Televerde Boosts Productivity & Reduces Cold Calling With Lead Management Solution
- Written by Kim Zimmermann
- Published in Case In Point
Like many B2B companies, Televerde historically concentrated on driving demand and accelerating sales through high-volume outreach to prospects. While that strategy had been successful over the years, the sales and marketing solutions provider focused on the sales element of the funnel that relied heavily on cold calling potential clients.
“We were calling people who were not at the point in the buying cycle where they were considering our solution,” said Morag Lucey, CEO of Televerde. “We have a group of talented professionals and having them blindly dialing wasn’t the best use of their capabilities.”
The company determined that it needed a more productive and holistic approach to customer interactions to take its success to the next level.
Challenge
As is the case with many B2B organizations, Televerde outsources some of its initial prospecting. In Televerde’s situation, they employ incarcerated women to perform some of these activities. “This presented some unique challenges from a training and security perspective,” said Lucey.
With those challenges in mind, the system had to be easy enough for all team members — not just those using the system from prison. A complex tool that required a lot of training wasn’t going to be feasible, especially in an environment where it could be difficult to schedule training sessions due to security constraints.
In addition, the marketing stack had to be able to provide a complete view of customer interactions. “We needed technology that would put humans and prospects together when the prospect was ready to have an interaction,” Lucey noted.
To add a more personal element to the sales process, Televerde wanted one representative to manage communication with potential customers throughout the process, starting with the initial call. Leads were routed to different individuals depending on how they made contact, which led to an inconsistent customer experience.
Solution
Televerde uses Marketo Engage as part of its marketing stack to engage buyers, qualify leads, develop opportunities, close deals and offer customer support throughout the entire buyer’s journey.
Marketo Engage supports Televerde’s consultative and managed services approach by helping prospects and clients better understand how to utilize the technology within their existing marketing and sales processes. Call insights are entered into Marketo Engage to provide an enhanced view into interactions with prospects to improve routing and follow-up, helping Televerde drive pipeline and close leads.
Results
The company has been using Marketo’s marketing automation platform for several years and began using Marketo Engage in the third quarter of 2019. After installing Marketo Engage, Televerde saw up to a four-fold increase in efficiency. Previously, setting up a campaign took up to two hours and involved building out the forms and landing pages, connecting the various elements, and testing. With Marketo Engage, the same process takes just 30 minutes.
“The biggest benefits we’ve seen really are around productivity and ease of use to support our strategy,” said Ashley Cruz, who is a Marketing Technology Manager at Televerde. Cruz became familiar with Televerde during her 10-year sentence at the Perryville State Prison Complex in Arizona.