As a professional recruiter, we continually cold-call and market
candidates and our skills for locating specifically qualified
individuals for career opportunities ~ for a fee.

This cold-call marketing requires a reasonable understanding of our
business in order to reach the decision makers, determine if there is
a need, if the company is interested in speaking with a professional
recruiter and if they are authorized to pay a fee ~ if that recruiter
performs as agreed.

We are in search of a professional marketing firms (telephone
marketing firms) who have enough understanding of the recruitment
process to open doors and schedule well qualified call-back
opportunities for us. We would then call that contact directly and
promote our services, fee, agreement, etc.

The one firm we discovered (the specific company name will be supplied
confidentially) is a specialist out of the New York area and has a
strong NE flavor, which we believe would not translate into positive
results across the US.

We work across the US and beyond. Our history (over 22 years) is
predominately within product manufacturing and sales. We place
candidates and locate qualified candidates (engineers, seasoned sales,
professional managers ~ up to company President) for career
opportunities starting at a $70,000.00 annual salary. We are involved
in every aspect from interview scheduling and compensation negotiation
to relocation.

Our desire is to locate at least three telemarketing firms familiar
with our service and a track record of securing pre-qualified
telephone call-backs.

MPC,

Hi! This is an interesting question for me since I've been directly
involved in outbound call centers over the years, and even managed one
in a former life. It was fun digging into the industry again.

Of course, there are several considerations when selecting the
appropriate telemarketing firm with which to work. I tried to follow
your guidelines as closely as possible: preferably East Coast,
familiar with your industry, and focused on lead generation.

I was unable to find a single firm that specifically said they
emphasized executive search or personnel recruiting firms. And I'm
really not surprised. The only way to determine this would be to get
in touch with each firm individually.

But, in my humble opinion, it may not be a good idea to concentrate
exclusively on finding a firm with experience in the executive search
industry. From my knowledge of your industry, I'm not aware of too
many firms that use outside telemarketing for lead generation, so
finding someone with that specific experience may be difficult. (Of
course I may be wrong here, but that's just a knee-jerk reaction.)
Also telemarketing firms, such as the one I was involved with, usually
do a good job training their staff according to your specific needs.
They are all quite qualified to reach decision makers, so they just
need to come up to speed with your industry. And of course, I assume
that eventually you'll pay by the lead anyway, so there is no
downside. If I were you I'd certainly concentrate on getting a
reliable, ethical firm with the most qualified personnel at a
reasonable cost. Sadly, that's not a very easy task.

Specifically, I think you might want to investigate telemarketing
firms who have experience in product manufacturing and sales, since
this is your area of emphasis. Your callers will know these people,
know how to get to them, and have direct experience closing these
decision-makers. This may be a better skill-set than knowing your
industry.

Given that, here's what I came up with. I went through a number of
search engines and tried to visit each company site that emphasized
lead-generation in their descriptive literature. Out of the
approximately 350 nationally focused telemarketing firm descriptions I
researched, I only found about 15 that emphasized lead generation,
appointment setting or similar in their description. I then took that
short list and toured each of their sites, reading their client list,
etc. These are the four "winners" from that short list.

Preston Enterprises
4232 Commercial Way
Glenview, IL 60025
(847) 294.0740
(847) 294.0749
rob@telemarketingpros.com
http://www.telemarketingpros.com

This firm advertises itself as the leading telemarketing firm in
Chicago. They specialize in lead generation, prospecting, and
appointment setting for sales people. I'm not very impressed with
their website design, but that doesn't bother me. Sometimes the best
call center managers are not the techies, but the down-and-dirty floor
managers.

Unicall International
3520 West Market St., Suite 205
Fairlawn, OH 44333
(877)864-2251
email info@unicallinc.com
http://www.unicallinc.com
Contact: Bob Kaiser

Likewise, this company does a great deal of lead setting and has a
very impressive list of clients you'd recognize. They also have a very
nice Flash website. They seem to have clients in manufacturing and
sales.

