Is Telemarketing something for your business?
I get calls and emails from companies who are eager to use telemarketing to build their business, but have they looked at the bigger picture yet?
Bu the question needs to be asked – “Do I need to use some telemarketing and telephone skills in my business?”
The answer is YES
Almost all businesses need sales skills on the phone. That’s your employees, your frontline staff and your receptionist. Most people forget that they have a multi-million dollar business – and then use an inexperienced “deal-killer receptionist” to take calls for the business! You may not even know you are losing money as a result of that problem.
You maybe spending thousands of dollars on your advertising, … BUT if its answered by ‘un trained people’, the sales you are losing could be in the millions!
Don’t blame them train them!
Another Note: What about your outbound sales calls?
Often I get calls from business owners asking about using telemarketing to sell their products or to create leads for their sales teams.
Sales of Products
You need to create a campaign that is fully tested to work. It’s not enough just to throw a phone book at some sales people and a few company brochures and think it will all work out. Once again, selling on the phone is an art and a science, if you get it wrong – you’ll lose potentially millions. Not mention, you may kill your own future sales by simply being unprepared.
Creating Leads
Lead generation is now done by expert professionals more than ever before. In fact I know one company that creates leads in the business 2 business market and they only employ educated professional people to talk on the phone.
Sales Call Structure:
1. An attention grabbing opener
2. Create rapport and a dialog with the listener
3. Discover an area of interest
4. Lead it to a hot button
5. Close the call with a follow up note and Action
6. After the call process the transaction or the lead generated
IMPORTANT NOTE
Your Business is Driven by Numbers …
It’s very important to keep a track of the calls you make, the follow ups and the correspondence needed to keep in touch with your database.
If you don’t keep a track of the numbers in your business (and the phone is no exception), you’ll be “flying-blind” and you won’t know if there is a mountain in front of you as you fly carelessly through the clouds.
WHERE TO FIND PEOPLE TO CALL
A lot of business people only know the ‘Yellow Pages’ and will pick them up to dial a list of numbers or give that list to their new Telemarketing Staff expecting them to make sales or get leads. But is this a good idea?
If it’s for ‘practice calls’, then it’s okay.
But beyond that – there are much better sources of leads to call.
Here are some examples
• The Dunn and Bradstreet lists
• List management brokers
You can simply go online and start buying any list that suits your business type. A lot of lists can be downloaded and installed directly into your contact manager systems.
Other Lists
• An Opt-in list from your own website – offering prospects a report or a course online
• Your competition or your Peers – you can buy a list from your competition and call those people
• Shopping Centers – this is like shooting fish in a barrel – the low cost of setting up a stand at a shopping center will amaze you and it works like a dream
• Expo Stand – all the year round, there are expos and there is TWO WAYS to harvest lists here 1. Setting up your own stand and running a competition 2. Going to many business or trade expos and collecting the “Expo Stand List” at the start of the event. What could be easier?
Other Businesses in Your Area
Fitness Centers are excellent – they have sign up forms at your local Seven Eleven and even fashion stores and cafes. Approach them and see if they will share there list with you – i.e. a special preview seminar – make an emails and phone up offer.
There are many businesses where you can network closely and do a “hosted-list” In my vast business experience; I have done this many times over and in some cases with very spectacular results.
Pull out your pocket PDA (or your business card file) and look up what business owners you know – that you can work with and build your business at a “hyper-drive-speed”.
So there you have it, you CAN use the telephone and build your business with lots of leads faster than ever before. Use your mind and think differently about your business.
Warmly,
From David Newton