Business to Business, CIO's, IT Leaders and the Bull Pit of Lead Generation
Telephoning IT Leaders, whether CIO's, IT Directors or Heads of Strategy and Infrastructure through the UK, the US East Coast and Northern Europe with intelligent and strategic propositions, is central to my business activity. Having done it for twenty years, it might be said I know a thing about it too.
Let me set the scene by going back to 1985, when the PC first hit the desktop. No more getting up to visit the filing cabinet; all your information was to hand - a real boon for the marketing department. No longer were the records of the 95%, who were not able to say "yes" to the proposition, lost to bad handwriting and the dustbin, together with their valuable conversational intelligence. It became realistic and profitable to record that information and to run a database as oppose to a list. The more sophisticated the data records got, the more pay back they gave. A struggle to sell in the Thatcherite era of quick money in the late 1980's, the database finally came into its own during the recession of the early nineties (the last we were able to understand and measure properly before the new scenarios of a global economy began to pan out) as both BtoB and BtoC organisations now wanted to hit the new upturn in 1993 and come out running from those sticky starting blocks. Outsourcing and "returning to core business" were the new mantras as the "job for life" began to disappear. Technology was beginning to lead business by the hand, so much so that business had to make a real effort to pull back the reins.
With this background, the IT Director or computer manager was held up as an icon of efficiency and future development but isolated in a separate world until a problem (shortly to become an issue?) arose, as no one else understood, or wanted to understand, the technology. Business stood back aghast at the increasingly expensive budget requirements and the underlying, disturbing dependency on the spend engendered.
Around the turn of this 21st century a new breed of executive began to appear. Methodologies were put in place and processes laid out for a middle ground where technology and business could work together. The more enlightened companies picked CEO's who at least knew how to 'walk the walk' when it came to IT and a rare one or two organisations even gave their IT leader a seat on the board. The CIO was born (though even now the majority are still not full board members). One of first,Uve Natho of BUPA, was telling me then that soon his world was to become a rota of strategy meetings from 08.30hrs to 17.30 hrs amidst much subsequent but necessary operational delegation. At the same time, experienced IT Directors were being head hunted to sort out huge operational requirements from legacy mainframe systems that didn't communicate with desktop PC's and to centralise distributed (mostly country based) networks. IT leaders were running badly short of time as tight deadlines for solutions were imposed upon them. They began sheltering themselves with good 'guard dog' secretaries who diligently screened calls, determined to be proactive in pursuit of market knowledge rather than react to the latest cost saving measures that promised to cut their workload but rarely did. Purchasing was becoming a financial science and by 2003 ROI intelligence was required; a business case had to be produced before a purchase was considered. By 2006 Mike McNamara, IT Director UK at Tesco, would not take a meeting unless his Purchasing Director ratified it first and could then be present for the pitch.
So where does that now leave the person with a telephone call to make about a new proposition addressed to the IT leadership of a leading global and national business? 'In the mire' some would say, whilst IT strategists rejoice, glorifying the fact that they no longer have to hear unsuitable pitches put to them by people who knew not the first thing about the environment in which IT engineers the business and therefore by default, pitches delivered without intelligence, without getting to the point quickly enough and sometimes with an over aggressive tone to boot.
Well, I'm glad to say that there is still room for manoeuvre if you play the game properly, with honesty, respect, courtesy and consideration - still a 'big ask' for some. Despite all the barriers that CIO's, CTO's and IT Leaders have had, quite necessarily, to put in place (and these can vary from voice mail only direct telephone numbers to an insistence on an initial approach by e-mail), when you do get to speak to them most are amenable to an intelligent, brief and well targeted proposition put to them by someone who understands how they work and the pressure they are under.
And when you take into consideration that 3 or 4 conversations a day on the back of 80-100 dial attempts is now the statistical norm - and that's on a good day - from the point of view of those companies doing the pitching, these opportunities had better be made the most of!
Previously Published Atricle That May Be of Interest To Readers
LATEST NEWS
Marketing sector guilty of double standards
by Alexander Simpkin Brand Republic January 2006
Alexander Simpkin
I was shocked to learn that more than 1,500 companies in the marketing, advertising and PR sector have registered with the Corporate Telephone Preference Service, writes Alexander Simpkin, an outbound telemarketing consultant.
I have often contended over the 20 years I've been in this business, that it is a shame many people in the communications industry do not think of themselves as recipients of direct marketing, whatever the channel, as well as instigators.
Those who are able to do so benefit from a more personable approach that pays dividends right from initial strategic planning, through tactical implementation, and also, happily, to the degree of return. After all, isn't identification a key tenet of the sales and marketing process?
I never thought, however, perhaps over-optimistically, that I'd encounter downright cynicism.
Consequently, I was therefore considerably taken aback when I discovered recently that of those companies registered with the Corporate Telephone Preference Service, a disturbing 4% slice of the first-year registrations through July 2004-2005 have been placed by companies operating in the marketing, PR and advertising sector.
This is equivalent to around 1,750 companies as at the end of September, when the overall company total was 44,093.
So it appears, to some, to be OK to initiate direct contact but not to receive it. This is totally shameless and, were it not for privacy regulations, I would be happy to have those who registered on this basis named, shamed, tarred and feathered.
Perhaps fortunately for them they are not alone. They sit alongside the 69 companies who have registered more than 1,000 numbers and who have declared themselves as coming from the financial services sector, which is the highest direct contact propagator in UK business.
Actually, the CTPS may well die a death anyway. The UK is the only country in the world to my knowledge to have a registration service for business telephone numbers.
Just as protectionism in the EU with reference to agricultural and other subsidies has recently been in the limelight, do we really want to be seen to perpetuate an over-protected commercial environment? Do we really want to inhibit the sense of fun we get out of hunting in the business arena too?
I think not, but the key factor is that the CTPS is unenforceable.
As any good business-to-business telemarketer knows, there are many legitimate ways of getting to your prospects without breaking the rules.
And these are prospects who are quite capable of shielding themselves anyway, through a combination of their own company practices and data protection legislation or, as is fast becoming the case now for department heads, not even having a direct number or an extension logged in at the switchboard.
So, let's do away with this hypocrisy now, shall we? If you work in a sector that deals with direct contact, whatever the channel, start supporting your sector.
And for our part, let's get on the telephone only when we're reasonably sure that we have the right prospect, we have a proposition that will benefit the prospect's company, and that we can deliver that proposition concisely, intelligently, courteously and, importantly in an era where untold brand damage is being done through offshore placement, intelligibly.
Alexander Simpkin is an IDM Fellow and has worked for clients including Cisco Systems, Harper Collins and Nestle.
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, do post a comment.
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