Outsourced New Business Development?

Hi Paul,

I started the same kind of business this summer - www.seedleadgeneration.com I now have 4 customers including one of the most successful IT security vendors in the world. Our first big pitch was against 6 established telemarketing companies and we took the business....because we understood the business while nobody else went to the effort - they preferred to talk about themselves.

I worked for a number of high risk start ups and sales agencys in London and the most valuable lessons I learned were around how not to do it. Having set about solving the challenges associated with creating new business we now have a solution that creates high level opportunities that also removes 70-80% of the normal leg work telemarketing agencys engage in. We don't get 70-80% more opportunities however the opps that we create are real business which funnily enough are what businesses need and want.

Telemarketing companies have a bad reputation. They generally promise the world then fail to deliver. If you plan to run a new business generation service or agency don't rely on cold calling alone as it is not effective enough you need to do more through other avenues. Perhaps the main reason TM's have a high customer turnover.

I'm not going to give away Seed's IP but it is a good business to start if you have something to offer beyond cold calling and can demonstrate how you can impact your customers revenue target. The sales agency I worked for in London was outsourced sales and folded last month. One question I would ask an outsorced sales agency is - Why would you work for £150-250 per day rather than 30-45% margin as a reseller if your sales people can close the deals?

Good Selling!

Dan
dan@seedleadgeneration.com