People often ask, “Is telemarketing still effective in today's business?” The answer is, absolutely! We will explain how to make your telemarketing effective, but to first understand why telemarketing is still effective you can check our study on Why You Should Still Cold Call in 2020.
Does Telemarketing Work?
Phone calls may seem old-fashioned, but with the right methods and tips, you’ll turn leads into clients easily.
Digital marketing experts say that Americans see on average anywhere from 4,000-10,000 ads a day. We are so used to seeing ads on coffee cups, cars, buildings, etc., that we have become immune. We hardly register that we are seeing ads most of the time. This explains why cold calling is so effective. It's not an ad that you walk past without a second thought, it's human interaction.
Telemarketing only works if you know how to use it. Learn how to use the golden rules of B2B telemarketing!
Telemarketing Success Rate
You should know that less than 20% of sales are made within the first 4 calls to a contact. However, 80% of sales are made between the 5th and 12th call. Persistence and time are your friends in the telemarketing industry!
The Advantages of Telemarketing
When it comes to making an impression and making a sale, connecting with your potential customers is all about appealing to their human factor.
Your prospects are people, and they make both business and personal decisions based on emotional, social, and rational factors. To gain their business, you need to build a relationship and a level of understanding that online outlets won’t allow. This is why telemarketing can be so successful.
Effective telemarketing leads to good business because it:
- Shows a personal understanding of the buyer’s situation and needs
- Personalizes the services and goods you’re promoting
- Shows the customer how their needs intersect with your products and services
Successful telemarketers show empathy, have human characteristics, and give personal attention, which persuades the prospect to develop his or her own interest.
Tips for Effective Telemarketing
Usually, there are 3 objectives to every successful telemarketing campaign.
- Defining the campaign objectives
- Setting strategic but realistic goals
- Creating a call script that aligns the value of the product or service you are selling with the target demo or psychographic
Now that you know the 3 must-haves for successful telemarketing, you can get into the nitty-gritty of how to achieve these objectives by creating effective telemarketing and leads.
Plan Before You Call
There are 3 critical research topics to understand before calling.
- How is the ‘Target Market’?
- What is the ‘Data Composition?’
- What is the ‘Value Proposition?’
Once you understand these things, you can make calls with confidence.
Start With a Good Telemarketing Icebreaker
Effective telemarketing icebreakers are anything that will draw the prospect's attention. You want it to be the first thing you say, so you can immediately get their attention. Here are a few icebreakers to consider using in your sales calls:
- Offering a Compliment:
- If you have time, doing a little research on the prospect will make finding a compliment much easier. For instance, finding their LinkedIn account to find out that they got hired at a new job. (ex. Hi Julia, congratulations on your new job.)
- If you do not have time to research the prospect beforehand, compliment something you observed, like how quickly they picked up the phone. (ex. Hi Daniel, thank you for answering my call so quickly.)
- Current Events/Holidays:
- Be mindful of the audience you are talking to and also take into consideration that not everyone celebrates the same holidays. (ex. Hi Caleb, I hope your New Year is going well.)
- Find Common Ground:
- This will take some minor research, but being able to share a common interest with someone immediately makes the prospect feel more willing to talk. (ex. Hi Spencer, I see your company works on classic cars. I have a 67 Mustang.)
Don’t Be a Typical Telemarketer
You will not stand out in a sea of telemarketers if you sound and act like a “typical telemarketer.” This means disregarding a formal greeting, calling prospects, and immediately reciting your sales pitch, not giving them room to talk, and then asking if they are interested. This telemarketing tactic is outdated, overused, and doesn’t take into consideration that the recipient of the call is a person, not a sale. Don’t be a typical telemarketer.
Use a Warm Tone of Voice
Since people can’t see your non-verbal cues, you must overcompensate with your voice. You want to portray a ‘warm’ tone. There are four effective telemarketing strategies to remember on your sales calls that will warm up your cold calling:
- Add personal touches (ex. referring to them by their name)
- Smile while you talk. People can hear the difference and it helps you remember to keep your voice friendly and light.
- Timing is everything. Calling people when they are willing to talk is sure to put them in a better mood for receiving a call. (ex. right after lunch or towards the end of a workday)
- Allow for conversation. Pausing is a great way to allow the person room to talk. They don’t want to be talked at, they also want to add input and they will appreciate the opportunity to do so.
Use the Language of Trust
Think of people you trust in your own life. You probably trust your doctor, your friends, your spouse, but why? Could it be that you trust them because you know them well and they know you well? Could it also be because they have your best interest in mind? Most people would say yes to both.
It's the same when it comes to selling. To create that trust you need to build trust, which takes time. You will also need to listen to the prospect and cater to their needs. This is the language of trust.
Get Ready to Hear ‘No’ Over and Over Again
It doesn’t get more straightforward than that. You will hear “NO” much more than you hear “YES”. Be aware of this, but don’t let it discourage you from telemarketing. Understand how to handle objections before you start calling, so you will be prepared.
Be Empathetic
Want to learn how to improve telemarketing sales? Then know the difference between sympathize and empathize.
