Telephone Surveys

B2B Telephone Surveys That Deliver Actionable Market Intelligence

When you need reliable information from a specific group of businesses or decision makers, telephone research can provide insights that aren't always available through online surveys or desk research.

24 I.S. Sales Intelligence provides professional B2B telephone survey services, helping businesses gather accurate, first-hand information directly from their target market.

Our experienced team can conduct structured telephone surveys, collect responses against agreed criteria and provide clear, usable information to help you make better commercial decisions.

Whether you're researching customer satisfaction, market demand, competitor activity, product requirements or a particular business sector, we can design and deliver a telephone survey around your objectives.

Talk to us about your telephone survey requirements →

Why Use Telephone Surveys?

Online surveys can be quick and cost-effective, but response rates can be low and respondents may provide limited information.

A telephone conversation provides an opportunity to:

Reach specific decision makers
Explain the purpose of the research
Ask questions in a structured way
Clarify answers where necessary
Probe for additional information
Capture qualitative as well as quantitative responses
Identify trends and common themes
Obtain information that may not be publicly available

The result can be a much richer understanding of your target market.

B2B Telephone Research

Our experience is particularly relevant to business-to-business telephone surveys, where reaching the correct individual can be more challenging than simply distributing an online questionnaire.

We can work from your existing customer or prospect database, or help develop the appropriate contact data for the research project.

Depending on your requirements, we can target:

Business owners
Managing Directors
Sales Directors
Marketing Directors
IT Directors
Procurement professionals
Operations Directors
Finance Directors
Department heads
Other specialist decision makers

We agree the target audience and research criteria with you before the campaign begins.

What Can We Research?

Telephone surveys can be used for a wide range of commercial research projects.

Customer Satisfaction Surveys

Find out how customers feel about your products, services and overall relationship with your business.

Questions can explore:

Satisfaction levels
Service quality
Areas for improvement
Likelihood of continuing to use your services
Additional requirements
Future purchasing intentions

Market Research

Understand how businesses within a particular market think, behave and make purchasing decisions.

We can investigate:

Market demand
Purchasing behaviour
Current suppliers
Product requirements
Buying criteria
Budget considerations
Future plans

Competitor Research

Gather information about the competitive landscape directly from businesses operating within your target market.

This might include understanding:

Which suppliers are currently being used
What products or services are being purchased
Perceptions of different suppliers
Reasons for choosing a particular provider
Potential weaknesses in the current market offering

Product & Proposition Research

Before launching a new product or service, telephone research can help establish whether the proposition addresses a genuine market requirement.

We can test:

Product concepts
Pricing approaches
Service propositions
Customer priorities
Buying intentions
Barriers to purchase

Structured Telephone Surveys

We can work from a questionnaire or survey script supplied by your business, or help you develop the structure of the conversation.

A typical project might involve:

1. Define the objectives

What do you need to find out?

2. Identify the audience

Which businesses, sectors, locations or job roles should be contacted?

3. Develop the questionnaire

Establish the questions and information required.

4. Contact the target audience

Our team conducts the calls professionally and consistently.

5. Capture the responses

Responses are recorded against the agreed criteria.

6. Analyse the findings

The information can be presented in a structured format to identify trends and common themes.

7. Provide the intelligence

You receive information that can be used to inform your marketing, sales or wider business strategy.

We Don't Just Read a Questionnaire

One of the advantages of using an experienced telephone research team is the ability to have a genuine conversation rather than simply reading questions from a script.

Our callers can clarify an answer, ask an appropriate follow-up question or identify an important piece of information that might otherwise have been missed.

For example, if a respondent says:

"We're reasonably happy with our current supplier."

the conversation can potentially establish:

Why are you reasonably happy rather than very happy?

What would you like your supplier to improve?

When does your current contract come up for renewal?

Would you consider alternative suppliers at that point?

That additional information can be extremely valuable.

Telephone Surveys & Sales Intelligence

This is where our Sales Intelligence experience provides an additional advantage.

A telephone survey doesn't necessarily have to be limited to collecting answers.

Where appropriate, a research project can also identify commercially useful information such as:

Current supplier
Current product or service
Contract arrangements
Renewal dates
Decision makers
Future projects
Purchasing intentions
Areas of dissatisfaction
Potential requirements

This can turn a traditional telephone survey into a much broader market intelligence exercise.

Customer & Prospect Research

We can conduct surveys across your existing customer base as well as prospective customers.

Existing customers

Understand satisfaction, retention risks and future requirements.

Lapsed customers

Find out why customers left and whether there is an opportunity to re-engage them.

Prospects

Understand their current situation, requirements and purchasing intentions.

Target markets

Research businesses that fit your ideal customer profile to identify market trends and opportunities.

Telephone Surveys as Part of a Wider Campaign

Telephone research can also form part of a wider B2B sales or marketing campaign.

For example, you may want to:

Research → Understand → Segment → Target → Generate Opportunities

The initial telephone survey can establish the information required to determine which organisations are most relevant to your sales team.

Where respondents express a genuine interest in finding out more, we can also agree a process for passing those opportunities back to your business.

This means a research campaign can potentially deliver both market intelligence and qualified commercial opportunities.

Experienced B2B Telephone Researchers

Our team has extensive experience of speaking with businesses across a wide range of sectors.

We understand that different markets require different approaches, and that the quality of the information collected depends heavily on the quality of the conversation.

Our wider experience includes work across:

IT and technology
Telecommunications
Cyber security
Professional services
Legal services
Construction
Procurement
Renewable energy
Financial services
Business services

This breadth of B2B experience allows us to quickly understand new markets and adapt our approach to the research requirements.

Flexible Telephone Survey Campaigns

Not every business needs a large-scale research programme.

We can support:

Short-term projects

A defined number of calls over a specific period.

Larger research programmes

Structured campaigns targeting hundreds or thousands of organisations.

Ongoing research

Regular telephone research to monitor changes in your market.

Customer surveys

Periodic surveys to measure customer satisfaction and changing requirements.

Bespoke projects

Research designed around a particular business question or commercial objective.

Telephone Surveys vs Online Surveys

Telephone surveys and online surveys each have their place.

Online surveys can be useful when you need to collect large volumes of simple responses.

Telephone research can be particularly valuable when you need:

Specific respondents
You need to speak to a particular job role or decision maker.

Better response rates
A personal conversation can encourage participation.

From Telephone Research to Business Decisions

The ultimate objective of a telephone survey isn't simply to produce a spreadsheet containing hundreds of answers.

It is to provide information that helps you make better decisions.

That might mean understanding why customers are leaving, identifying a new market opportunity, testing a new proposition, measuring customer satisfaction or identifying potential sales opportunities.

At 24 I.S., we combine professional telephone research with our wider experience in B2B sales intelligence, lead generation and market research.

Let's Talk About Your Telephone Survey

If you have a market research project, customer survey or B2B research requirement, we can help you determine the most effective way to approach it.

We'll work with you to understand what you need to find out, who you need to speak to and how the information will ultimately be used.

Talk to 24 I.S. About Telephone Surveys

Ask the right questions. Reach the right people. Gather actionable intelligence.

Please contact us on 01782 409788 for no-obligation advice, and for a quotation.