A B2B lead generation program started last year has generated over 2,000 new leads for warehousing systems marketer APL Logistics.
The email and telemarketing program has resulted in response rates of 3.45%, exceeding the 2% to 3% APL originally anticipated, says Bill Spiker, vice president of business development at the Scottsdale, AZ firm.
Prospects for APL are warehouse managers, vice presidents and c-level executives in industries such as automotive, consumer electronics, consumer package goods and retail.
Names of 40,000 potential prospects were obtained from various sources, such as subscribers to trade publications like Logistics Magazine, and attendees to trade shows such has the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.
Before they were turned over to the APL salesforce, the leads then went through a telemarketing and email nurturing process that could take up to a year, says Kathy Rizzo, vice president of Telenet, APL's telemarketing agency.
As many as seven or eight phone calls were made to determine such criteria as how the leads were currently handing their warehousing situation, what types of materials they store, how much space they need and other data that would help APL to determine what sorts of systems might work for them, says Jason St. Onge, senior account executive at Telenet.
Via email, prospects were offered access to white papers on germane industry topics such as managing global logistics, offshore logistics and how to minimize operating costs.
Sending out these emails also gave APL another way to keep in touch with prospects and keep them interested in the company, says Rizzo.
The telemarketing efforts also included recontacting and re-engaging executives that APL had spoken with previously. "One of the things that happens is that when we do identify the right decision makers many times they don't have a need at that exact moment but what they do share is when they may be evaluating their plans," St. Onge says.
Once APL obtained these leads, it turned them over to its sales people who specialize in specific industries. After that, these sales people began having meetings with senior executives, making presentations and networking within prospect's companies, says Spiker.
At the moment, APL does not have any company-wide social media efforts but individual sales people might have their own. "It's something we're looking into," Spiker says.
Going forward, APL will continue these lead generation efforts will but Spiker says he's unsure how much this program will expand given the state of the economy.
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