Outsourcing Prospect Conversion
Perhaps you have a prospect list or lists that you purchased or compiled, most companies do. Perhaps you don't. Either way, lists are easy to get through a variety of sources. Prices are pretty much the same, unless the contact information is guranteed, then you might expect to pay more. If your list is more than 6 months old, it is most likely not useful anymore, so you should consider starting fresh. The thought behind which market segments to add to the list is important; bad raw material means all processes relying on it will be bad too. Plan to start with a list of 300-500.
Once you have the list, the next question is who will tackle the first-round call process? Do you have internal resources that can dedicate 4-6 hour blocks of time to do this? Are those resources knowledgeable about your process and value proposition? Are they open to this necessary, but really difficult task? If you can't answer all of these questions with an emphatic "YES", consider outsourcing this part of the process.
Regardless of what you choose, the outcome of this process is simple, qualify the prospects that have an ongoing, present or future need for your product/service, identify the buying influence within the prospect organization, set up the prospect for a call from your sales organization. Any company that doesn't fit as a prospect should be documented as such and removed from future calls.
