Telemarketing

The Terrors of Telemarketing

When people hear the word "telemarketing," most run for the door. This is a sad thing because telemarketing is one of the most effective kinds of marketing - for small businesses, this is especially true. My firm does telemarketing, and if you haven't received a call from one of our staff, be forewarned, you soon will! Telemarketing is simply the most efficient way to reach clients with the flexibility and customization that they demand now.

When talking about marketing, first recognize that in many industries there is so much competition, customers have become obsessed with finding reasons NOT to buy from you. Some buyers do this because it gives them a sense of power, but most do it primarily because it reduces the stress of having too many similar options. Telemarketers are able to circumvent this however. How do they do this?

"On the Fly" Flexibility When talking to a client on the phone, you can quickly modify your offering to meet his needs as you speak. This isn't always easy, but there are some key ways of doing this. Before you call, examine the historical record. What seems to be the trends recently? What types of qualities are customers looking for, or what types of problems seem to be surfacing that your offering can solve? What is happening in the industry now that you can use to leverage as you talk to your client? In our business, employee retention and engagement are huge issues. (These issues simply happen to be the recent trendy ones: the real problem has been around for ages!) Last year Leadership was all the rage. Who knows what it will be next!

Can you imagine how expensive it would be for us to change our marketing plan every time the trends change? Small companies are able to be infinitely flexible in their approach to meeting client needs. Take advantage of what the bigger companies cannot or won't! Telemarketing is the only medium providing this flexibility.

Instant Feedback Does your company use "feedback" forms? Do you beg clients to tell you what they think about your service? Only if you understand customer viewpoints about your offering can you best meet the needs of your clients. Telemarketing allows you to modify or emphasize the most appropriate benefits to each customer. Even the internet has a hard time doing this! When you're on the phone with a customer, you can quickly and easily force the issue:

Trying to get your customer to provide this information in written format would be nearly impossible. But isn't this the most valuable type of information?

Walk With the Big Boys In the past 5 years, India has led the pack of telemarketing outsourcing. Can you imagine the headaches of setting up a call center in India if your client base is in North America? The Big Boys do this because telemarketing is so important. Smaller companies need to learn from them. You don't need to set up a branch in India, but you should get serious about telemarketing.

Advertising, But Not Really Telemarketing is both a form of advertising as well as sales. When you get a potential client on the phone, you have a captive audience. Rarely are people outwardly rude to you unless you call about something that is completely remote. I still get calls from call centers in the Philippines asking if I need help making financial investments. I politely tell them that all of my spare cash goes right back into my business. But some day I'll have more cash then I know what to do with, and I'm sure I'll get a call from one of those financial advisors!

Remember, large companies have known for a long time that the average customer must have 7 experiences with your product before he buys. If you use several different mediums to present these 7 messages, you'll be ahead of the pack.

We don't ever expect to close a deal on the phone. Our telemarketing goals are always simply to obtain a face to face meeting with the potential buyer. I can do a much better job of presenting our services when I meet someone than I ever could over the phone. We use telemarketing to qualify buyers, and to get appointments. But your situation may be very different.

Scripting Your Calls This is a heated topic, and every telemarketer has a different point of view on this issue. Do you want to invest time and energy in putting together a script? This depends on many factors, but primarily the issue of quality control. How strong are your callers at speaking on the fly? Does your offering lend itself well to a single approach, or is maximum flexibility required?

Perhaps you are the CEO of your company, and you're also the bread winner. Even you will find it useful to have a list of benefits, or responses to questions handy as you call potential clients. The degree of "support" one needs or uses when making calls really depends upon the experience, practice, offering and skill level of the caller.

Client Connection Marketing systems and programs are so well developed now, we've lost our personal connection with the client. Talking with a client on the phone is the easiest, cheapest and most efficient way of connecting with clients. And sadly, on this issue there are no shortcuts at all. If you're selling anything other than a FMCG (fast moving consumer good) chances are slim that you'll have much success if you don't connect with your clients.

Connecting with clients even via the telephone isn't easy, but doing so will put you miles ahead of your competitors. Happy calling!