Telemarketing isn’t a precise science. It works brilliantly for some campaigns and not for others. But what makes the difference between success and failure? Below are our 25 Telemarketing Must-do’s to ensure Your Lead Generation is Fit for Purpose and delivers the b2b lead generation you need to grow your business.
- Get your targeting right – Know which sectors, types of company, locations, size of organisation and most importantly job roles to target.
- Understand the needs and challenges of your target market – The more you understand, the more you can tailor your proposition to that audience
- Start with good data – No data is perfect but make sure you have good data before you kick off calling. That means purchasing or gathering (LinkedIn, Google) an accurate list. It’s the lifeblood of good telemarketing.
- Recruit well-trained callers – This depends on your salary budget of course and training is important (see below). Experienced callers generally deliver better results whether they operate in house or via an external agency.
- Bolster caller training – Everyone benefits from a refresher and training should include telemarketing techniques, tailored information on products and services and also around market intelligence.
- Provide adequate caller briefings – It doesn’t work if you just give callers a list and a phone. Brief them thoroughly on objectives for each campaign and give them tools to do the job
- Set clear objectives from the outset regarding call outcomes. Make sure they’re realistic and motivate the callers to deliver. What does success look like?
- Communicate with callers regularly and throughout the campaign. Gain feedback and refine as required
- Avoid pitching to the gatekeeper – This is more a must not do rather than a must do. Remember that the goal is to reach the budget holder that has a need for your services. So, don’t give the gatekeeper too much info from the outset as he or she is likely to use it to block you. Gatekeeper techniques are essential.
- Build rapport at the outset of and throughout each call – People buy people and the more genuine rapport and trust you build, the quicker and more you will sell
- Get your call intro right – You have very little time to make an impact at the start of the call. Asking ‘ how are you today’ as your first statement is like waving a flag saying ‘I’M A COLD CALLER!’ Make call intros succinct and customer centred.
- Develop empathy for customer issues and challenges – Customers are only interested in their challenges and opportunities not your products. So listen, learn and empathise and avoid pitching from the start.
- Retain flexibility to chat off script when curveballs are thrown – Higher value phone selling doesn’t follow a script. Stuff comes up and you need to be less rigid and more open to discussion
- Keep the pace right – Don’t rush and talk like an express train. The more even paced you are, the more confident you will sound
- Ask a good blend open and closed (filter) questions – Whilst it shouldn’t sound like a survey, it does need to be consultative and you can only do that if you speak less and ask more
- Listen to what the prospect says – This sounds obvious and a repetition of the points above but cold callers sometimes can be guilty of disregarding what the prospect says to continue on their pre-scripted pitch. There’s nothing worse for a buyer. So, perfect your active listening skills.
- Encourage the prospect to speak – Talking too much and talking over the prospect when he or she is trying to explain their needs is guaranteed to ensure that you don’t win the business
- Work out how to deal with objections – You’re going to get them so learn objection handling techniques
- Make sure you ask for the sale, meeting etc – You can’t jump in too soon until you’ve built rapport and established the need, but don’t let the opportunity pass you by. Otherwise, you may come across as lacking conviction in your offering.
- Understand that a dialogue is two-way not one way – Try to have an even flow of conversation. If you go beyond 50:50, you’re probably talking too much.
- Talk about solutions not products – If you want to sound like other telemarketers, talk about what your product is or does. If you want to differentiate, talk about how your product or service helps and solves issues
- Focus on benefits not features – Many sales people don’t understand the difference. Excellent service is meaningless unless you explain what that means in practice. So, talk benefits not features.
- Break the expected pattern– What I mean by this is avoid jumping in with a stiff process oriented approach. That’s what most cold callers do. Try to build common ground before you talk about your services
- Make the calls – This seems an odd one but the one thing that stops most small businesses succeeding when it comes to telemarketing is lack of activity. You won’t make appointments with people you don’t call
- Be persistent – You have to work the ratios and keep going to gain the results. It’s often the 6th, 7th, 8th, or 10th call that reaches the decision-maker. Reach more decision-makers and you’ll generate more opportunities
If you’d like to know how GSA Business Development can help generate growth for your business or book one of our new business development and marketing strategy workshops, contact us now on 0845 658 8192 or use the form on this site.