How we Deliver Results with a Robust Onboarding Process
Whether we’re working with an existing client or a new one, at TCB we pride ourselves on consistently delivering high-quality, professional lead qualification services for each and every client. And an important part of this is down to our meticulous onboarding process.
When it comes to onboarding, we believe this isn’t a process that should be rushed. We want to guarantee the best possible results for our clients with a good ROI. This means taking the time to fully brief our team, qualify the data and outline a clear structure to ensure that we add value to the lead qualification process by having credible and authentic conversations with our clients’ customers.
In this post, we’ll be giving you an inside scoop on how we onboard our clients effectively for successful project implementation, time and time again.
The initiation – onboarding our business developers
The first part of the process is to onboard our business development team, getting them familiar with the project parameters.
One of our USPs is that we contact our clients’ customers as if we’re a member of their business, rather than an outsourced third party. This enables us to build genuine rapport with customers and strengthen the brand perception.
However, before our business developers pick up the phone to reach out to prospects, it’s crucial they’re fully conversant with what the client offers. As “members” of the client team, they must know enough about the business to have authentic dialogue - we never want to sound as though we’re reading from a script.
We achieve this through a condensed induction, which forms part of our onboarding process. Key to this is our client providing a detailed and clear brief, with the technical information we need to sound credible to the prospect.
The collateral – preparing support materials for calling
The next step of our onboarding process is to ensure we have suitable support materials for the business development team, which is also known as collateral.
For each campaign, we work with our clients’ marketing or comms team to develop a series of tailored email templates that we use to form the basis of any written communication with prospects or customers. For instance, we’d create a selection of email templates that can be used when we’re asked to send literature, or where we can’t reach someone by phone. Where necessary, these email templates are translated by native speakers into all the languages in which a project is being delivered.
We also compose thorough call guides, process flows and crib sheets for the business developers. This enables them to work efficiently, know how to handle possible objections, and understand what to do when a prospect shows interest.
Where our clients have an inside sales team actively working on outbound calls, much of this material may already be available, which naturally reduces onboarding time.
The data – reviewing and cleansing data
How we work with and record data often depends on the type of project and our clients' requirements.
For example, when we work with a client on a retained basis, we’re usually involved in lead qualification where the client is generating a regular stream of leads, often from marketing automation. We take these raw leads and provide marketing qualified leads for their sales team that is usually done in our own or the client’s CRM system.
However, for clients working with us on an ad hoc basis, we’re often given a spreadsheet for each campaign. This raw data becomes part of the onboarding process for that project, as it needs to be processed individually.
For instance, if the data is coming from SAP or from a distributor who doesn’t have a proper CRM system, we may need to invest substantial time upfront to review and cleanse it to get into a format and condition where our team can work efficiently. This typically means deduplication, data matching etc, which is managed by our CRM Technician.
The CRM – recording the qualified leads data
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms have become a cornerstone for modern sales and marketing processes as they allow you to record detailed information about prospects in one place – from contact information to communication records.
To ensure we deliver the most accurate and valuable prospect insights for our clients, we record all our activity – calls and email – into a CRM for our clients.
In most cases, our clients find it easiest for us to work in our own CRM system - reaching out and qualifying leads in our CRM, then inputting the qualified hot leads into their system to be assigned to their sales team for follow up.
Some clients prefer that we work solely in their CRM, most often Salesforce – and we’re always happy to accommodate their requirements. However, working in their CRM does have cost implications, as we’ll need to spend additional time training our team to use this new system. Plus, the client will face the cost of issuing extra licenses for our team, which can be expensive.
The timescale - onboarding timescales and lead times
With such a thorough process and different variables for each project, it’s only natural that timescales will vary project to project – and client to client. However, we always strive to deliver the onboarding process as quickly and efficiently as possible without compromising on the level of detail.
Some factors that affect the onboarding timescale may be the number of languages involved, the choice of CRM and data cleanse requirements. With all projects, we aim to have the onboarding completed over a month period, ranging from 24 to 64-man hours. For repeat projects or clients we work with regularly, this is often quicker as a lot of the infrastructure is already in place.
Why work with TCB?
At TCB, we strongly believe that with the right foundation in place – detailed briefs and technical information, relevant suitable collateral, quality data and robust data management processes – our clients can expect far better results from their lead qualification projects.
This attention to detail is what sets us apart from our competitors and makes us a favoured partner by so many well-known global brands within the B2B sector.
However, the real key to delivering meaningful results is our relationship building skills not just with potential prospects, but also with our client’s sales teams. There’s little point to us opening doors, if the sales team don’t trust us and won’t walk through them. That’s why we work closely with our clients at every level to build rapport and trust, demonstrating the value our leads can deliver.
If you’re ready to get your next lead qualification project off to the best possible start, get in touch with our specialist team today.