The Power of B2B Telemarketing in the Convenience Services Industry

In an enlightening podcast episode from the Vending and OCS Nation podcast hosted by Bob Tullio, the conversation with Amanda Puppo, founder and CEO of MarketReach Inc. sheds light on the undiminished relevance of B2B telemarketing in today’s digital age. Despite prevailing skepticism, Puppo’s insights reveal that B2B telemarketing, far from being obsolete, remains a dynamic and effective tool for generating business opportunities, especially in the convenience services industry.

Amanda Puppo’s Journey into B2B Telemarketing

Amanda Puppo’s foray into the telemarketing realm was not typical. Her early career in payroll sales revealed her talent for cold calling, despite challenges in other aspects of sales. This realization led to the inception of MarketReach, a testament to Puppo’s entrepreneurial spirit and her ability to harness her strengths. Her journey underscores a valuable lesson: identifying and capitalizing on one’s core competencies can lead to unexpected and rewarding career paths.

The Symbiosis of Telemarketing and Digital Marketing

Puppo observes a unique blend of traditional and modern marketing strategies in the current landscape. While digital marketing and AI are gaining traction, the essence of B2B sales – involving research, phone engagement, and strategic email follow-ups – remains vital. This blend suggests that a holistic approach, combining the personal touch of telemarketing with digital tactics, is crucial for high-value, relationship-based sales.

The Art of Effective Telemarketing

The podcast embedded below highlights the evolved nature of telemarketing. It’s no longer about scripted calls but about engaging in a consultative and conversational manner. Puppo emphasizes the importance of authenticity, strategic questioning, and acute listening in discovering prospects’ pain points. This consultative approach is key to creating meaningful connections and uncovering genuine business opportunities.

Overcoming Challenges in B2B Lead Generation

Puppo acknowledges the growing difficulty in reaching decision-makers, advocating for resilience and strategic persistence. Requalifying prospects, especially in the context of the ‘Great Resignation’ and shifting workplace dynamics, is crucial. This reiterative process involves not just identifying but understanding the evolving needs of potential clients, thereby ensuring that sales efforts are targeted and effective.

The Role of MarketReach in B2B Telemarketing

Puppo’s company, MarketReach, offers specialized services to ease the telemarketing burden from companies, particularly in the convenience services industry. By providing trained professionals adept in the nuances of this sector, MarketReach enables businesses to focus on closing deals rather than the exhaustive process of lead generation.

The Enduring Value of Personal Touch

In conclusion, the discussion with Amanda Puppo illuminates the enduring significance of telemarketing in the B2B sector. It’s a reminder that in an increasingly digital world, the human element, characterized by personal interactions and relationships, remains invaluable. As Puppo succinctly puts it, the blend of traditional and modern approaches forms the cornerstone of effective business development strategies today.

Podcast Transcript: 

[00:00:00] Bob Tullio: Hi everyone. It’s Bob Tullio. Welcome to Automatic Merchandisers, Vending and OCS Nation, the podcast for the convenience services industry. Today’s topic, dialing for dollars. Amanda and her team are generating appointments and opportunity for operators. Some people believe. That B2B telemarketing is dead.

[00:00:22] Don’t even think about telling that to Amanda Poppo, founder and CEO of market reach, Inc, a boutique agency specializing in high level prospecting and appointment setting services based in central New Jersey. As an operator, I was always committed to telemarketing. We tried everything. Family members, students, comedians, movie extras, and even a couple of telemarketing services.

[00:00:49] I’m the first to admit that it was downright painful at times. It’s so hard to quit though because every once in a while a telemarketer hits a home run and gets you an appointment that generates big dollars. Then you are hooked. I asked Amanda how she got started in the telemarketing business.

[00:01:10] Amanda Puppo: I was in my mid 20s and I Basically, uh, worked for a payroll company and said, Hey, I’m not, I’m not so great at this.

