Telemarketers regularly encounter unresponsive leads while using paid-for telemarketing lead lists. Potential leads from a consumer lead list might not show any interest in their offers. The key reason is that they simply cannot trust an unknown caller. On that note, let us learn how the AIDAS model can help you improve the telemarketing conversion rate of your campaign, build a reputable brand image for your business, and guide your telemarketing business.
Brief Overview of Telemarketing Leads
Knowing what telemarketing leads are, the types of leads, and how to move them further down the telemarketing sales funnel will make all the difference when running your telemarketing campaign. So let's start at the fundamentals of telemarketing leads first!
What Are Telemarketing Leads?
Telemarketing leads are potential customers that sales agents can sell to over the phone. The business will consider them a lead if they fit their target market/ideal customer.
Types of Leads in Telemarketing
The most basic of leads are: cold leads, warm leads, hot leads. Nearly every sales industry uses these types of leads to label where their potential customers are in the sales pipeline.
- Cold Leads are potential buyers, but no contact has been made from either party.
- Warm Leads are potential buyers who have had contact with the company or have shown interest.
- Hot Leads are potential buyers that are ready to purchase from your company.
Two other forms of telemarketing leads are MQL's and SQL's:
- Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL) are potential buyers that have shown interest in the company's product/service. For instance, reading the blogs/info pages on your website or downloading a demo/trial.
- Sales Qualified Leads (SQL) are potential buyers who have expressed interest or stated they would like to make a purchase. For example, requesting to meet with a sales agent.
It might be helpful if you read our guide to aligning sales and marketing teams for this part.
How Do You Generate Telemarketing Leads?
The approaches you use to generate leads should align with the company's visions and goals. It is also wise to have many approaches to generate leads. As the saying goes, “Don't put all your eggs in one basket.” Consider implementing the two forms of lead generation we have shared below into your lead generation strategy.
Organic Telemarketing Lead Generation
Organic telemarketing lead generation is when an individual or business finds your company through searching for a product, service, or question in a search engine. It differs from directly visiting your website or clicking on an ad for the company.
The benefit of organic lead generation is that you know the individual or company is interested in the product and they are likely ready to purchase since they are searching for the product or service. The other benefit is that this type of method requires little work on the company's part. Aside from making your website informative and helpful, other forms of advertising weren't necessary to draw the potential customer in.
The downside is that not all of your potential customers will find your company organically, so you shouldn't completely rely on the method for your entire source of sales. Having a few avenues for sales is always best, including organic lead generation.
Relying on Telemarketing List Brokers
Yes, you could use a phone book and try to get the most sales you could out of the numbers listed, but how many sales would make it worth your time to call all those random numbers?
Telemarketing lead brokers make telemarketing much more efficient and effective. They have the capabilities to help you target your list to your ideal target market, as well as help save you time by excluding any telemarketing leads that wouldn't be beneficial to your company.
The only risk in buying a telemarketing list is outdated or inaccurate data. Finding an expert telemarketing lead generation broker who updates their list regularly and runs checks on the data will help you avoid this risk.
The Telemarketing Sales Funnel
The telemarketing sales funnel relies heavily on the AIDAS model.
So, what is the AIDA model?
The AIDA model demonstrates how to send leads through the sales funnel:
- Get their ATTENTION! There is so much distraction in the world and so many companies who also want the consumers' attention.
- Appeal to their Interest. Why would they want your product/service? What can it do for them?
- If you know their interest, then you know their desired outcome from the product/service. You can sell to their desires in other ways too. Do they desire assistance? Do they desire information? The more you can fulfill their desires in the product/service and in the company, the more likely they are to move further down the sales funnel.
- Now it's time for them to take action. If you have gained their attention, appealed to their interest, and catered to their desires, they will be ready to take action and purchase.
- Lastly, the newest addition to the AIDA model example is the S at the end, which stands for satisfaction. You want that customer to become a repeat customer so, even if they have made it through the sales funnel, you want to keep them in it by ensuring their satisfaction with the product/service and company.
How to Improve Your Telemarketing Conversion Rates
It's likely that you aren't optimizing your phone list to its full potential. That means you're wasting time, money, and manpower for leads that never make it through the sales pipeline. The AIDA model marketing strategy is the solution to that problem. It will be able to improve your telemarketing conversion rates and set your campaign up for success. Take a look at how, below!
1. Draw the ‘Attention' of Your Customers
Your sales agents need to understand that the first few minutes of their sales presentation are crucial in drawing the attention of the prospects and converting them into sales leads. In addition, if you succeed in making a connection with your customers, don't make yourself look over-enthusiastic for sales, or you might lose them in the process.
2. Generate ‘Interest' in Your Brand
Once you have the attention of your customer, try to build their interest not only in your products and services but also in your brand. Such efforts help you boost the brand image of the company. Moreover, you need to work on your product knowledge once you know you are calling the right people from your residential phone list. A strong sales pitch certainly keeps your leads interested in learning the ins and outs of your products and services.
3. Nurture the ‘Desire' of Your Leads
A lead generation program becomes effective only when it fulfills the aspirations of your leads. Engage with your leads and nurture them until the time they are ready to make purchases. As marketing managers, it is your responsibility to train your sales agents to create enough interest in customers' minds to buy the products and services of your company.
4. Help Your Customers ‘Act'
Your telemarketing campaign goes for a toss if the leads don't make purchases at the end of the conversation. Your sales agents need to follow a proper call-to-action plan as part of the telemarketing campaign. They need to include “call-to-action” in their sales pitch and see the quick conversion of leads into prospects and finally accounts for the company.
5. Leave Them ‘Satisfied'
After-sales service is a crucial component of the sales process. Once your customer has relied on you and bought your products and services, you need to reassure them that they have made the right decision. Timely and satisfactory after-sales service is one of the key ways you can leave your customers satisfied with their buying decision.
Telemarketing Leads Qualification
Many telemarketers jump to the pitch too quickly, without understanding the prospect. The situation is the same as throwing darts in the dark and it can waste the time of telemarketers.
This is why we recommend you research more into the phase, following the lead generation process - which is lead qualification.
We also suggest you get to know the different methods of lead scoring, which will help you determine which leads are more likely to be high-value customers.
The Advantage of Targeted Telemarketing Leads
An increase in customer conversion rate through telemarketing yields desirable results when you make use of the AIDAS theory of selling. Not only can you increase the conversion rate of the potential leads, but you can also get more prospects in the process through word-of-mouth from happy customers.
The success of your campaigns, however, also depends on the quality of the custom cold calling lists you buy, and that's when you need a reliable provider such as TelephoneLists. Feel free to contact our telemarketing consultants for a free sample list, tailored to your prerequisites.
Works Cited
schlitt, v., 2021. [online] Business.com. Available at: [Accessed 1 April 2021].
Team, S., 2021. Types of Sales Leads 101: The Essential Guide | Soleadify. [online] Soleadify. Available at: [Accessed 31 March 2021].
Brandon, L., 2021. How to Make Sure You Buy a Quality Lead List. [online] Telephonelists.biz. Available at: [Accessed 30 March 2021].
TheFreeDictionary.com. 2021. AIDAS. [online] Available at: [Accessed 1 April 2021].
