The amount of activity required to generate leads today is growing out of control. It is like an iceberg - the what is seen above the surface, is minor relative to the effort that is required.
Take telemarketing for example - it can be a very lonely job if you are targeting C level.
How often would you expect somebody working on it full time might expect to talk to a decision maker?
Well last year, we ran some numbers across a wide range of campaigns in Britain and Ireland. The figures for C level exec in a large organisation were on average one decision maker spoken to every 3 days. So, in a typical month one would expect to talk to 3 or 4 decision makers, with perhaps somewhere around 20-30% being interested in meeting. That would put the telemarketing cost of each meeting at in the region of 3-4,000 euro / pounds.
Are you surprised at those figures? It is important to bear in mind that these are the results achieved by a full time telemarketing person. For those of us who have other jobs to do as well, namely meeting with customers, preparing proposals, etc., achieving the same result could take months.
Everybody knows it has got harder to access C level executives. Again our numbers shows just how much harder. Comparing 2008 to 2003, it takes twice as many calls and twice as many hours of effort to talk to a C level manager. Now, I don't want to even talk about the effect of the current economic slowdown on those numbers - the results are down by up to 75%!
What does all this suggest? Well that cold calling is out and networking is in. That if you want to talk to C Level executives you have to be patient and persistent. That you have to give these managers a compelling reason to want to listen.
Well last year, we ran some numbers across a wide range of campaigns in Britain and Ireland. The figures for C level exec in a large organisation were on average one decision maker spoken to every 3 days. So, in a typical month one would expect to talk to 3 or 4 decision makers, with perhaps somewhere around 20-30% being interested in meeting. That would put the telemarketing cost of each meeting at in the region of 3-4,000 euro / pounds.
Are you surprised at those figures? It is important to bear in mind that these are the results achieved by a full time telemarketing person. For those of us who have other jobs to do as well, namely meeting with customers, preparing proposals, etc., achieving the same result could take months.
Everybody knows it has got harder to access C level executives. Again our numbers shows just how much harder. Comparing 2008 to 2003, it takes twice as many calls and twice as many hours of effort to talk to a C level manager. Now, I don't want to even talk about the effect of the current economic slowdown on those numbers - the results are down by up to 75%!
What does all this suggest? Well that cold calling is out and networking is in. That if you want to talk to C Level executives you have to be patient and persistent. That you have to give these managers a compelling reason to want to listen.