Sympathizing is when you try to show your understanding of someone's situation when you have never experienced what they are experiencing. Empathizing, however, is when you show understanding to someone's situation because you have experienced what the other person is going through.
When you actively listen, you will be able to empathize and show understanding of the specific needs that need to be met and you will be able to gain their trust as well.
It's hard to sell something to a customer when you don’t use/believe in the product or service. So, remember your company has a product or service that will make their life better in some way and it's your job to empathize with them and let them know that you understand their need for the product/service because you also needed the product/service.
Hone Your Telemarketing Script
Know your objective at each call and use the appropriate script. For instance, on the first call, you aren’t going to want to use the sales pitch script. You will use the introductory script, letting them know who you are, what company you work for, and what services you provide. Review your scripts and be sure you have effective telemarketing scripts for different circumstances. Here are just a few examples:
- Short, condensed voice mail script – an intriguing yet brief message that motivates your prospect to call you back
- First contact script – concise introductory remarks designed to spark interest and persuade your prospect to listen to you and speak with you further, either immediately or in the near future
- Second contact script – follow-up remarks to remind the prospect of the purpose of your call and to motivate him or her to interact with you in more detail
Ask Effective Questions
Vague questions will get you vague answers, therefore, effective questions will give you effective answers. Ask questions like:
- Why don’t you tell me about the critical role you play in your company?
- What are your business goals as you move forward?
- What are your more pressing priorities now?
These questions tell you about the person, their company, and what their needs are at the company. This will be useful information to use for the next call or meeting.
Learn From Your Mistakes
The best of the best have learned to use mistakes as learning tools and so can you! Mistakes teach us what didn’t work and narrow down the list of what could work. To help you avoid the mistakes before they happen take a look at the 12 most common mistakes in the telemarketing industry:
- Weak introductions
- Pitching Instead of Discussing
- Not Listening to the Customer
- Rigid Script Reading
- Lack of Prior Research
- Forgetting the Main Goal
- Ignoring Customer Objections
- Sound Too Familiar
- Giving Up Control
- Disrespecting Gatekeepers
- Lacking Engagement
- Failing to Gain Commitment
Aim at a High Number of Telemarketing Calls
The more numbers you call, the higher your chance of selling. Did you know that only 3% of the market is actively buying, 56% are not ready, and 40% will be ready to purchase in the near future? This is why aiming for a high number of calls is important. Go get that 3% with these cold calling techniques!
Follow the DNC Rules
If you didn’t know already there are rules and regulations on telemarketing. The DNC or Do Not Call List is likely the most enforced telemarketing rule in America and Canada. Tools like the free do not call scrubber make it easy for telemarketers to comply with the DNC list. Simply register for a SAN number with the National DNC, get the DNC list and your telephone list and import them in the scrubber. The scrubber will run your telephone list against the DNC list, so you can begin calling without the hassle of checking the list yourself.
Build Tactics to Go Past the Gatekeeper
The gatekeeper is anyone who does not make the purchasing decision. The objective is to always speak to the decision-maker, however, occasionally you will have to get past the gatekeeper. The best way to do this is by politely asking if you can speak to the decision-maker or asking for a way to contact them directly at a time when it's convenient for them.
Never disregard or disrespect the gatekeeper because they might have more say in the decision than you think. Also, you want to represent your company well, by respecting everyone you meet.
Grow Your Personal Skills
The traits of successful telemarketers that you need to sell are the same skills you will need to learn for life. Here are just some of the effective telemarketing skills that you will need:
- Preparation (prepare for the call as well as the closing of a sale)
- Reading Signs/Verbal Cues (know when the prospect is ready to say “yes” to purchasing)
- Learning When to Speak and When to Be Silent (give pauses to allow for discussion)
- Polite/Manners (saying “thank you” goes a long way).
Use Proven Follow-Up Strategies
When securing a follow-up there are four strategies that are important to remember:
- Get a Commitment (a specific day and time)
- Be On Time (not early, not late, on time)
- Refresh Their Memory (remind them of your name and business and briefly state what you discussed on the last call or email)
- Don’t Pester the Prospect (give them time and don’t push the sale too much)
Leave Professional Voicemails
Have your message prepared before the call, include your name, as well as what time you called, and make it short! Also, give them a way to contact you and an incentive for them to call back, while also not pushing the sale.
Here's a tip on how to get them to call back: Don’t include the company name. They will be curious as to what company called them. This doesn’t always work but it's worth a try!
Create Sales-Ready Leads
Turning cold leads into sales-ready leads takes these three tactics:
- Market Funneling: The idea is to call all prospects, and separate the mildly interested parties in a different bracket and target them from repeat calls until they become interested and ultimately a paying customer.
- Dream Prospect Centric Training (DPCT): Separating the most sales-ready leads, based on statistics or factors such as age, average income, location, etc. Then you create priority levels for each group.
- Direct Marketing: Direct marketing enables businesses to directly communicate with potential customers through an array of advertising channels such as email, SMS, websites, and online ads, among others.
Improve Your Telemarketing Lists
You can greatly improve the usefulness of your telemarketing list by segmenting them. In another article, we discuss the 8 Step Guide
