
transportation and retail industries. Through the TeleTech Community Foundation, the Company leverages its innovative
leadership to ensure that students in underserved communities around the globe have access to the tools and support they
need to maximize their educational outcomes. For additional information, please visit teletech.com.
ABOUT SELLING POWER
In addition to Selling Power magazine, the leading periodical for sales managers and sales VPs since 1981, Selling Power Inc.
produces the Sales Management Digest and Daily Boost of Positivity online newsletters, as well as a five-minute-video series
featuring interviews with top executives. Selling Power is a regular media sponsor of the Sales 2.0 Conference.
www.sellingpower.com
1SINTEF. “Big Data, for better or worse: 90% of world’s data generated
over last two years.” ScienceDaily.
2Scott Gillum. “The Disappearing Sales Process.” Forbes.
3Alex Kantrowitz. “Social Media Increasingly Important for
B-to-B Marketers: Study.” Advertising Age.
©2014 TeleTech Holdings, Inc. - All rights reserved.
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