Whenever I tell someone that I work for a lead generation service, I usually get a response like, "oh, telemarketing." However, a lead generation service is not made up of a batch of freshly-trained, inexperienced workers crammed into cubicles, and using a dialer to interrupt people at home during dinner hour.
While a large portion of lead generation is performed over the phone, it is not in the same category as what most people think of as telemarketing. Lead generation services are strictly business to business, and employ highly trained people that have a great deal of experience in the fields that they target. This way, their clients can ensure that they have truly professional people representing their business. Since the account executive makes calls on behalf of a company, the account executive ends up becoming an extension of the company that he/she is representing. In order for this to be successful, the account executive needs to have a good understanding of their client's industry, which is not something that can be pulled off by someone with little professional experience.
Lead generation usually targets high-level executives, engaging in conversations relating to their specific expertise. For instance, if a lead generation service has a client in advertising, they will target marketing directors at companies in which their client wishes to do business. This means that the account executive is now the face of the advertising agency, and the discussion that takes place will be the first impression that the potential client has about the agency; not something to trust to just anyone.
So when should you use a lead generation service, and when should you use a call center? It really depends on your goals. If you are looking for high call volume, residential targets, and/or strict adherence to a script, then you need to hire a call center. If you are looking to train a professional account executive to become a temporary extension of your company, then you should hire a lead generation service.
The particular lead generation that I work for is Tactical Contacts (www.tacticalcontacts.com). We leverage email and outbound calls in order to produce highly effective and targeted calling campaigns for various industries. We also build customized data lists, including lists of companies that have been certified as "green" via our new database (www.greenlistsource.com).