[00:01:19] Uh, I wasn’t really a great payroll salesperson. I was good at cold calling, but I wasn’t so good at closing the deal with CEOs. Understanding payroll, you know, all the normal things necessary to make a sale. So, uh, but I was good at cold calling. And so that is how MarketReach began. I said, well, what am I good at?

[00:01:38] I took an inventory of my skills and said, well, the one thing I know I’m good at is cold calling. And I realized that most people do not like it. They’re not good at it. And they’d rather do anything else. And so that’s kind of how it began. And that was 22 years ago. And, um, it’s what I’ve been doing ever since.

[00:01:57] Bob Tullio: But what about today? Is B2B telemarketing still a viable option for convenience services operators? 

[00:02:04] Amanda Puppo: Here’s what I found, obviously digital marketing and the internet. And now there’s this AI big creature that’s coming out and people are still trying to get their, their handle around it. The sales world is trying to understand how it’ll benefit them.

[00:02:20] But for right now, at least for the next foreseeable years, set of years, a business to business salesperson still has to utilize. Internet research to qualify the phone to engage and email in between to follow up and to engage as well. So the way I see it, that’s not going away because clearly when you’re making a high ticket sale.

[00:02:49] You know, if you want to sell a 30 subscription monthly, you don’t need to cold call, but when you’re selling items or services that are in the thousands of dollars, and they’re often very relationship based, you got a prospect, you got to engage and that’s the way I see it.

[00:03:05] Bob Tullio: So as far as you’re concerned, still today, the best way to connect with a prospect.

[00:03:10] Is to pick up the phone and give them a call in the B2B space in particular. 

[00:03:15] Amanda Puppo: Yes, there are many techniques that I’m a fan of. So I never say there’s one way or the best way necessarily. I think it all works hand in hand. So you, you can do all those things. You can still do Google AdWords. You can do, I’ve seen people successful with direct mail, even today, right?

[00:03:32] Cause how many pieces of direct mail do we get to a day? So you, you know, you, you look at your mail. Now it’s interesting how that that’s come back. Cause email is. Is stifling us, it’s suffocating us. But with that said, I do believe in all marketing techniques, but when you pick up the phone and engage with your prospect, you will uncover pain points and improvement areas.

[00:03:54] And that is the reason to me. So if you can do it properly, and if you could build rapport and ask smart questions with acute listening skills, then you can uncover real opportunity. Even if the prospect is not ready today, if you have proper follow up. You’ll get in the door eventually. It’s a simple concept.

[00:04:15] And that is that you match the prospects needs and pain points with the solution you offer. So it’s a consultative approach. That’s probably what’s changed the most over a couple of decades is that you can’t just, hi, my name is, we’re looking to get an appointment sometime next week. It’s consultative.

[00:04:32] It’s, it’s, you know, when they, when they say hello. That’s when your questions should start 

[00:04:38] Bob Tullio: and considering the fact that it’s not unusual and I’m sure you see it for well it’s certainly a coffee service operator or somebody who’s in the water business or somebody who’s trying to reach out to a Decision maker in office to make a hundred calls in the course of an afternoon And reach three or four people.

[00:04:57] You better be on your game when they answer that phone, 

[00:04:59] Amanda Puppo: right? You nailed it, Bob. That’s exactly it. You’ve got to really be on your game and you’ve got to treat each prospect like it’s the only one for that day. Because sometimes we can get on autopilot when we’re prospecting. As salespeople, as owners.

[00:05:14] And that is definitely not what’s going to win you friends or influence people. So, yeah. Definitely got to, um, be on your game and know exactly how you’re going to tackle each call with some strategy as well. 

[00:05:25] Bob Tullio: So obviously it’s gotten tougher to reach people. Are there certain things that you’ve learned along the way as a company that makes that door potentially a little more open for a telemarketer?

