Telequalification: An Imperative for Bottom of the Funnel Leads

We live in a digital world, but in order to get leads that convert, it is imperative to dial up an age-old marketing vehicle: the phone.

In fact, when it comes to capturing bottom of the funnel leads, you need the validation that only human-to-human interaction can bring. A phone call is the only way you can get that, barring a face-to-face conversation, of course.

It is, however, imperative to note that telequalification is not a fit for all leads. For example, content syndication or awareness building should not require telemarketing or tele-qualification and can in fact be off-putting at this stage.

But when it comes to converting a lead to pipeline, you need telequalification to give it that final push. The proven winning marketing strategy is based on that 1-2 touch of email-digital marketing quickly followed up with a phone call.

Here are the reasons you should leverage telequalification, along with a few tips to make your calling successful:

Is it a true BANT lead?

Digital leads can always come as fully BANT-qualified, but there is only one way to truly confirm their state of BANT. It’s by speaking with these leads to make sure they indeed have an urgent problem to solve and that their selections on a form match their actual situation. A phone conversation will reveal if they truly have the authority to make or influence an important decision. The lead can clarify timing and budget for you and also give more details about a specific need. Unless you speak to them, you will never know for sure.

Personality

We are always fixated on the project. When will it happen? How much money is budgeted? But the most important element in all of this is the person — specifically, his or her personality.

We’ve found that when we provide some details about not only the project, but the personality as well, it prepares the salesperson better. Is the lead talkative, or is she direct and to the point? You can imagine how helpful this can be to a salesperson who is going to be speaking with a lead for the first time and has only a few seconds to build rapport. They can adjust their approach based on the lead’s personality, and can have a richer conversation if they have this information.

Explicit agreement to follow-up

One of the quality measures you can institute in your organization is to make sure that the lead gives an explicit YES to a follow-up phone call from sales. Just checking a box on a form is not sufficient these days. In fact, if we can confirm follow-up, we can also confirm a good time frame for when to follow up. When we instituted call-back time frames (in addition to confirming it is ok to call the lead back), it improved our client’s connect rate because they knew when to call.

Consider making telequalification a part of your bottom funnel outreach strategy, and you’ll see great results.