04 · Pipeline
Real people, making real calls, filling a real pipeline.
Cold calling, lead generation, follow-up and B2B events. The part of marketing almost nobody wants to do, which is exactly why it still works.
What it is
Marketing gets you known. This gets you booked.
There is a gap between someone knowing your business exists and someone becoming a customer, and social media does not cross it on its own. In most sectors that gap is crossed by a conversation. Somebody has to have it.
We do the calling, the qualifying and the following up. Every conversation goes into a pipeline that is actually maintained, so a maybe in March is still being worked in June instead of quietly disappearing.
This is the least fashionable service we offer and the one that most often changes a quarter. It is also the reason clients who came for social media stay for both.
Included
What the pipeline work covers.
Everything below is part of the work, not an upsell after you have signed. If something is not on this list, ask before you assume it is covered.
- List buildingthe right businesses to approach, not a bought database.
- Cold callingby people who do it every day and do not sound like a script.
- Qualifyingso your time only goes to conversations worth having.
- Follow-upthe part everyone skips, run on a schedule.
- Pipeline maintenanceevery conversation logged, nothing lost between months.
- B2B eventsidentified, attended and followed up afterwards.
- Referral partnersthe relationships that keep sending work without a campaign.
- Honest reportingincluding the months where the answer is no.
What it deliberately is not
- Spam. Automated sequences to a bought list damage the brand you are paying us to build.
- A guarantee of numbers. Anyone promising you a set volume of leads is guessing.
- A replacement for you closing. We open the conversation, you are still the business.
- The list, built and qualified
- Calls made by real people
- Follow-up, on a schedule
- A pipeline somebody maintains
Agreed before anything starts, and it does not quietly grow.
How it runs
How the pipeline runs.
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Week one
Who to call
We build the list against who actually buys from you, not who is easiest to find.
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Week one
What to say
A real opener that survives contact with a busy person, written with you rather than handed over.
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Ongoing
The calls
Made by people, at the times those businesses actually pick up, and logged either way.
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Ongoing
The follow-up
A maybe is not a no. Most of the value in this service sits in the second and third contact.
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Monthly
The read
What came in, what stalled, and what we are changing. Including when the honest answer is that the offer is the problem.
Everyone wants the leads. Almost nobody wants to make the calls. That gap is the whole opportunity.
Honest fit
Who this actually suits.
We would rather lose the job than take one we cannot do well. If you are on the right-hand list, say so on the call and we will point you somewhere better.
A good fit if
- You sell to other businesses and the phone is not ringing enough.
- You have a list of past enquiries nobody has ever gone back to.
- Your team can close well but hates prospecting.
- You are in a sector where trust is built over months, not clicks.
Probably not yet if
- You need volume today and cannot service it next month.
- You want a guaranteed number of leads for a fixed price.
- Your offer is not clear yet. Calls will just find that out expensively.
Questions
The things people actually ask.
Who actually makes the calls?
Real callers, briefed properly, working from a list we built for your business. Not an automated dialler and not an offshore script. Part of the reason it works is that the person on the other end can tell.
Will this damage our brand?
Not the way we run it. The damage comes from mass approaches to people who were never going to buy. A short list of the right businesses, called by someone informed, is the opposite of that.
Can you guarantee a number of leads?
No, and be careful of anyone who does. What we can promise is that the calls get made, the follow-up happens, and you get an honest read on what came back, including the months where it is thin.
Start here
Where is the pipeline stuck?
We start with the pipeline: who to call, who is calling them, and what happens after a maybe.