[00:05:38] Amanda Puppo: Well, you know what? It’s some of the, it’s some. General, solid principles that has always been in existence. So, you know, I’ll use a word that you’ve used, Bob, which is secret sauce, right? Secret sauce. And to me, it’s four or five things. It’s, it’s authenticity. It’s proper followup. It’s a thick skin, solid strategy.

[00:06:01] None of it is really rocket science. It just takes those attributes to get the door open, but also to know when to say. Next to be able to say, all right, you’re not my prospect for the next six months, at least maybe for the next year, maybe ever, but it’s properly qualifying, engaging, being authentic, asking smart questions, listening.

[00:06:24] Bob Tullio: And then setting up a meeting only when it makes sense. What do you think’s the biggest mistake out there right now that B2B salespeople are making when it comes to lead gen? 

[00:06:33] Amanda Puppo: Well, you know, this is probably no truer than in the break room services space than almost any industry I can, I can think of, and I’ll say this, and that is.

[00:06:43] Not re qualifying. So most operators do not have a solid CRM in which they track their prospects and update that prospect information. But there are only two elements of ensuring that a prospect is pursuable in the break room services space. The first one is onsite staff, onsite staff. So if, if the company that you were.

[00:07:10] Calling into for a couple of years had 130 people and they’re an accounting firm. You’ve got to call them again and you’ve got to ask the right questions to the receptionist. And if she says, I don’t know, I don’t know how big we are. I don’t know. Then ask a different, simpler question. Well, tell me this.

[00:07:27] Are you guys are, are you at least over 60 employees on site? So if we can requalify, the great resignation has also taken a big toll on all of us in B2B prospecting, where such a large percentage of people have left one job to go to the next. So unless you’re calling a CEO. You know, you could call an HR director or a facility manager.

[00:07:48] And two years ago, they were there. They’re not there now. So re qualifying for onsite staff and decision maker name and title is probably the biggest mistake that not only B2B salespeople or owners. But particularly break room services. 

[00:08:04] Bob Tullio: Sure. So you are probably doing a lot more than just one call to actually get in the door and ultimately get on the phone with the decision maker.

[00:08:16] Is that correct? 

[00:08:17] Amanda Puppo: 100%. And that’s why companies that want to do it in house have find that they have trouble with it because that oversight And the metrics are really crucial to success, but yeah, it could take typically three to 10 dials and one or two emails in order to get attention. And that’s no secret, right?

[00:08:37] That’s, that’s the subject of marketing conversations for many years. Once in a while you get lucky and you get that one call close. And I don’t mean close. I just mean close for the appointment. Sure. And when you get lucky like that, it’s a nice thing, but. Usually you have to qualify with a receptionist first.

[00:08:53] That might take one to three dials. Then you have to pursue the decision maker once you’ve taken out the, the prospects that are not qualified and that, yeah, that could take multiple dials, multiple outreaches. 

[00:09:07] Bob Tullio: So to what extent are you still serving the convenience services industry, break room services?

[00:09:11] Amanda Puppo: So we began on this journey with break room services in the infancy of micro markets, which probably is, we’re talking 13 years now, and it is still to this day, 30 percent of our business. It’s always been between 20 and 35%, but it continues to be around 30%, both. Uh, operators as well as suppliers to the industry from Mars and a Keurig to most of the micro, micro market licensors, we, we’re really grateful to the industry actually, because we have, you know, they’ve had some difficulty over the past couple of years, but many have stuck with us and said, we’ve got to gain back market share.

[00:09:50] We, we’ve just, now we’re, we’re, we’ve, we’ve lost 10 or 20 percent of our business. We got to get out there and re prospect and go after it. So we’ve gotten some new clients. We’ve kept many of the clients that we’ve had for many years. That’s a big piece of our business. 

[00:10:05] Bob Tullio: So I’ve got pay per click advertising.

[00:10:08] I’ve got search engine optimization going on. Maybe I’m involved in a lot of strategic partnerships. So I’m getting connections that way. I’m utilizing LinkedIn like crazy. Why does it make sense to use your company as part of the overall business development mix? 