Strategic Sales & Marketing, Inc.
790 Farmington Ave., Suite 3F 
Farmington, CT   06032
1-800-571-LEADS ext.2401
email: ssm@ct2.nai.net
http://www.ssmleads.com

This company specifically works in lead generation, appointment
setting, and lead management. Again, their site isn't the nicest, but
they seem to have their act together.

Double Digits Telemarketing Company
Warner Center
21550 Oxnard Street, Suite 300
Woodland Hills, CA 91367
Tel: 818-596-2330
http://www.dd-telemarketing-company.com/

Although this is on the west coast I include it since it lists
"consumer products" among its b2b client categories.

I hope one of these companies works out. If by chance you specifically
need to have a firm with experience in your industry, just reply with
a clarification request and I'll get in touch with the other firms on
my short list. I'll then see if anyone can give me a list of
representative clients. However for one reasonor another, I've already
passed on them, so I think you should find someone you're happy with
from the abov list.

No matter what happens, good luck on finding the right telemarketing
firm, and thanks!

Prof

---

Clarification of Answer by prof-ga on 10 Jul 2002 08:21 PDT

I also found this site that may be of interest:

American Teleservices Association
http://www.ataconnect.org/

This is the industry association of telemarketers. click on "Find a
Supplier", and then select "Industry Suppliers". Then click on
"Contact Centers/Telemarketers" and then scroll down to "Lead
Generation". You'll get about 2 pages full of firms specializing in
this area.

Prof

---

Clarification of Answer by prof-ga on 11 Jul 2002 11:33 PDT

MPC,

For what it's worth, I just got a follow-up call from Preston
Enterprises listed above. They were returning my original email to
them asking if they had ever handled b2b appointment setting for
professional recruiters. A Bonnie told me that over the past 15 years
they've handled several clients like this. She of course would love to
talk with you! :)

---

Request for Answer Clarification by mpc-ga on 12 Jul 2002 07:36 PDT

prof-ga,

thank you for your insight and suggestions. To be clear, I was trying
to say we "did not" prefer east coast professionals due to their
perceived demeanor.

I understand you answer - look for the manufacturing and sales
skillset, however, I was not aware that firms such as these had steady
contacts or database of specific types with existing relationships.
Interesting.

Does your experience include: A suggested approach to these firms for
Testing & Trials of their skills and secondly, a range of fee $
by-the-lead?

Thank you for your research. I will follow up an your leads next week
and see what I find. If you would  like to be updated on my follow-up,
please send your preferred email contact ID.

thank you !

---

Clarification of Answer by prof-ga on 12 Jul 2002 10:03 PDT

Hi. 

Your comment: "I was not aware that firms such as these had steady
contacts or database of specific types with existing relationships."

Although they do have telemarketing lists they work from, they may ask
you to supply the actual list. But the more important consideration is
that they are used to working with these types of companies and
individuals and know from experience what the best approach is.

Your comment: "Does your experience include: A suggested approach to
these firms for Testing & Trials of their skills and secondly, a range
of fee $
by-the-lead?"

I'd suggest a trial in the $1,000 to $1,500 range. That will provide a
sufficient number of caller-hours to let both of you gauge if the
program is going to be a success. After the trial is over, try for a
low amount per lead, with a bonus commission to them if the lead
results in a sale as defined by a placement order. This probably won't
work and they'll ask for a flat rate per lead. But you should try this
approach first - especially if you've found several good services you
can play off against each other. The value of each lead is rather hard
for me to set since it depends on the average number of leads they can
get per hour during the test.

But lets play with an example. The last time I checked, the TRUE
burdened internal labor rate for callers in the southeast was around
$25 an hour. I'd ask for this figure, but you probably won't get a
true one. :) So if they can acquire 2 qualified leads per caller-hour,
their incremental cost is about $12.50 per lead. Add a factor for
telephone, overhead, and supervision, I'd guess they'll want about $25
per lead. Of course it may be twice this or half this. The real
decision maker will be your test run. They should give you the raw
results numbers, so analyze these carefully. If you can find out their
cost of labor and overhead, you'll have a good idea where to set the
price.

Also, because of GA guidelines, the primary way to get back to me and
be, sure I'll see it, is to request an answer clarification on this
page.

Hope this helps! And let me know the results.

Prof

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