We provide

"EBD was able to make an appointment with the CFO of a potentially large customer where our sales team had tried unsuccessfully for several years."

Mark Wellnitz
VP Sales & Marketing, Wind River Financial

Using Respectful PersistenceTM, we produce 3 deliverables that encompass the full scope of successful business development:

Appointment Setting

Qualified appointments set by seasoned professionals

Our flagship and most valuable deliverable, qualified appointments, provide your team with an opportunity to connect directly with an interested prospect decision maker. These meeting notifications come complete with verified prospect information and a scheduled date and time.

Brand Awareness

Your story and value proposition delivered to target markets

Our agents act as an extension of your marketing team by delivering your brand's message and value proposition to your prospects with each call. Whenever possible, your own marketing materials will be distributed to your prospects by email. Additionally, any prospect that is not ready or willing to meet can be scheduled for a follow-up call that our agent will make, even after a project has ended, at no additional cost to you.

Data Verification

Valuable market intelligence captured from top prospects

Throughout the course of their calls, our agents will research and record verified contact and company information for each of your prospects. This process enriches the overall quality of your prospect data and is available for you to view at any time through our client portal. Your verified prospect data can also be sent to you at any time as a database export for upload back into your own system.

Working with EBD always begins with a
Pilot Program

STEP 1

Project Planning

The project planning meeting is an important exchange of information between EBD and your company where we introduce our respective businesses and team members, tell our stories and share our value propositions. Then we will discuss your marketing goals for the proposed project and how we're going to help get you reach them.

STEP 2

Data Preparation

If we are acquiring data for your project, we will outline your target audience so we can build a prospect database that is ideal for your campaign objectives.

Clients may also provide their own prospect list, provided it contains the necessary data points for EBD agents to complete their calls.

STEP 3

Marketing Material

EBD will use your website and any existing marketing materials to compose a succinct and professional one-page document to be distributed to interested prospects throughout the course of our calls.

Clients are also welcome to provide their own marketing documents for our agents to distribute to your prospects.

STEP 4

Agent Training

Your team will have the opportunity to speak directly with the professional calling agents that will be contacting your selected prospects throughout the campaign. This is a great opportunity to provide direct guidance to our agents, which better prepares them to tell your story and act as extension of your organization.

STEP 5

Campaign Launch

EBD agents begin calling and setting appointments within your targeted prospect list. Calling hours are distributed weekly over a predetermined timeline based on the size and scope of the pilot you have requested.

STEP 6

Client Portal

Once our agents have contacted a sufficient number of prospects to populate our system with viewable metrics, an EBD admin will provide your team with a comprehensive training of our web-based Client Portal so you can access real-time project metrics at your convenience.

STEP 7

Project Status

At regular intervals, or at your request, throughout your project timeline, EBD will check in with your team to review our metrics and make any necessary updates to ensure the ongoing success of our campaign.

STEP 8

Final Review

Upon completion of your Pilot program, you will have the option to discontinue our calls while you attend to the opportunities our campaign has created. Or, depending on your appetite and availability for continued growth, all Clients are welcome to extend their campaign on a short-term or ongoing basis.

STEP 9

Follow Up

For the months and years following your Pilot program, whether or not we are actively calling for you, our agents will continue to complete any scheduled follow-up calls with your prospect pool. Of course, all Pilot Program follow-up calls, and any appointments set during those calls, are free of charge.




"The pilot program is a great way to get measurable results for a modest investment."

John Coffin
EVP, Atlantic Capital Bank

Start planning your Pilot Program today!

Contact Us

Pilot Program FAQs

How long is a typical Pilot Program?

Usually 90 days, but a Pilot Program can be adjusted to fit any project scope.

What happens when an EBD agent sets an appointment?

You receive a lead sheet email. You, and anyone you designate on your project team, will receive a lead sheet email that details the date, time and location of the scheduled appointment as well as all verified prospect demographics, an Outlook® appointment attachment for your calendar and the prospect contact's vCard.

Who owns the verified prospect data that is used throughout the Pilot?

You do. While we meticulously verify and document your prospect data, we do not own it. All of your project data is available to you at any time in Excel® format.

How do you assess your project performance during and after the Pilot?

On-demand reporting. Our web-based Client Portal, which displays real-time data for your entire project, 24/7, tracks every single call we make to each prospect, so you can view complete drill-down reporting for your project in real time, at any time.

You can also request regularly recurring reports (biweekly, for example) to be sent to your team automatically by email throughout the duration of your Pilot Program. Unlike your client portal dashboard, these reports are styled documents that can be distributed to you and your team offline and at your discretion.

What happens if EBD is requested to make a follow-up call to a prospect after the Pilot Program has ended?

We make that call... for free. No matter what, our agents will complete all scheduled follow-up calls on your behalf because we understand the value of “your word.” Of course, because these calls may be requested long after our engagement has ended, we never charge for our follow-up calls, even if they result in an appointment (which they often do).

Do EBD agents work out of a call center?

No. Our agents work out of the comfort of their home office to ensure they are as productive as possible. Call centers are most often used for telemarketing firms whose objective is to dial more phone numbers for a “yes” or “no” response. Our goal is to build a warm rapport with your prospects and secure a meaningful introduction, which is best done by a trained professional in their desired work space.

Do EBD agents say that they are your employees on their calls?

No. Our agents introduce themselves as calling “for” or “on behalf of” your company. If they are questioned about their relationship to you, they always disclose that we are a third-party vendor that has partnered with your marketing team.

Does EBD charge by the hour or by appointment?

By the hour. This is an important distinction that allows us to garner top talent to ensure that the appointments they are setting are of geniune quality. In other words, paying by the appointment can incentivize a calling agent to set less-than-desirable appointments for the sake of their paycheck.

Can EBD provide references of other companies that have completed a Pilot?

Yes. Regardless of your industry, we have (more than likely) already completed a calling campaign for your line of business. Our results speak for themselves and our clients are not shy about expressing their gratitude when we request a reference.

Truly successful practitioners of business development, especially in the world of high-value, relationship-oriented business, almost always use a concept that we call Respectful Persistence™. This subtle skill strikes a delicate balance between diligently pursuing a prospect and always maintaining a high level of respect for their boundaries and wishes.

A significant part of the training that is integral to our agents' preparation focuses on Respectful Persistence™. We teach our agents how to use each contact with the prospect as a way to underscore how important, satisfying and appropriate a relationship between our client and the prospect would be. At the same time, we measure and allow for the wishes of the prospect for time and space between contacts or interactions. This process requires that our agents have a high degree of listening skills, sensitivity and judgment while still being able to be assertive in pursuing an appointment with the prospect. The real key to achieving this state of balance is to be able to quickly engage the prospect on an emotional level and build rapport and trust. When this happens, the prospect is much more likely to let down his or her guard and truly connect with and "get the message" from our agent.

Equally important is the follow-up process. Having the tools to track and manage the follow-up actions is critically important as is the discipline to crisply execute the plan for follow-up.

This philosophical commitment to Respectful Persistence™ is engrained in every service we provide our clients. Whether our agents are calling the prospect or our client's business development team is calling or visiting with the prospect, this same skill set will make the difference between mediocrity and the kind of "best of breed" business development techniques that our clients have come to associate with Expert Business Development, LLC.

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CELEBRATING 30 YEARS
OF RELATIONSHIP BUILDING