Your Appointment Setters Are Not Homeland Security

If you’re wondering how stupid you’d have to be to treat appointment setters this way, a quick skim through this Forbes article might be good food for thought.

Whether it’s terrorist group or a shady money launderer, there’s always a chance of running into what the article describes as ‘risky clients.’ Forget lack of budget or buy-in. The idea of accidentally pitching to a shady organization and selling them the tools of their black market trade is the stuff of marketing nightmares. Bad PR. Loss of trust. It’s everything you need to destroy any hopes of a future lead generation campaign.

But in spite of that fear, is it really enough to justify an NSA-style qualification process for every inquiry, email, or phone call regarding your product? Here’s what it won’t justify: a cut and dried solution.

There to many factors to consider when you want to your appointment setters to constantly look out for ‘potentially criminal’ business prospects. And often times, these factors are tangled up in one or more political controversy. That’s a huge mess to sift through just so you could run a B2B marketing campaign!

But to make things easier here are top three factors that you’ll always consider first:

• Your industry – Are you an insurance provider? How about a security systems manufacturer? Are you in the business of providing cash advance? These industries certainly are entitled to policing everyone who comes to them. On the other hand, some industries that are a lot less likely to do anything with potential criminal/terrorist need not be so paranoid.

• Your awareness – Privacy can be an important thing in some other industries. Thus, you can’t afford to ask too many questions that make it hard for customers to trust you. A fair example would be enterprise vendors. They have every tight to demand security even at the risk of you indirectly covering up clients who might use your technology for less than ethical practices.

• Your knowledge – This encompasses both knowledge of the law and knowledge of your own products/services. Sometimes you lack the legal expertise to advise you on whether or not a potential client could be up t no good. Other times, you may not even be aware of how the things you’re selling could possibly be used in criminal/terrorist acts.

Most importantly though, these factors should be considered first and foremost by you before you take them with your appointment setters. They may be outsourced or maybe new hires in your marketing department. There’s no difference. They are not Homeland Security so be careful about expecting them to act as much.

Your Appointment Setters Are Not Homeland Security