Dialing for Tech Dollars
Big technology companies are using outside call centers to scout sales leads. They're hoping no one notices.
Selling a million dollar server software requires more finesse than selling a Crock-Pot, right? Maybe not. Some of the biggest names in technology, like Cisco Systems, Microsoft, BEA Systems and PeopleSoft, now use a tactic traditionally reserved for unwitting consumers after 6 p.m.: the cold call.
Their sales folks aren't the ones making the calls, of course. That would be tacky. Instead, outside firms that specialize in pitching tech products are manning the phones.
This practice has been around for a while and is rapidly gaining in popularity. Spam has ruined e-mail as an effective marketing channel. Calls still work, but Silicon Valley sales folks making $200,000 a year detest cold-calling; they'd rather wine and dine to make a deal.
Three-year-old Cast Iron Systems, which sells data integration appliances, has met with 200 potential customers in the past eight months, thanks to three prospecting firms. The trick is in leading customers to believe the calls are coming directly from Cast Iron. "If they know it's a telesales agency, they'll cringe," says marketing Chief, Simon Peel.
It might seem odd that companies like PeopleSoft and Microsoft, with know-thy-customer images, are outsourcing a part of the interaction. But, when you think about it, this might be a more efficient way of doing things.
