1. Management
Successful companies know that having an experienced management team is absolutely critical to the success of any campaign. They are the life blood support to the callers. They coach, train, motivate, and control quality and performance standards. Finally they provide ongoing communication and strategy refinements with their clients. Make sure you fully understand a company’s management structure. Proactive communication is crucial to keep you in the loop of activities on your program. Make sure to ask the provider how often and accessible the management staff is at all times.
2. Caller Experience
Obviously caller experience is a critical component for a successful campaign. Maturity and professionalism are key, especially with B2B marketing. Avoid b2b email lists usa companies that hire young kids to represent your company. There are different levels of caller experience required depending on the complexity and level of difficulty of your campaign. The Company should provide pricing options that directly coincide with caller talent needed for you to be successful.
3. Exclusive Dedicated Callers or Not
Physical brick and mortar call centers typically use multiple callers working on multiple campaigns. They typically use predictive dialers that are filled up with several programs and read off of scripts. Avoid using traditional call centers. They may be OK for B2C campaigns, not so much for B2B. The company should offer you the ability to have your own dedicated callers that specialize on your program. However with that said, this option should also coincide with the number of calling hours you commit to. A dedicated agent usually requires 5 hours a day of work. If you choose a smaller block of hours, it is likely that your agent will need to work other programs as well to earn a living.
4. Structure and Process
A reputable company should have a clear and concise on-boarding and implementation process. There should be a clearly defined company structure. You the client should have clear expectations on the daily operations of your program from training, launch, and ongoing operations. The company should not only be able to communicate this to you, but should be able to give you documentation for your reference.
5. Fees and Pricing
Reputable companies charge between $20-$30hr if they use USA based or Canadian callers. Good companies should have an option for performance based incentives and hybrid plans. The fees you pay a provider should directly coincide with the talent level of caller needed to make your program successful. If you don’t need the cream of the crop because your program is simple and straight forward then you should not have to pay the same rate for that caller. It is understandable to want the best price for your campaign. However, you can bet that the less you pay the company then something has to give for them to still make a profit. It is usually the callers pay and that caller is the one representing your company. You are hiring people, not purchasing tangible goods where price can be haggled. It is important to understand this. Remember your Return on investment is what matters, not what you save upfront. The saying you get what you pay for is more accurate than ever when dealing with people resources.
6. Pay for Performance 
Although this may sound great to you, you need to be aware of the logistical implications for the company to run such a program. Very few talented callers if any are lining up to work on this basis only. Even if the company can get some, they will generally force leads to get paid and jeopardize the reputation of your company. Turnover is very high and the program usually never gets off the ground. Additionally because of all the many variables such as your value proposition, target market, decision maker title, geographic market, etc. make it very difficult for a company to predict exact results. However, a fair approach to this is to have the company conduct a small performance benchmark pilot on an hourly basis. Upon completion of the initial pilot, the provider should be able to accurately quote you on a per lead basis because they have obtained a true performance benchmark from the metrics achieved during the pilot. This also solves the problem of finding talented callers willing to work your program because they to know what they are able to produce from the pilot. Of course you may also want the option of staying at the fixed hourly fee as most companies will charge a premium for a Pay per result basis if they offer it at all.
