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Telemarketing Success Factors
Jonathan Silverman
GSA Business Development Ltd
Oct 2010
What kind of business calls can
you make using the telephone?
What is Telemarketing?
• Sometimes called telesales, tele-
canvassing, telephone marketing or cold-
calling
• The use of your phone to make outbound
calls with a view to generating business
opportunities.
Types of outbound calls
• Account management / customer service calls. – Cross-sell or up-sell to current customers.
• Resuscitation calls to lapsed customers.
• Face-to-face new business appointment setting. – Follow ups for direct marketing or email marketing campaigns.
• Telephone appointments, web demos and webinars.
• Booking and follow up for seminars, exhibitions, breakfast briefings, workshops and other events.
• Telesales to generate sales quotations.
• Subscription or membership renewal services.
Integrate with Other Activity
• It doesn’t have to be a totally cold call.
– Seminars and webinars may also need calls.
– Send them articles.
– Send them invitations to webinars and events.
– Meet them at exhibitions.
– Send them a press article.
– Introduce them to a client.
The Telemarketing Challenge
What percentage hit rate would you
expect from a cold call to reach a
decision-maker?
The Telemarketing Contact Process
• Your decision-makers are Illusive, busy
and under pressure.
Decision-makers
Gatekeepers
Influencers
Switchboard / Reception
Opt outs CTPS/ Voicemail
Inaccurate data
20%
15%
Time / m
oney
15%
34%
16%
So, what factors influence
success?
Tip Number 1 – Realistic objectives
• What level of new business meetings can you handle alongside the ‘day job’?
• Not every prospect is looking for your services at the time of the call.
• Your proposition needs to be attractive.
• Set objectives consistent with your business status. – If you have something everyone wants & the credentials & client base to back this up, you will achieve more than a start-up company with few clients & no experience.
• Go to speculative meetings They build momentum for you and your mid-term pipeline.
Tip Number 2 - Take action
• No time is perfect and the key is to generate
impetus and momentum.
• Successful business development requires effort
and consistency.
• Every business has a defined gestation period
before sales leads and profit begins to flow.
• Don’t wait for the perfect literature to send out.
Most marketing brochures end up in the bin.
Tip Number 3 - Define your market
• Lapsed customers
• Current clients
• Vertical sectors where you have experience
• New markets? – recognise the impact
• Work to your strengths
– Don’t go after Financial Services business if
you have no experience and no compliance
knowledge
Tip Number 4 – Use a good list
• Don’t use old data including your own!– Get a ‘recent & accurate’ list from a quality list provider
– Validate the list & screen against CTPS
– A specialist vertical sector list from an industry magazine or association?
• Data is King!– 5.7m business details change every year:
– a company name change occurs every minute
– a business closes every 2 minutes
– a business fails every 4 minutes
– a business moves office every 6 minutes
List Parameters
• Get the parameters right
– Location – National, International or local.
– Sectors
– Size – £20m+ Companies to justify your fees
or validate the cost of marketing?
– Head office or branch site
– Decision maker – Who holds the budget?
Tip Number 5 - Proposition
• How do you make your business and services attractive to prospective clients?
• How are you different from the next company that calls?
• What problems does your business solve rather than what services do you offer.
• On the phone you have one or two sentences at most to grab a prospect’s attention.
• Decide what product or service to focus on
• Build a ‘Trojan Horse’
Tip Number 6 - Brief your callers well
• Why are you unique, why a prospect should see
you, why they should see you now and what
problems does your service cure or help?
• Provide a written brief (about your business)
• Put together a strong call structure (not a script)
including likely objections & buzz words
• Present to your telemarketer(s)
• Keep two-way communication high with your
callers. Give regular feedback. Don't keep them in
the dark and expect results.
Tip Number 7 – The right people
What are the attributes of a good
caller?
Tip Number 7 – The right people
• Choose the right people
– Attitude, interest, enthusiasm, energy and consistency.
• Attitude and passion will outperform technical knowledge
• You can train skills. You will struggle to train attitude!
– Match the telemarketers with the prospects you’re
calling.
• If you’re calling the marketing director of Mars or Unilever or
have a very technical sale, you probably don’t really want an
18 year-old student to make the call.
• Peer to peer communication is important
– Get training on skills, rapport, tone & technique.
Tip Number 8 –
Measure performance
• What you can’t measure you can’t manage
• Use a good system and proper database to manage and measure results– Number of calls
– Calls per hour (but take care not to measure in isolation!)
– Decision-maker %, gatekeepers, voicemail
– Call per decision-maker and per appointment
– Incorrect data (you may want to data clean)
– Track and manage performance on a weekly if not daily basis
– Refine the approach based on the learning
Tip Number 9 – Be patient
• Telemarketing isn’t a precise science.
• To some extent it is a numbers game
• Don’t expect results overnight.
• Be consistent and build momentum.
• Record & make the call-backs and build rapport.
• Document every call and record properly
– Record verbatim comments to mirror language and
build rapport!
– Update records with new data
Tip Number 10 –Follow-Up
• Follow-up - Follow-up - Follow-up– Have relevant written or email information available.
– Make sure info and meeting confirmations go out promptly
– Prepare for the meeting. Review the prospect website if possible. Use Linkedin for the person you’re meeting.
– Agree next steps at the end of the meeting. Agree a time to call back or meet again.
– Follow-up when you say you will and keep doing so until the lead either converts to business or it becomes clear that no business will be forthcoming.
– Make sure you work with your telemarketer to brief them on the outcome so the loop is closed.
Summary
• Tip Number 1 - Realistic objectives
• Tip Number 2 - Take action
• Tip Number 3 - Define your market
• Tip Number 4 - Use a good list
• Tip Number 5 - Proposition
• Tip Number 6 - Brief your callers well
• Tip Number 7 - The right people
• Tip Number 8 - Measure performance
• Tip Number 9 - Be patient
• Tip Number 10 - Follow-Up
