Debunking 2 of the Biggest Telemarketing Myths

Every other industry has its own charm, own compliances and not to forget its own set of myths as well that do nothing more than inhibiting the success rate of the organizations falling under it. The telemarketing industry is no exception. It has one of the greatest number of myths surrounding it, which only make the daunting task of ‘selling over phone’ more difficult. No matter your call center is equipped with requisite software and accurate business telephone lists for churning sales, ensuring that telemarketing myths, in no way, are hampering the performance of your agents is indispensable. Through this article, we debunk the 2 biggest telemarketing myths. 

The Customer Does not Want to Be Called EVER!

One of the biggest myths in telemarketing is the thinking that customers never want to be called. This negative thought, in fact, is borne in the minds of most sales callers even before the person on the other end of the call picks up the phone. In extreme cases, many agents even arrive to a conclusion that customers just hate sales calls. The snapping of the phone lines, in many cases, however, is more related with ‘bad timing’ than reasons such as ‘customers do not want any sales calls’. If a person does not want to buy a product, of course, there’s nothing you can do about it, but once you keep yourself in the place of the customer you would realize that attending sales calls when you are leaving for something important or are already involved in a serious work is not an easy job. Owing to this reason, it is imperative to study your consumers behavior and plan your actions accordingly. Try to get the right contact time from your customers, and when you reach them, converse with confidence. 

I Can NEVER Reach a Live Customer

The access to mobile phones and less use of telephone lines by consumers has created a strong notion among telecallers that contacting a ‘live customer’ is almost impossible in the current age. Though, using efficient call center sales software helps you quickly get through the answering machines in a list and in connecting to live prospects, what do you about customers who only use mobile phones. How do you plan to reach them live? Interestingly, according to a survey done by Qualcomm, the average age of a person who starts using a cell phone is gradually dropping; 13 years being the current figure at which a person starts using a mobile phone. Consequently, most business telemarketing companies are targeting customers above 50 years, who still depend on traditional modes of communication devices such as a landline phone. 

Conclusion

Thoughts such as “How many calls do I need to complete my target” or “Will the customer even let me say a word” are only natural when you work as a sales professional in a call center. Any time of the day, disconnections and people not listening to your sales pitch are disappointing leaving behind no sales, but negative thoughts. This is one big reason that many businesses these days consider it wise to spend on auto dialing software that come with features such as predictive dialing - transfers your call automatically to the customer’s cell phone if no one answers the landline. Regardless of this, it is cardinal to remember that there are businesses that are booming as a result of high-performing sales staff. These sales professionals are churning those sales numbers by connecting with people that exist on the same planet. 

Accelerate Your Business With Fresh Telemarketing Data

Perfectly screened, clean, and well targeted telemarketing data is a key asset for your company because it feeds new businesses to your company. But how do you get clean telemarketing data? Most of the telephone marketing service providers offer professional data cleansing. They pay great attention to the details and ensure that your data does not contain errors, duplicates, and format inconsistencies.

The Law Mandates the Data Cleaning Process

The Data Protection Act in the USA mandates that all records must be correct (fourth principle) and not held for longer than required (fifth principle). If companies do not clean their data, they may be found guilty for not being compliant with the principles.

Data Cleaning Process

Cluttered telemarketing data costs money and negatively impacts the reputation of your company. The following tips can help you keep your data clean and also accelerate your business.

Audit & sync your database: If you are using multiple telemarketing lists, combine them into one CMS or sync them. You can also manually create a process to ensure that updates in one database reflect in all others. There’s no point in cleansing every database if the same records in other databases are still wrong.

Check for uniformity: Uniformity in the data structure is key to a quality telemarketing database, but at the same time it is also a challenge. For example, if you let a telemarketing lists aggregator type the business leads rather than choosing from a drop-down menu, they will give varying results. They may write United States in multiple ways such as U.S., US, U.S.A, USA, and United States of America.

No short cuts: Telemarketing data cleaning is labor-intensive work. One can do this via email, but response rates will be either slow or low, and what if the email address is wrong? The better way is to crosscheck the data using online research, but companies don’t always list their employees’ contact details on their website. In this situation, you have to make calls to verify the data.

Writer’s take

Smart telemarketers segment their telemarketing data at a very detailed level such as profession, region, interest, etc. Before buying the data, they inquire about the quality of data, the format of data, data aggregation method, and more. A well-established fact in the telemarketing business is that data cleansing isn’t a one-off process. Telemarketing companies must set a process in place to clean their telemarketing data at least once a year.

