Hello retail-minded friends. Today we were excited to sit down with Heather Cash and Rebekka Herrington of CallSmart Intelligent Prospecting to discuss lead generation and appointment setting, and how this is of service to the retail world!
1. What exactly is lead generation and appointment setting?
Rebekka: Lead generation and appointment setting is when we find a targeted lead list for a client, make the calls for them and set an appointment with the sales person from a potential lead using appointment setter services. It is a quick means to an end for a prospective client.
2. How did you two decide to start CallSmart Intelligent Prospecting?
Heather: I had started a business much earlier, 17 years ago actually, Herrington and Cash Telemarketing, went to college, and it sort of acted as a summer job or a job during the school year. A year and a half ago, Rebekka joined and we decided that the company needed rebranding, so we changed the name and CallSmart evolved. When we looked at what we were doing with our clients and the value we added to their organization, we saw that we weren’t exactly solely performing cold calls anymore, nor were we telemarketing. Instead, we were forming relationships with the people we were contacting, turning cold calls into warm calls. We developed the relationship with these contacts and fostered them until our clients were ready to take on the relationship we had started for them.
3. What are some other services that you offer at CallSmart Intelligent Prospecting? What would you consider to be your most popular and successful service? Which service(s) would retail product manufacturers be most interested in from CallSmart Intelligent Prospecting?
Rebekka: Most of our services are around calling, lead generation and appointment setting. Those would also be our most popular services. Another thing that we are doing increasingly is brand awareness campaigns, something that your retail clients may be interested in. We can do this is a very direct way by contacting people over the phone and reminding them that that brand is out there. These campaigns are definitely a growing service that we are offering. We also do data verification projects that are pretty popular. We clean up our clients’ contact lists as to make them of optimal value. Sometimes we help with fundraising in the non-profit sector. We can do RSVPs or even get people to join events, whether they are webinars or live in person.
Retail product manufacturers would probably be most interested in brand awareness campaigns. We can also follow up on business cards they have collected from trade shows, just to make the process easier and more organized for the manufacturer. As you know, it is important to follow up on inquiries in a timely manner, and we can definitely help with that. We can also distinguish qualified leads versus unqualified leads.
4. Is there a specific type of client that you serve? If not, what tends to be your most frequent type of client?
We were thinking about this, and we realized that we actually serve quite a broad market. There isn’t a category that we can’t work with, and sometimes our clients are more creative than we are in terms of how our services can be used! We often times serve companies who do not have a sales force, or if they do, it is really small. Generally, these are companies looking to build their brand and have stretched or limited resources. This tends to be small to midsized businesses. We do occasionally get larger businesses that have a special project they need assistance with.
6. How did your relationship with Yohan and Retailbound begin?
Actually we were working with another client who had referred us to Yohan. He had a project that didn’t make sense for our team to complete, but when the project came to Retailbound we produced some really great leads for him and had a great experience working with Yohan!
7. What kind of advice would you give to Retailbound’s clients who are mainly retail product manufacturers, in cold calling retail buyers?
Rebekka: My background is actually in consumer goods and retail so I have a lot of experience with calling retail buyers. I think it comes down to the same thing regardless of who you are calling: you have to figure out how your product or service will solve a problem and meet one of the retailers needs. You are often times offering them something that they already have, and your product may be slightly different, but you have to identify how your difference solves an issue they may be having, whether that be increased revenue, or something else. This will open the door to the next step of meeting with them and showing them the product.
For more information, check out CallSmart Intelligent Prospecting here: www.call-smarter.com
Pictured: Rebekka on left, Heather on right
Interview with CallSmart Intelligent Prospecting: Heather Cash & Rebekka Herrington
