Telemarketing – How To Make It a Success Again?
Telemarketing has been heavily criticized in recent years, making lots of businesspersons believe that telemarketing calls just don’t work. However, the reality is that telemarketing calls do work, but only if they are planned and structured sensibly. Telesales campaigns are successful only when they promise some value to a buyer. This should be the goal of telemarketing calls too.
The current generation is barraged with advertisements and promotional materials since the day they were born. They are shrewd and smart enough to not be bowled over by sales pitches. They want genuine value in offers and this is where superior telemarketing can draw their attention to it. Every call made to a customer has a specific idea behind it and is planned to support the offer during the conversation.
Improving telemarketing quality is a must to its survival
Telemarketing has been criticized as an interruptive and shameless means of advertising. Recent industry data from US and Canada are a clear proof that telemarketing is losing its effectiveness. Lengthening Do-Not-Call lists verify the misgivings towards telemarketing calls. As of April 2010, more than 2 million people registered in the Do-Not-Call state list of Wisconsin alone, and almost half of it are mobile phone numbers. The national Do-Not-Call list has more than 180 million registered numbers.
Recently, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has shut down a telemarketing operation working for an East Pittsburgh company and penalized it for more than $4.7 million as restitution to consumers. Talbots Inc. and its California marketing partner have settled to pay $161,000 in penalties to settle allegations that they infringed federal telemarketing regulations related to 3.4 million automated sale calls made to customers last year. The steep rise in telemarketing calls targeting people affected by the recession and robocalls violating federal telemarketing laws in 2009 has forced the FTC to impose more curbs.
Outline the objectives of telemarketing
The reason why numerous telemarketing services haven’t made it is because of the stress on numbers. Statistical objectives have become such a critical part of measuring performance that the consumer’s interests become less important. Calls are not made with a planned purpose in mind; a sale pitch is made way too early; there is no documentation to substantiate the offer; and follow through is inefficient.
If telemarketing service providers are to survive in the marketing industry, critical adjustments are needed. Telemarketing conversion rates can get better by:
* Considering the goal of a call: Service providers should develop a work outline for its telemarketing staff by defining a goal for each call – scheduling an appointment with decision makers, assessing the consumer’s requirements, requesting permission to send a quote, etc.
* Not selling in the first contact: The first telemarketing call should only familiarize the customer with your brand name and build a relationship by focusing on their requirements and not your services. First call is not the time to make a sale as this works against you.
* Having printed and online information ready: If the customer asks for further information, you should take that as a positive indication. Provide the address of the business website or post or email a brochure or other marketing content.
* Always following up promptly: Opportune follow up proves your commitment to the consumer, and gives you the opportunity to take the process forward.
If clients get pertinent telemarketing calls that promise value, they will not want to register on Do-Not-Call lists. Telemarketing services can regain confidence by taking the focus away from statistics and towards customer service.
Daljeet Sidhu is at Tradeseam B2B Marketplace. Read Telemarketing Call Center advice. Compare Telemarketing quotes
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