How can I do B2B cold calling legally?

[VillainCopy]

I want to conduct a B2B telemarketing campaign for my business. It's a startup so I'll be making the calls myself through Skype.

Are there law dictating what times I can and can't call a business?
How can I obtain phone numbers to call legally?
Do I need to purchase data?

I can always trawl through Google and make a list of numbers, but that seems dreadfully slow and inefficient!

Thanks in advance.

 

[Alan]

You can call any telephone number that is publicly listed and not on TPS
" It is a legal requirement that all organisations (including charities, voluntary organisations and political parties) do not make such calls to numbers registered on the TPS unless they have your consent to do so."

see http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/index.html

 

[Phil Richardson]

Like with any form of marketing it is vital to understand your market, how they buy, when they buy and why they buy. Once you know this is it much easier to engage them in conversation and move them along the sales process.

In terms of data, again it is much better if you target 15 ideal contacts instead of 100 random companies. It isn't just the company and number you need but also who is the decision maker within the company, can you find this before the call so you are asking for the right contact from the first call.

Yes you can purchase data and there are lots of companies that sell it, again make sure you are getting the right named contact not just the MD who may not be the person who buys your product/service.

Have you thought of integrating the calling into your other marketing activity, so call those who visit your website, click on an email link, download some content or engage through social channels. You will get a much better response than just picking up the phone and calling random people but it does take a lot more time and effort to set up.

I've just skimmed the surface in this reply but telemarketing is difficult, time consuming, disheartening and boring if you do it badly or don't plan. It can still be one of the most effective ways of generating sales/leads and great fun if you do it well.

As a bit of self promotion we do lots of B2B lead generation and telemarketing campaigns and have a 'hopefully' useful blog at http://www.shortlistmarketing.co.uk/blog/

 

[Dave Sutton]

I agree with what Phil said above, you need to structure it in a targeted way. Create an excuse to call them - to follow-up an email or a mailout, or perhaps to collect some up to date details or market research information. Helps build a relationship with your target prospect before they think you're just out to sell them something.

 

[MBE2017]

A lot of landline providers will prevent TPS numbers being called as part of their service, but not sure if that will apply to Skype.

 

[JamesWW]

All I can add to this, is I used to work for a b2b call centre and we used a service from Yell and Tompson. I asked at the time why we just couldnt take phone numbers out of the phone book and was told that was illeague. Now I cant back this up with fact only what I was told. The Yell and Tompson online service was very good and you could imput what you where looking to target i.e. How many employees, location etc. yell.com / contactus/ try this site if you are interested I have no idea if it is what you are looking for and I dont work for advertise for them

 

[VillainCopy]

Ok thanks folks. The compliance seems pretty simple and inexpensive.

 

[Ashley_Price]

Either buying the data or trawling websites can lead to the problem of out of date information. You call the company, asked to speak to Mrs Jones, only to find Mrs Jones left three months ago.

It is shocking how many companies don't bother to even keep the staff profiles on their websites up to date. I used to do cold calling for my previous business and one afternoon, in 15 calls I got three "They no longer work here..." responses, yet I had got the names from their websites only that morning.

As you are doing sales calls, you are going to be on the back foot immediately if you call and the person no longer works there, it makes you look like you haven't done your research.

I would suggest doing it in a two-call process. The first call is to check the name of the person you need to speak to, then call back a couple of days later and ask to speak to that person.

 

[Success Forever]

you can make a great database through google in no time at all
Make calls while adding each business you call to an excel spreadsheet

This video will also help you prepare for making sales calls