Telemarketing: A Necessity For Small Business Owners And Why

One of the biggest challenges for small businesses is to accomplish their high sales aspirations with a limited marketing budget. Small businesses can’t afford big promotional campaigns to inform their prospective clients about their new products and services. In this delicate situation, the use of a telemarketing team can be quite helpful. The telemarketing team can find targeted customers and make them aware of new products and services. There are several providers of telemarketing phone lists in the USA who abide by the Do-Not-Call Registry Act of 2003. This ensures that there won’t be any legal goof-ups for them or you down the road.

Marketing experts observe that telemarketing is inexpensive and one of the most cost effective marketing strategies for increasing sales and delivering superior customer service. They encourage small businesses to embrace telemarketing business leads.

Benefits of Telemarketing Services for Small Businesses

• One can get direct feedback from prospective and existing clients
• It is the only advertising tool that instantly yields a result
• It does not require frequent travel, so small businesses can save time and money
• It helps small businesses expand their sales territory
• It also helps small businesses take a small and authentic survey of their clients, which ultimately provides better market insight in real time

In-house or Outsourced Telemarketing Services

Many small businesses just want to focus on their core business. They don’t want to be involved in other activities. According to telemarketing experts, an in-house team of telemarketers is necessary if the products or services require extensive technical information. On the other hand, outsourcing helps those businesses that require around-the-clock coverage to support ad campaigns or a seasonal marketing program.

Legal Tidbits about Telemarketing for Small Businesses

Of late, governments in many countries have regulated the telemarketing industry by enforcing strict laws. The idea is to completely bar unethical and irritating practices like “robo-calling”, the practice of making thousands of automated calls with pre-recorded messages to any and every one. Experts suggest that with in-depth market research and a quality telemarketing phone lists, telemarketing companies can avoid all types of legal troubles.

For a better understanding, one may contact the U.S. Small Business Administration and learn more about the Do-Not-Call Registry Act of 2003 and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991. The administration also provides business licenses and permits. Political parties and non-profit organizations are not covered under these laws. If companies are calling their existing clients they also do not fall under these laws.

A common understanding about telemarketing is that for every hundred calls you will get at least ten receptive listeners and maybe one sale. The bottom line is that small businesses stand to lose nothing but gain everything from this inexpensive marketing tool, and it has shown encouraging results for businesses worldwide.

Sources:

http://www.marketing-schools.org/types-of-marketing/telemarketing.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_4740769_start-telemarketing-business.html

http://www.inc.com/encyclopedia/telemarketing.html

Making The Most Of B2B Telemarketing: A Brief Guide

Most of us have learned to hate telemarketing, as it is annoying to hear a person on the other side reciting a script unsolicited. This is not a good way to earn new customers or even continue a business, and it may even damage the goodwill of the company.

What B2B Telemarketing is All About

Telemarketing is one of the most valuable marketing channels for businesses. Having said so, making random calls to people isn't a good approach and might not get you a high ROI. A strategic and well-planned approach is the key to success of a B2B telemarketing campaign. Let's look at the factors that can help a business run a successful B2B telemarketing campaign.

In-house Team

When a business outsources the telemarketing campaign to a third-party, there are chances that it can result in a complete failure or might not achieve the desired goals. A well-coordinated telemarketing campaign, integrated with the strategic plan of the organization, can get more revenue.

Bridging the Gap

A telemarketing campaign can't be conducted on the silo of sales or marketing department, as both are focused on short-term goals. A telemarketing expert needs to look at the bigger picture and target improving its reputation with the customer along with making a sale.

Hiring the Right People

Telecallers are the face of your business and therefore they need to be smart and efficient enough to handle all types of clients in the right way. Besides being fluent in the language, they should have a thorough knowledge of what the products/services are they deal with and what the company is all about. Hire intelligent people and give them the right training.

Measuring the Results

A pile of leads isn't the only criteria to judge the success of a telemarketing campaign. You always need to consider ROI as an important factor to figure out if the telemarketing measures that you took were successful and what all you need to take care of when running a campaign next time.

Business Telemarketing Lists

A major portion of the credit for the success of the telemarketing campaign goes to the list that the telecallers refer to while making the calls. Picking up contact numbers from a directory and randomly calling people means you are heading in the wrong direction and wasting time as well as resources. It is always better to create a list of the audience you want to target the products/services to. Preparing a Telemarketing Data is a time consuming and long process that requires lot of data, so it is advised that businesses seek the help of a third party to get lists prepared. You need to ensure that you are working with a reputable business telemarketing lists provider.

Conclusion

In the end, remember that building relationships is the basis of any telemarketing campaign. It is a slow and gradual process that can generate great ROI if done strategically.

Source:

http://www.3d2b.com/blog/tele-services/what-is-b2b-telemarketing.html