Telemarketing is a great way of reaching out to potential customers, building your business. The key is to follow best practices in making the most of this strategy. Here are some tips for telemarketing success – namely setting the best practices for call centers:
Set your goals
In order to be successful, you must first define what success means to you.
It’s tempting to compare yourself with others in trying to achieve the same goals as your peers. 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; instead, think about what you want out of life, and how telemarketing can help you get there.
Before you set goals for yourself, make sure that they’re realistic—but still ambitious! You can make a great deal of progress towards becoming fitter in just a few months with regular exercise and diet changes. 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 both achievable within a three-month time frame while also making 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 into your phone. Alternatively, you can use a CRM like Salesforce, and import the list directly into your call-tracking tool of choice. I’ve found that using both a call recording tool and call tracking software on my computer helps me stay on top of things in terms of managing sales leads. However, there are plenty of other tools!
Find the right time to call:
- Don’t call during lunch or dinner; rather 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 long-winded. You can also introduce yourself in a fun or light-hearted way if you like, but only if it doesn’t sound forced (i.e., don’t sound like a robot). It’s also important that you explain what you want in as few words as possible—make sure that 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 succinct. Don’t give any details until they call back, when speaking to them over the phone. 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 10am” 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 8am – 9am.”
If no one calls back within 24 hours, then 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 left already (especially if they’re still new contacts). If this happens, wait until the following week before revisiting them (and always try calling around 7pm 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. Without research, it’s impossible to know what you are doing right and where you can improve. The same is true with telemarketing.
When you first start out, it helps to do some general research on your customer base: who they are and what their needs are. This includes understanding their histor:
- 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 get an idea of how these customers buy, so look at what has worked well for them in the past (and what hasn’t).
If possible, find out if there are 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 just don’t need anything at all 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 important 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? If they were interested in your product or service, what questions did they ask? How long did the conversation last?
If you have time between calls and before making another one (or even during), take time to 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 a great way of reaching out to 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 ahead
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’re going to say it. This will help them stay on track and make sure that 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 at times feel overwhelmed by constant solicitations from businesses 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
Following these best practices will help you accomplish your goals while also 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!