Working in telemarketing can be a tough gig. Taking hundreds of calls to no avail is often very time consuming and can be fruitless.
Many people sit & wonder why any company would employ someone to work in telemarketing. "It's old fashioned!", "there are so many new methods of communication now! Who uses a telephone?".
You may be surprised that actually telemarketing can be one of the most direct and engaging marketing methods you could implement, IF (and that's a 72 point helvetica bold IF) you get it right.
Telesales versus Telemarketing
Telesales and telemarketing are NOT the same – let's just straighten that out now. These two often get batted around the same court and are seen as the same. If you want to implement a successful telemarketing campaign you need to be able to distinguish between the two.
Telesales – The focus is much more defined: follow the leads you're provided with and close the sale! A robust telemarketing campaign can open up a large meandering river of marketing channels and potential customer bases – but this is not the role of a telesales team. The telesales team are there to close the deal!
Telemarketing – A softer sell; you aren't just there to make a sale, you are there to build your company's brand and to spread concise and consistent messaging. All the while building and maintaining customer relationships and keeping them warm and toasty until they're ready to commit. Good telemarketers reduce the need to cold call, curtail annoyance and bump conversion.
Cold calling without effective research will reap limited results and could be a costly mistake. 100 cold unsolicited calls may get you one meaningful conversation (the 99 others are likely to be filled with obscenity!)
Contacting 100 leads that have been involved in a campaign, that have shown interest, opened, clicked through and most importantly haven't unsubscribed are definitely worth the extra graft – these 100 leads are warmer, more approachable and will be less likely to scream bloody mary down their shiny smartphone.
Going back to that big IF, the one thing that you really need to focus on are the results of your campaigns. In telemarketing you don't want to be contacting someone who doesn't know what you do, what products or services you have to offer. How do you overcome this?
Invest in your audience
Invest: invest in marketing software that's easy to use, to set-up and that will allow you to get fast complex results. There are some great pieces of marketing automation software out there that you can use, my top suggestions would be Marketo, Pardot or Eloqua. Each have their own positives and although they may seem a bit pricey they could work wonders for your campaigns. They also reduce the stress of manual campaign management – let the software do the leg work while you write cracking content.
If marketing automation software isn't for your business and you want to go down the manual route then google analytics could be that ray of light you're looking for. Google analytics allows you to drop code into your email campaigns to track your potential customers activity.
Once you've got your handful of red-hot leads you need to develop a tone and an angle for when you're on the phone. This will be defined by how they've interacted, what emails they did or didn't open, what links they clicked on and what appears to be the product or service they are specifically interested in. You also need to see the potential customer as an individual – where are they from? Are they a CEO of a major company or a small business owner? Adapt the way in which you speak to the individual.
This requires research, that yes, may be more time consuming and lower the amount of calls you make – but this isn't a bad thing, that age old saying quality over quantity couldn't be more applicable. Think about it though, you wouldn't go to an orchard and gather spoiled apples from the ground – climb that ladder, spend the time required and understand the needs of that potential customer.
Take the right tone
As a general rule – until you're on the phone you won't know how the recipient will react so here's my generic personal approach. If you're contacting the CEO of a major company (which is a difficult feat in itself!) bear in mind that usually their time equals a lot of money. They're less interested in the fluff. Get to the point, this is your name, your company, why you're calling and state what's in it for them! You have little time, so convey your message within the first 20 seconds. When speaking with an individual who's perhaps a bit lower down the ladder, have a lighter approach this is where the 'How are you's' are seen as more acceptable.
In both cases always remain friendly and open. Within the first few seconds of the call – you'll be able to gauge whether they have time for you. Ask open questions that get the potential customer talking. Come up with an opener that leads the potential customer into talking about a problem that your product or service can resolve 'talk to me about X, what challenges did you face' once you've identified their issue, you're in.
Play the long game
I'll leave you with this: a first call may not get you a sale and as a telemarketer this shouldn't always be at the forefront of your mind. Before you pick up the handset and get dialing, just aim to have a meaningful conversation. Don't be too pushy, if you have a meaningful conversation that person will remember you.
Your service/product may not be right for them at that specific moment in time and that's okay. If you've done your job, when the time comes; they'll think of you – every conversation counts!
For more information, visit blur Group website: www.blurgroup.com
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