It is estimated that there are as many as one million food service outlets in the United States. At best, the combined efforts of your sales team and a broker network will only cover the top 25,000–50,000 operators — and much less for smaller manufacturers. These statistics mean that over 95% of the operators will never have a face-to-face contact with your sales organization outside of possibly meeting at a food show.
In many ways, the 95/5% rule makes sense given the cost of a direct operator contact runs from $300–$400 per in-person visit. To make the sales costs work you need to be meeting with chains, GPO headquarters, casinos, and large non-commercial operators like hospitals and colleges. One challenge is that these are the same operators that your competition has in their sights.
One often overlooked opportunity are the Tier Two operators that are below the threshold for broker calls but still have significant buying power. These can be large single-unit commercial operators, small multi-unit operators, independent QSRs, smaller colleges, individual hospitals, Indian gaming, summer camps, caterers, and a host of other overlooked opportunities.
For these smaller yet significant customers, we have found telemarketing to be one of the most effective and affordable methods of engaging these operators. At a cost of $10–$20 per telemarketing sales call, you can reach 20–40 operators at the same cost as a single in-person sales call. Telemarketing can assess the opportunity, present a product solution, place a sample or purchase incentive, and follow-up to uncover any barriers or confirm purchase.
Other Strategic Uses for Telemarketing
- Periodic check-ins with larger or loyalty program clients — determine any opportunities or simmering product issues.
- GPO non-compliance calls — if you have a hard spec and non-compliant operators, telemarketing is an efficient way to reach out and gain compliance.
- New product launches — generate critical mass for your slots by doing a telemarketing blitz in a market when you gain a new slot.
- Marketing research — gain feedback from current/potential customers to help position product launches or determine reason for sales declines.
- Reach non-traditional segments — support marketing efforts to non-traditional segments such as college athletic offices, summer camps, vending operators, or any other group that is under the radar.
Interested in finding out how you can put telemarketing to work for you without significant upfront expense? Call us at 877-424-8725 or fill out our contact us form with any questions and to learn more.