Imagine having a brand new high-specification Lamborghini delivered to your home. Pretty exciting, right? Now imagine this luxury car wasn’t wired and connected properly. All the component parts were in place but for some reason when you hit the hazard lights, the boot opened; when you turned the wheel to the left, the car veered right; and when you put your foot on the accelerator, the airbag exploded in your face. Sure you can still nonchalantly flash the keys around in the office in a vain glorious manner, but for all intents and purposes, your car would be as useful as a chocolate teapot.
This is exactly what it is like to subscribe to excellent project leads services such as Glenigan and Barbour ABI and not pair it with the nuanced expertise of intelligent telemarketing. Having more than 25 years’ experience working exclusively within the construction & built environment industry, one of the most common questions we are asked is, ‘Is a Glenigan/ABI subscription a good investment?’
Not to appear aloof, but the answer to this question is very much dependent on how the individual company uses these valuable services. Experience tells us that too many firms believe a subscription to project leads and market intelligence services, such as those offered by Glenigan or Barbour ABI is a ‘magic pill’ for success – this quite frankly is bordering on delusional.
Now don’t get us wrong, both project leads companies offer fantastic services. They allow subscribers access to a continually updated database of construction projects throughout the UK and a range of great tools and market intelligence to improve your visibility of what’s happening in the market. This valuable raw data is a great starting point on the path to attaining highly sought after meetings and creating connections with influential people within your respective sector. In fact, over the years, we have been great exponents and users of both services.
However, companies that do not invest an adequate amount of resources to support the raw data that these subscriptions provide, fail to harness a modicum of the potential that these services offer. Simply providing your field sales team with this unfiltered data is grossly insufficient. Glenigan and ABI subscriptions are not designed to be an ‘access all areas’ pass to the upper echelons of the decision makers your company wishes to influence. Used in this manner, they will not help you win new contracts or forge new business connections. They will not get you in front of people that really matter to you and they will not increase your ROI.
To fully extrapolate the maximum benefit from Glenigan and ABI subscriptions, businesses have to put in place predefined structures and processes. Firstly, companies need to identify the types of projects they wish to pursue, making sure this is aligned with their overall strategy. Next, the vast amount of fluid data has to be nurtured, refined and targeted towards providing the exact information you require. This is not an easy task. Even intelligent telemarketing and business development companies that specialise within the built environment, and work with the systems on a full time basis, still continually discover new ways of improving searches and extracting data.
After this, a comprehensive call management system has to be put in place to log projects you are interested in pursuing. A detailed account of each project‘s status needs to be made, with next call dates documented. So, who is going to make the calls? Will you hire a telemarketer? Will they have the necessary in depth knowledge of the construction industry? Does your company have the time and resources to train, manage and motivate them? If you are pursuing appointments across a range of verticals, will they have the required knowledge to tailor their approach for each sector? Will the responsibility fall on your sales team?
You would not call an accountant to fix your boiler and we believe the same principle is true of pre engagement and post engagement sales. You might have a highly skilled salesforce. They may have the quick wit of Oscar Wilde, the charisma of Bill Clinton and perseverance of Louis Theroux, but are they able to convey these qualities on the telephone? Do they have the time and inclination to spend 7 hours a day making outbound calls?
Ultimately, as a company, close consideration has to be paid to whether there are the required resources, structures, staff, expertise and time to fully harness the undoubted potential of a project leads subscription. If you do not have these necessary resources in-house, isn’t it time you sought someone who can dedicate their time, vast experience of Glenigan/ABI systems, and focused strategic thinking to add exponential value to your lead generation subscription, turning your investment into Results?
