November 2016 | Blue Donkey

Overcoming objections – address don’t ignore

Posted on 29 November 2016 by bluedonkey

However well you present information and however innovative and exciting the product or service you’re offering is, sometimes we all encounter resistance when making sales and marketing calls. This is in fact one of the most common challenges that telemarketers face. Although it’s easier to give up in the face of objections, learning to deal with queries and criticisms – and turning negatives into positives – is one of the most important skills professional telemarketers need to succeed. In other words, an objection is just a hurdle that we have to overcome in-call in order to achieve the desired objective.

So, how exactly can you overcome objections to achieve your telemarketing goals? Here’s how the team at Blue Donkey use resistance to our advantage.

Objections are a sign of interest

If the decision maker you’re talking to objects to some of the points raised, it shows they’re interested in your product or service and that they’ve been paying attention to what you have to say. A good telemarketer will welcome this resistance and use it as an opportunity to engage with the buyer, allaying their concerns and discussing any misgivings they may have.

Listen carefully

When talking to a decision maker, it’s important to give them the space to explain their objections and really listen to what they’re saying. For example, if a buyer raises a common concern like cost, this may be masking their true objection so the telemarketer needs to listen, understand and get to the bottom of their cause for concern. If a buyer becomes emotional, it’s important to look beyond this as it can be tempting to shut off when a subject arouses strong feelings.

Use the product’s benefits to its advantage

Throughout a pitch, it’s important to emphasise the product’s features and benefits. When objections are raised, you can then use these advantages to counter objections and to gently show buyers why their concerns are unfounded. This is especially true when an objection is raised over something like cost. A good telemarketer should be able to help the buyer understand how much value they’re getting for their money and how beneficial the product or service will be to their business. It’s important to remind decision makers that cheap rarely means good value or good quality.

Acknowledge objections

Occasionally, the objections that buyers make will be legitimate. In these instances, it’s important that telemarketers back off and don’t try to talk the buyer down. No one is right all the time, so simply restate the benefits and features of a product and accept when a buyer has made their decision. To ensure objections aren’t all voiced at once, it’s also a good idea to make space for decision makers to raise concerns throughout a conversation so they can be tackled one by one.

When done properly, objection handling helps us build trust with potential buyers. Only when all obstacles to the sale are removed are we able to move on to the next stage in the relationship; that of building the prospect into a customer and beginning the journey to become a brand advocate.

To find out more about the work we do, or to discuss a project of your own, get in touch with Blue Donkey today.

How to climb Payne’s famous B2B Relationship Ladder

Posted on 23 November 2016 by bluedonkey

Over the years, a number of marketing experts, economists and business leaders have studied B2B customer psychology, customer creation and customer retention. The theories and concepts they’ve developed have gone a long way to informing marketing campaigns around the world, with thousands of ambitious companies of all shapes and sizes using these carefully crafted ideas to boost business.

One theory that’s especially applicable to what we do at Blue Donkey is Payne’s Relationship Ladder. Central to many B2B loyalty campaigns and brand awareness drives, this simple but effective theory informs much of our intelligent telemarketing work, helping us to create, build and develop an enduring customer base for our clients.

What is Payne’s Relationship Ladder?

Developed by marketing theorist Adrian Payne in the late 1990s, the Relationship Ladder is an idea that illustrates how customers can be transformed from cold potential buyers, into loyal supporters for your brand. By leading customers through five steps from ‘prospect’ to ‘advocate’ you can develop an exceptionally loyal customer base and create a team of advocates who will spread the word about your brand.

Prospect

‘Prospects’ are those people for whom you believe your products and services are relevant. Lists of Prospects are gathered together in segments based on their similar needs, they are then targeted with calls and information. Often Prospects may be people who have come across your company but as yet haven’t made a purchase or really interacted with your brand. At this stage it’s important to provide whatever impetus the Prospect needs in order to transform them into a Customer.

