Telemarketing is an excellent way to reach potential customers and build your business. The key is to follow best practices to maximize this strategy. Here are some tips for telemarketing success – namely, setting the best practices for call centers:
Set your goals
To be successful, you must first define what success means to you.
It’s tempting to compare yourself to others and try to achieve the same goals as them. However, this can lead to failure. Instead of looking at other people’s goals, focus on defining your own.
Don’t worry about what other people are doing; think about what you want out of life and how telemarketing, especially with skilled virtual call center staff, can help you achieve it.
Before you set goals for yourself, make sure they’re realistic but still ambitious! Regular exercise and diet changes can help you make significant progress toward becoming fitter in just a few months. For example, going from being completely sedentary (and not very active even when I do move) all day long every day to being able to jog 2 miles every morning would be an excellent goal. This goal is achievable within three months and will make me feel better overall!
Make a list of people that you should contact.
The first thing you need to do is make a list of people that you should contact. You can use a spreadsheet and export it to your phone. Alternatively, you can use a CRM like Salesforce to import the list directly into your call-tracking tool.
I’ve found that using both a call recording tool and call tracking software on my computer helps me stay on top of managing sales leads. However, there are plenty of other tools!
Find the right time to call:
- Don’t call during lunch or dinner. Instead, call early in the morning.
- Also, don’t call at night: An early-morning call is much better.
- Don’t call on weekends unless you’re prepared for many hang-ups (and an angry boss).
Keep your voice-mail message brief and to the point.
Don’t be afraid to give your name, but don’t get too wordy. You can also introduce yourself fun or light-heartedly, but only if it doesn’t sound forced (i.e., don’t sound like a robot). It’s also vital to explain what you want in as few words as possible—ensure potential customers understand what they’re signing up for! Keep it short and sweet. “Hi! This is Jane Smith with Acme Incorporated, calling about our new telemarketing campaign.” Leave out any fluff; keep it brief. When speaking to them over the phone, please don’t give any details until they call back. Finally, offer a time frame for when someone will contact them again—say something like “I’ll give you a call back on Thursday at 10 am,” so there aren’t any surprises later on down the road (or worse yet, another spammy email). If this isn’t possible due to being busy at work/school during those hours, leave some other indication, such as “I’ll try again tomorrow morning between 8 am and 9 am.”
If no one calls back within 24 hours, go ahead and leave another message—but try not to overdo it. People tend not to pick up if they see how many messages have been rejected already (especially if they’re still new contacts). If this happens, wait until the following week before revisiting them (and always try calling around 7 pm PST since most Americans are home from work by then).
Research your customers
Research is one of the most important aspects of any successful business. Knowing what you are doing right and where you can improve is impossible without research. The same is true with telemarketing.
When you start, it helps to research your customer base: who they are and their needs. This includes understanding their history:
- What products and services have they purchased from you in the past?
- What about other companies?
- Where do they shop for various items?
- Are there any competitors that offer similar products or services that may be more affordable than yours?
- You also want to know how these customers buy, so look at what has worked well for them in the past (and what hasn’t).
If possible, find out any trends within this group. For example, maybe they tend not to purchase a specific product during certain times of the year due to seasonal discounts offered by competitors. Perhaps they don’t need anything during those times (this could help inform when your sales pitches would be most effective).
Leave detailed notes after each call.
When you make a call, it’s essential to keep notes about the outcome of that call. You want to know whether the person you called was interested in what you were selling, and if not, why not? What questions did they ask if they were interested in your product or service? How long did the conversation last?
If you have time between calls and before making another one (or even during), write down these details so that next time you’re making more calls, you can use them as an example of what worked well or didn’t work well.
By following these best practices, you can find success with telemarketing
Telemarketing is an excellent way of reaching customers. However, it’s only as successful as your strategy. By following these best practices for call centers, you can find success with telemarketing.
- Plan: Successful telemarketers have a plan in place before they pick up the phone or send an email. They know what they want to say and how they will say it. This will help them stay on track and ensure their message is clear and concise for the customer on the other end of the line or in front of their computer screen.
- Be friendly: People are used to receiving calls from companies looking for new business. Not every call warrants an angry response from the customer. However, customers may sometimes feel overwhelmed by constant solicitations from firms trying to sell them something—especially if those businesses are being pushy about it!
Make sure your employees are friendly when talking to potential clients. They should try not to turn people away by coming over too aggressively. Any high-pressure tactics can make customers feel uncomfortable about doing business with you. They may feel adversely towards you after hanging up the phone (or closing out of an email).
Conclusion: What Are the Best Practices for Call Centers?
Following these best practices will help you accomplish your goals while staying on top of your game. Don’t forget that some things in life are just a matter of practice, and it’s the same with telemarketing. The more calls you make, the better you will become at it!