Some Difference between B2B Environment and Telemarketing

There is much confusion in the minds of many B2B organizations - particularly SMEs - about the distinction between lead generation and telemarketing. Many even quite senior business professionals do not understand the distinction and see the two as interchangeable terms.

Lead generation campaigns consist exclusively of business-to-business outbound calling conducted by sales professionals with finely honed presentation and qualification skills and who are highly trained on the products and services they represent. Products and services are generally complex and high-value and they are marketed to high-level decision makers.

In a B2B environment, Telemarketing campaigns are generally not used to gather information, qualify prospects or generate interest, but rather to sell such things as publication subscriptions, advertising space or exhibition space. Telemarketers most frequently represent easy-to-understand products and services and often do not receive extensive sales training. Presentations are frequently robotic and result in many ineffective calls. Volume not targeting is frequently the key to success.