Gene Gerwin

Name: Gene Gerwin
Title: Owner/Operator CCI Marketing Since 1995
Contact: 415-287-0118, Email

Business-to-Business Telemarketing: Outsourcing, Consulting, Script Writing, Training, and more.

Adwords PPC Campaign Management: Campaign strategy design, Account Setup, Bid Optimization, Campaign Monitoring, and more.

Email Marketing: Email copywriting for promotions and opt-in campaigns, Autoresponders, Landing page optimization for subscriptions, Dedicated server capable of sending hundreds of thousands of emails a day, and more.

For my blog articles and for a full description of services, please visit CCI Marketing.

Let me help you get the most out of telemarketing. I can design your campaign, write your telemarketing script, coach your managers, train your agents, select your service provider or manage a team myself, monitor results, and much more.

With me at your side, you have someone that:

• Has front line experience: I started in the trenches- successfully setting thousands of sales appointments and closing millions of dollars in sales. I give you battle-tested strategies your telemarketing managers and agents benefit from right away.
• Has management experience and resources: I managed hundreds of projects since 1993, everything from simple surveys to complex technology sales. I am not afraid to admit when I am out of my depth. That is why I have developed and maintained relationships with respected and successful marketing consultants to draw upon when needed.
• Uses a scientific approach: Too often consultants rely on what worked before, even when it has stopped working. They rather turn a blind eye than see things in a new light. The scientific process of planning, testing, observation, and revision has rarely failed to show me the way in projects that tested the limits of my abilities.

Satisfied clients include companies such as Oracle, Autodesk, Mentor Graphics, AFLAC, GATX, Microsoft, IBM, Hughes, QWest, Siebel Systems, and many more.

Getting 2010 Started With A Bang

Normally, the last three weeks of Christmas vacation and new year’s celebrations would have been a good time to relax. Not so this year. Everyone’s scrambling to stay ahead of the game. Take time to smell the roses and get run over by a train, I say.

I used the time to complete new professional certification courses (see right margin), revamp my corporate website, move my mail server to a new dedicated server, introduce a slew of new services, and move this blog and re-purpose this website.

In a few days, I start a master-level, three-month certification program on conversion optimization led by Bryan Eisenberg, author of “Waiting For Your Cat To Bark.”

Why all this change, you might ask?

Well, I think everyone in the business-to-business telemarketing industry has seen it become more and more challenging over the last few years to generate positive ROIs. The reason, in my opinion, is that business prospects these days expect the conversation to take place over multiple channels; and, all of  these channels had better be persuasive before they’re willing to move to the next step with you.

So, my point is that a telemarketing call alone is no longer enough. Your campaign needs to incorporate well-planned email marketing and dedicated landing pages to succeed.

With all three services delivered by a single provider (CCI), you gain convenience and confidence that your prospects are moved along the conversion process consistently and effectively.

To learn more about how I can help you get started with an integrated marketing campaign, click on the chat icon on the right to speak with me live or leave me a message. I’d be happy to answer any questions you have.

My Business-to-Business Telemarketing Consulting Roots

Fresh out of college, I got my first taste of telemarketing back in 1991 as an independent legal services representative. Working from my home office, I used the White Pages and a telephone to set appointments for myself to close sales face-to-face. Despite several harrowing experiences with oddball prospects (I feared for my life in one instance), my efforts started to pay off- just as the company I represented closed its doors. Having decided I enjoyed sales, particularly telesales, I set out to learn more about the industry (as well as pay my rent!).

I went on to work for several telemarketing outfits; some were borderline questionable in terms of ethics and at least one,  I later learned, was an outright scam (I figured something was not right when our boss kept locking his office door after having call-girls over for “private meetings” – one time I even saw him reaching into the safe were the cash donations were kept as a call girl closed the office door). Exposed to the seamy underbelly of the telemarketing industry, I came to understand why this profession was viewed with such a mixture of suspicion and disdain.

I found my way to Time Life Books and Videos. At least here, I thought, I will be working for a real company. Within a month or two I established myself as the top producer (by far) in a room of over 80 agents. Before I knew it,  navigating my apartment became a challenge because of the pillars of books and videos I won in daily sales competitions. Even my friends and relatives got tired of all the books and videos I tried to pawn off on them. One thing became clear though, I was not going to pay off my college loans with books and videos. The only upward path was to become a supervisor or manager. One day, while watching my supervisor run up and down the aisles with a copy of “Fix-It-Yourself-Plumbing” held high above his head, yelling, cajoling, and all but begging us to close more sales to win this oh-so-precious tome of plumbing wisdom (of which I already owned 3 copies), I decided it was time to move on.

Fortunate to be one of just two selected from a group of 25 applicants, I found myself telemarketing for a reputable B2B agency. What a difference! Not only did they have a dress code, but I got my own cubicle and computer! I learned that telemarketing did not mean you have to be sandwiched between four other agents with questionable hygene and barely able to hear yourself talk. I learned from other agents there that most had also worked in boiler room settings and that doing so was a sort of right of passage for telemarketers.

A top producer on almost every campaign I worked on, I collected many awards and letters of appreciation from clients during my nearly three-year stay with this B2B agency. One of the highlights of my years there was selling technical training to engineers as an Amdhal Education representative, closing at least $40,000.00 to $60,000.00 a month in sales before Amdhal quit the technical training business.

Having paid my dues, it was time to strike out on my own. I taught myself to build computers and computer networks, write my own software, and manage databases. With the high-tech boom still in full swing (1993), I had clients within weeks of making my first call. Since then, I have managed hundreds of telemarketing campaigns responsible for millions of calls, thousands of leads and appointments, and untold millions in sales. My clients included the who’s who of the technology industry as well as many smaller companies in a variety of industries. One of my more notable achievements was managing a cold-calling project for Oracle where my team closed nearly a million dollars in sales within a month- $2,000 at a time.

My main strength is a willingness to experiment and come up with new solutions.  I am quick to admit mistakes, make amends and improvements, and learn my lessons. I am not afraid to ask “dumb” questions or question “dumb” assumptions. Our success is more important than my ego.

I enjoy any challenge that includes risk, strategy, and psychology. I think that explains my interest in sales and preference for pay-for-performance telemarketing projects.

If you think I can help you with your marketing efforts, please contact me for a free consultation.