[00:10:27] Amanda Puppo: I guess I would, I would say a few, uh, keywords, time, mental stamina of an in house salesperson.

[00:10:35] So there’s a couple ways you can do your prospecting. Obviously, all the methods you mentioned are great. I’m a fan of them all, like I mentioned before. But when it comes to again, picking up the phone, that, that whole 1985 reference of the 5, 000 pound phone still exists today. And, uh, and younger people are, are even less apt to want to do it.

[00:10:56] But there are plenty of young people that still say, no, I get it. I can go get a 20, 000 account by picking up the phone. And so what, if it takes me 10 or 15 hours to go find that prospect, when you use your own in house staff for this effort, it’s. Always more expensive than people think. So for example, let’s say they’re paying 16 an hour for an in house telemarketer.

[00:11:17] There’s oversight, there’s recruiting more. So you probably won’t find the right person in the first one or two or three people. So now you’ve got to retrain, rehire. And that is an extremely expensive proposition. So market reach will essentially get you the right kinds of prospects in a qualified manner, right out of the gate.

[00:11:36] 100 percent of my people are. Trained in the break room services space, we will effectively get you those right types of meetings. Based on your minimum on site staff, and of course, we know the differences in micro markets and, uh, what makes a good prospect. 

[00:11:53] Bob Tullio: And it’s probably better to have your salespeople in front of people closing deals than just pounding the phones all day long and getting, uh, one appointment every two days.

[00:12:02] Amanda Puppo: You are absolutely right. Good salespeople belong behind the closing desk. For sure. If you’ve got a good salesperson, capture it now. Capture the opportunity for them to receive quality leads so that they can close leads faster, right? Close deals faster and get you, you know, there’s only, what, four months left of the year, so capture it.

[00:12:25] Bob Tullio: Absolutely. Let me ask you one last question. Do you actually love cold calling? 

[00:12:30] Amanda Puppo: I do. So it’s not that often anymore that I personally do the cold calling, but every now and again, I find a prospect that I want to get in the door with and that, you know, between the internet research and, and being strategic with that research to find out the things I need, because I prefer to make a warm call.

[00:12:47] So even though we talk about cold calling, the warmer the call, the more effective the outcome. So If you can find out the name of your prospect and a little bit about the company and maybe even the other decision makers that might be involved, like an HR, HR director, the more you can find information out in advance, the warmer the call, the better the outcome.

[00:13:08] And so I enjoy that process. And I also enjoy when I reached the decision maker, that’s a win by itself, right? Track those wins, celebrate those wins. And then finally, when you can actually get an opportunity to. Pitch, propose, that’s another win. And then of course, when you win the business is great too. I actually have closed.

[00:13:29] From mailers. So I don’t cold call though. The two that I recently closed weren’t from a complete cold call, but from a mailer that I received, I called them and turned it around and close them. And it’s a really empowering thing when you can, uh, close deals and get appointments and things like that. So. I know I’m, I’m a little weird.

[00:13:49] I tell my accountant, I’m like, I’d never trade seats with you ever. I’ll do a, I’ll do cold calling over accounting stuff any day of the week. But, but yeah, it is fun and you got to have a certain personality for it for sure. 

[00:14:01] Bob Tullio: Thanks, Amanda. Great stuff. Thank you, Bob. That’s it for now. As you know, we move to three episodes a month, the first, third, and fourth Tuesday of each month.

[00:14:11] So please subscribe to Vending and OCS Nation if you haven’t already, so you do not miss an episode. On the next episode of Vending and OCS Nation, Tuesday, October 24th, we’ll talk with an industry legend, incoming NAMA Chairman Tom Stuber, along with key members of his team, Kim Lentz and Justin Stuber, as they discuss how their company is navigating the new normal in the OCS business and the formula for success at Associated that has worked well over three generations.[00:14:46] Thanks for listening. Until next time, I’m Bob Tullio.