Blue Donkey’s intelligent approach involves carefully identifying the right key decision makers, generating the first contact with them, we then nurture a dialogue with a view to getting to the next stage (meeting, sales etc). This method quickly improves the chances of moving a Prospect up the first rung of the ladder. Whether it’s about engaging buyers with a few qualification questions, or the chance to build rapport and share information, this first level of contact is crucial when developing the Relationship Ladder.

Customer

Once a person or business has made a purchase they become a ‘Customer’. If the experience is OK but unremarkable the Customer may or may not come back. We refer to this as a transactional sale. Transactional sales are common in consumer marketing but in B2B we want high value relationship based sales, where service quality and Customer experience become differentiating factors that win repeat business. This stage therefore has to go well in order for the next rung of the ladder to be considered.

Client

Your ‘Clients’ are the people or businesses that return to your company again and again. Regular communication by telephone will help to create and retain Clients by reminding them what’s special about your product or service.

Blue Donkey are not afraid to recommend that good relationships regularly require picking up the phone. Taking the time to speak with clients and to properly understand and align with their unique needs or conditions, enables us to develop a stronger ability for giving them what they want time and time again.

Supporter

At the ‘Supporter’ stage, customers are likely to be very engaged with your brand and take an active interest in your company. They’re likely to tell other people about your business, continually choose your products and services and have a loyalty to your brand. Supporters like your brand and your people, but they are still passive about recommending your brand to others.

Advocate

Once you’ve built a strong relationship with a ‘Supporter’, they climb the next rung of the Relationship Ladder to become an ‘Advocate’. At this stage, they’ll have enough trust in your products and services that they’ll promote your business to ‘Prospects’ helping you to build your customer base and ensuring your good reputation in the industry.

Though your ‘Advocates’ will be invested in your business on some level – be that emotionally or professionally – they still need to feel valued if they’re going to stay on the fifth rung of the ladder. Blue Donkey can help you to develop and maintain these crucial relationships, enabling you to focus on making your business thrive.

The Relationship Ladder makes helpful links between quality, retention and profit because the cost of marketing is amortised over the lifetime of a customer with several growth and profit benefits. Customer spend increases over time and customers are cheaper to sell to than prospects because they are already invested in your brand. Additionally, satisfied customers value the service enough to pay a premium.

To find out more about our intelligent approach, or if you want to build and develop your own customer base, contact Blue Donkey today.

Our 5 minute mission for applying Ansoff’s Matrix

Posted on 17 November 2016 by bluedonkey

Even when things are running smoothly and sales are on the up, most marketers still need new ways to increase market share, boost brand awareness and drive their business forward. Without continual growth, companies can quickly stagnate. If this happens, businesses can become more vulnerable to aggressive competitors and could soon find their customer base dwindling.

One of the best ways a company can ensure they are developing the right growth strategies for their market and their business is to apply Ansoff’s Matrix to their business plan. Tried and tested, this powerful strategy tool can help marketing decision makers map the various growth options an organisation might choose between.

Ansoff’s product/market matrix – Source Open University B716 2015

What is Ansoff’s Matrix?

Focusing on the key criteria of ‘who should we sell to’ and ‘what product should we sell’, Ansoff’s Matrix combines four broad product/market strategies – existing products, new products, existing markets and new markets. This provides four possible product-market combinations that can be applied to a business plan to create continued growth. Used by companies and strategists around the world, the Matrix is an extremely effective and useful business tool.

Market penetration

The first quadrant of Ansoff’s Matrix emphasises stability and low risk, combining existing products with existing markets. Known as market penetration, it’s this strategy by which a company increases its sales and its market share through selling more of its current products and services to new customers in its existing market. That could be by looking at its customer base and selling to similar new ones, by offering special upsell and cross-sell packages, or increasing promotion. Growing markets such as B2B pharma, medical instrumentation and financial services often attract the market penetration strategy.

Market development

Market development is the second quadrant of the Ansoff Matrix. The idea by which companies sell their existing products or services to new markets or a new type of customer. Market development is accomplished by promoting existing products or services to a new audience through carefully segmenting, targeting and positioning the product or service. Often, telemarketing is then used to communicate and engage the right buyers, with a view to building a strong relationship.

