The contractor listened to the polite, measured tones that came through the phone line. The caller had worked some magic on his pit-bull secretary who screened his calls; cutting off the unneeded or unwanted ones, passing the semi-important ones to his subordinates and giving him only the callers to whom she thought he should talk. After all, he was a busy man overseeing all the projects his company had in various stages of production. The caller explained that he represented a material supplier that could save the contractor time and money on a hotel project just now coming out of the ground.

The general contractor listened as the caller gave a brief description of the manufacturer's history of cost savings on similar projects and politely asked if he could have a company field representative come by with product samples and pricing data. The GC didn't normally respond affirmatively to such calls, but there was a ring of professionalism to this call that he hadn't heard before . . . and he could use some cost savings on this project, which like many got off to a late start. Saving a few bucks could get the owner off his back for a while, so he agreed to the proposed sales call.

In the construction industry, like many others, the key players like project managers, owners, architects and this general contractor are very busy people. Often it is very hard for sales people making cold calls, both in person and on the phone, to get past the “gatekeepers” to reach decision-makers. Unless the manufacturer’s rep can get to these key people, it is very hard for his company to provide materials or services to end-users. How else can the rep get to make a sales presentation and sell products? He may have the best product in the world at the lowest price, but if he cannot get to see “the man,” he’ll never sell a thing.

There is the classic cartoon in which the machine-gun salesman is trying to see the king who is surrounded by his knights with their swords and shields. The king says to an aide, “I don’t have time to see a salesman, I’ve got a war to fight!” This little bit of humor has a very realistic side, if the “king” doesn’t get to see your product and understand its value, no sale will be made (and the war could be lost).

This is where a professional sales lead screening company comes to the rescue. Their everyday job is screening sales leads, getting past the gatekeepers to attract the attention of the “king.” You wouldn’t hire a bicycle repairman to build an airplane (the Wright Brothers excepted), so why would you not hire the most professional group to properly develop the sales leads for your reps?

A good sales screener can be a valuable asset to any sales department. The proliferation of telemarketing lead generation companies attests to this fact. Telemarketing is a term we often associate with those annoying evening calls in the middle of dinner or our favorite news program, but they must work, otherwise why are there so many of them? A professional sales lead generator-screener goes way beyond telemarketing. They are well-trained, knowledgeable pros who will provide a flow of well-qualified lead generation for their clients. Some of the more efficient ones even conduct appointment setting for the reps.

TeleArk is in the business of providing the best in lead generation and qualification for their clientele; including appointment setting, order taking, sales prospecting and coordinating trade show invitations. TeleArk is also in the inbound call handling business.