Are you a sales manager with a telemarketing team to direct? When it comes to building a better customer base, expanding your company's reach, and scoring more sales, cold calls are a lot more effective than you might think. In fact, they're a crucial part of creating leads and growing your company. When you want to increase business and build rapport, cold calls and conducting telesales is the place to start — but how can you make sure your strategy sets you up for both success and better sales?
Here are five pieces of helpful advice for telemarketing to guide your team in the right direction.
1. Make a Plan
Before your telemarketing team starts dialing, each person should have an objective and a plan of action. Whether your goal with each phone call is to make a sale or start a business relationship, your team's telemarketing scripts should reflect that objective. In addition to beginning with scripts that match your marketing game plan as a team, each member should be well-prepared, familiar with the script, and able to deviate from it on their own.
2. Be Clear and Concise
No one wants to listen to an unclear or unbroken sales pitch. Tell your telemarketing team that the key to grabbing attention and avoiding hangups is to get to the point efficiently. They should use clear, positive language, speak clearly and slowly, and not spend too much time lingering on calls that aren't yielding results.
3. Start a Conversation
Your team is more likely to convince and keep potential customers if the prospects feel a human connection to the telemarketers. Advise your team to ask questions, listen patiently to the responses, and treat each customer with a personal level of interest and respect.
While starting a more personal conversation might not let your team members follow an exact script, it creates better rapport with prospects by adding a human element. Just make sure the team memorizes the key points and values of your company, so they can use these in the conversation.
4. Stay Positive
People are going to hang up, say no, be rude, and reject your sales team — make sure they know this is a normal part of the job. Success in telemarketing takes a lot of perseverance, but it's worth it! For every 97 percent of prospects who say no, three percent might say yes — and that small percentage is what you need to build business and drive further sales. Tell your team to stay positive, not take rejection personally, and keep calling, because every "no" gets you one step closer to a "yes."
5. Practice
To prepare and improve with each call, tell your team members to practice their scripts and responses. Hold group practice sessions where your team members perform simulation calls together or encourage them to practice on their own time. The more they prepare, the more persuasive they'll be.
Use the Right Tools
When you want your sales team to make as many calls and contacts as possible each day, equipping your office with the right calling technology is essential to driving more sales. With EVS7's calling agents and other dialing solutions, you can rapidly dial from extensive prospect lists, take advantage of multi-line dialing, and save so much time and energy for your telemarketing team. Contact us today to learn more about the dialer services and products that will boost your telemarketing strategy.