Product development

Product development creates new products and services to supersede or enhance existing ones. By anticipating changes in customer needs and developing products that meet those needs, companies use innovation to increase the spend of existing customers. A product development strategy aims to use existing capabilities to offer something new to established clients, increasing a company’s growth in the process.

Diversification

Lastly, when companies look for new products and new markets, the Matrix identifies it as diversification. This can help a company to survive difficult economic periods or focus their brand in a different direction. One of the most challenging strategies, diversification is usually only attempted when a business has a good understanding of their target industry and their target audience, or has a brand that can adapt and lend its weight to lots of new apparently unrelated markets. One of the most famous being Richard Branson’s Virgin, which operates in many different markets and lots of different customer types.

Risk

Ansoff’s Matrix has also been successfully used for simply identifying and responding to how risky a particular strategy might be.

Market Penetration Strategy – same product same market – has a low risk because the customer and the product are already understood.
Market Development Strategy – same product new market – has a medium risk because of the need to appeal to new markets or unknown customers.
Product Development Strategy – new product same market – has higher risk because it is very costly to develop and launch new products, finally, new product failure rates can be high.
Diversification Strategy – new product new markets – has highest risk because neither market or product is well defined at the outset, consequently investment is required for both.

By using the principles of intelligent telemarketing, Blue Donkey will help our client partners build the insights they need to grow and adapt. To find out more about our targeted strategies, take a look around our site or speak to a member of our team.

References

Ansoff, I. (1957) ‘Strategies for diversification’, Harvard Business Review, vol. 35, issue 5 September–October, pp. 113–24.

People don’t just buy from people, they buy from people they like

Posted on 10 November 2016 by bluedonkey

However innovative a product or impressive a service, customers are unlikely to invest their hard earned cash unless they trust the company they’re buying from. Building a rapport with a client is therefore one of the most essential elements of boosting sales, without it, customers will be much more reluctant to invest, leaving the seller empty handed.

Unlike many other telemarketing companies, Blue Donkey takes likeability seriously. Over the years, we’ve won a number of awards for our customer focused philosophy, distinctive business personality and unique approach. We’re also incredibly proud of our Investors in People and ISO:9001 accreditations reflecting our commitment to our own workforce.

Using a combination of intelligent questions, research and strategy, we are able to build relationships with customers quickly and easily, ensuring they see great results from their campaigns and boost their brand awareness.

Rapport and trust

When you call a business decision maker, you don’t just want them to listen to what you have to say, you want them to like you. If the caller can build a rapport, the person they’re speaking to will be much more likely to trust the information they’re being given and therefore much more likely to engage with the organisation. In general, trust and rapport go hand in hand. Work on them both for long enough and you’ll end up with a solid business relationship that’s beneficial both for your company and the person you’re selling to.

Meaningful discussions

One of the key elements required to build a rapport with a customer is a meaningful discussion. When someone answers the phone, the last thing they want is to be preached to. Instead, it’s important you grab their attention with insightful and informative content, showing the unique value and benefit of your product or service as you go.

However, as well as talking about what you offer, it’s also crucial you listen to the needs and requirements of the person you’re talking to. Not only will this show your potential customer that you’re genuinely interested in their business, it will also transform a standard sales call into a meaningful discussion, helping to build the foundation of a long lasting business relationship.

Treat each caller as an individual

Even if you make tens, or even hundreds, of calls a day, it’s important to remember every person you speak to is an individual. If you want to build rapport with a potential customer, and encourage them to spend money with your company, you need to approach each call on its own terms.

In general, people like people who are like themselves. If you ask the right questions you’ll be able to find some common ground with the person you’re calling. This will help you to build a relationship and make it more likely that they’ll trust the information you give them.

By training our staff to use a range of intelligent techniques, we’re able to build rapport, trust and understanding quickly and easily. From simple ideas like ‘smile as you dial’ to more advanced visualisation techniques and approaches that place the client, their needs and their interests right at the heart of the call, our training helps our staff get the very best results from every call they make.

Dispelling the myths surrounding B2B telemarketing

Posted on 8 November 2016 by bluedonkey

Done well, telemarketing is an incredibly powerful business tool. Helping companies to connect with clients, research potential markets and promote their products and services, telemarketing can inform and empower innovative marketing strategies. More and more companies are recognising the need for outsourcing their B2B telemarketing because it has become such a specialist skill. So much so, internal team members can struggle to learn the competencies and disciplines associated with successful systematic B2B telemarketing. Often doing it in-house, at best works for a while and then quickly loses it’s effectiveness.

However, many – if not most – telemarketing campaigns are not done to this high standard. Companies often use the tool as an afterthought or don’t utilise it to its full potential. As a result, a lot of businesses have the wrong idea about telemarketing and a number of myths have built up around the industry.

To help you sort the telemarketing facts from the fiction, we’re dispelling some of the most common modern telemarketing myths.

Telemarketing can’t work for complex products or services

Skillful telemarketing is all about distilling key business benefits down to a few pithy points. Whether you’re talking about scientific equipment, or a simple consumable, what captures the interest of your buyer will always be associated with business benefits, namely improved time, effort, cost, or security advantages delivered by your product or services.

Invariably they want to know ‘what’s in it for me’ and communicating this succinctly and compellingly in the opening of the call will lead to a richer more informed dialogue.

Just get in front of the buyer

Using hard closes, scant detail, or pushy techniques to get in front of buyers is unlikely to position the selling organisation as a potential partner or supplier of choice. In Blue Donkey’s 18 years of experience, we’ve found there is no substitute for a detailed two-way conversation, where criteria has been properly established on both parts, so the buyer knows how they would benefit meeting with a potential supply organisation, and the supplier knows that the buyer satisfies criteria for them to potentially enjoy a valuable mutual long-term partnership.

Investing more time and effort at the telemarketing stage will not only save costly wasted meetings, it will set the selling organisation apart as a best in breed compared with competitors. More importantly, your telemarketing will reflect your brand values.

You need a written script for your telemarketing to work

If B2B telemarketing is about connecting with the right people and building a relationship, then using a script, or any kind of formulaic process will be a hindrance to that objective. Where in life would you speak with somebody using a predetermined script. Scripts are designed around assumptions about what a buyer will want and the basics of the product or service on offer. It’s far more rewarding for the maker and the receiver of a call if the dialog is based on sensitive questions and sound product knowledge. After all people buy from people.

People hate cold calls

We all dislike receiving calls that are irrelevant, banal, or pushy. The telemarketing industry has been awash with shocking examples where the telephone as a business tool has been abused. Fortunately most marketers today understand the importance of customer experience and are therefore far more tuned with the principles of good database management, understanding customer needs, and the importance of structuring campaigns to touch the right buyers.

What’s more, most business decision-makers accept that being effective depends on them keeping the channels of communication to the outside world very much open, they don’t want to receive irrelevant or scripted calls, they might welcome a call from a supplier who can help their organisation achieve its objectives. Indeed in such cases the way a call resonates will determine whether or not a buyer even considers it a cold call. Our experience tells us, people only perceive a call to be a cold call where it leaves them feeling cold.

Everyone who works in telemarketing is young and inexperienced

Though some unscrupulous companies may staff their call centres with students, part timers and untrained recruits, most good quality enterprises highly value experience and training. In fact, most professional telemarketers undertake significant, on going training, even holding the Investors in People accreditation and encouraging staff to continually add to their expertise, improve their technique and innovate.

Telemarketers use aggressive tactics

Coming on too strongly, being pushy or using aggressive tactics is counter-productive in telemarketing. Call recipients are likely to put the phone down if a telemarketer overwhelms them, something that’s not useful or productive. Instead of using aggressive tactics, our telemarketers try to connect with the people they’re speaking to, developing a two-way conversation instead of a monologue. More likely to get results, and more pleasant for the call recipient, this technique helps to build trust and rapport between telemarketers, the business they represent and the companies they’re calling.

One of the most powerful business tools available, telemarketing can be used for a wide range of purposes and in a variety of industries, to find out more, take a look around our site today.