February 2018 | Blue Donkey

The magic of open questions

Posted on 27 February 2018 by bluedonkey

In order for a telemarketing call to be successful, you need to get people engaged as quickly as possible. The faster you can get someone talking, the easier it will be for you to build a report and begin laying the foundations for a business relationship. However, as a lot of decision makers are incredibly busy throughout the working day, getting them to sit down and talk isn’t always easy.

Over the years, we’ve tried out lots of different ways of getting telemarketing calls off of the ground. We’ve found by far the best method is the ‘open question’. Simple but effective – this tried and tested technique has been helping the Blue Donkey team to achieve outstanding results year after year

What is an open question?

An open question is a question that can’t be answered with either a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’. It plays on the fact that most people, regardless of how busy they are, don’t want to be impolite on the phone. If you ask them an open question, they’re very unlikely to cut you off and it’s probable they’ll enter into a conversation with you. Once you’ve got them talking, you can direct the dialogue, begin to introduce your business and get your relationship underway.

Examples of an open question

When thinking of an open questions to ask, remember that a lot of them begin with ‘who’, ‘why’, or ‘what’. These simple words require an answer that offers a little more information that just a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’. Your open question could be something as simple as asking the decision maker how their day is going. You could also ask what specific challenges their business faces and what services or products could make their life easier. Keep your questions relatively simple so the person you’re talking to doesn’t lose interest halfway through your opener.

Using your open question to gain an insight

As well as helping you to get the decision maker talking, open questions can be used to gain an insight into the person and business you’re trying to connect with. If you ask the right question, it could open up opportunities within the conversation and give you the chance to tailor your pitch to suit the needs of the company you’re calling. Do a little bit of research before you pick up the phone, or as you’re dialling, to identify questions that could lead onto something more. Spending a few minutes looking through the business’ website will also arm you with a better understanding of who they are and what they do, two things that can make a big difference to the success of your call.

Open questions are a simple but powerful telemarketing tool. To learn more about improving your telemarketing technique, or to find out more about what we do, contact a member of our team today.

Telemarketing – outsourcing is the new in-house

Posted on 20 February 2018 by bluedonkey

There are many aspects of business that are better taken care of in-house. Designing, development and business strategy all work better when tackled by talented teams that know the business inside out. The expertise, insight and perspective that in-house teams can bring to these areas is a real asset and can help the business to achieve its targets.

On the other hand, there are tasks more suitable for outsourcing. Specialist teams offer energy, experience and drive to a project. This is especially true of projects where your business lacks the relevant skills.

Outsourcing telemarketing

Telemarketing is a great example of a business element that works well when outsourced. To achieve consistent, high-quality results from a telemarketing campaign you need experienced telemarketers. If you don’t have specialists in-house, using a third party company to complete the task will improve your results and boost your business’ success.

What’s more, telemarketing campaigns often require specialist technology and equipment. Outsourcing your telemarketing campaign will ensure you have the technological support you need in order to complete your campaign as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

Specialist skills

If you’ve ever made a telemarketing call, you’ll know how much of a challenge it can be. From getting past the gatekeeper and communicating your message to the decision makers, to building a rapport with the potential client, telemarketing is a challenging task. Highly trained telemarketers, working for a specialist company, will have the necessary skills to achieve your targets.

Cost

Decisions about outsourcing elements of a business often come down to money. The more cost-effective a solution is, the more likely it is to be implemented. When it comes to telemarketing, outsourcing is almost always more cost-effective than keeping it in house, especially if your business only runs major telemarketing campaigns a few times a year. Speak to your chosen telemarketing partner to find out exactly how much your next project will cost and what sort of returns you can expect for your money.

Outsourcing your telemarketing

As telemarketing is an integral part of business, finding the right partner is essential if you want the best chance of success. The telemarketers you choose will be representing your business to potential and existing customers, so you should choose a company with skilled and knowledgeable telemarketers.

Look for a telemarketing provider with extensive experience in the area and a commitment to excellence. You’ll need to work closely with your chosen provider when creating your campaign and analysing your results, so select a business with good customer service and a cooperative approach.

To find out more about the benefits of outsourcing your telemarketing campaigns, or to learn about the high quality services we offer, explore our site or give us a call today.

5 things we’ve learnt about sales from this year’s BBC The Apprentice

Posted on 13 February 2018 by bluedonkey

Although the quality of the business that’s carried out in The Apprentice can vary year to year, the series does offer a valuable insight into various aspects of the professional process. Sales is an area covered extensively every year. The contestants often boast about their sales prowess, but this confidence doesn’t always translate to success in the boardroom. This raises the question, what can we really learn about sales from The Apprentice?

1. Let other people speak

All too often, the contestants on The Apprentice interrupt each other and even potential customers when trying to make a sale. As well as being irritating and rude, interrupting other people creates a negative atmosphere and makes it more difficult to build a useful and mutually beneficial business relationship.

Although it may seem counter intuitive, listening is often more important than making your pitch. Customers want to know that a business is genuinely interested in their needs and requirements, so talking over a prospect and working too hard to get your point across can do more harm than good in the long term.

2. Don’t blame other people

Another staple tactic of contestants on The Apprentice is to blame their colleagues when things begin to go wrong. Whether in the boardroom, a client meeting or a presentation, the contestants instantly look to shift the blame when things don’t go their way. As most professionals will know, passing the buck is a very poor business tactic. Most customers will respect a company and its sales team more if they take responsibility when things go wrong and offer solutions to put things right.

3. Timing is everything

If there’s one thing that rubs potential customers up the wrong way, it’s poor timekeeping. Despite claiming to be the best business minds in the country, the contestants often struggle to stick to appointment times and continually turn up late for important meetings and events. You should always stick to the schedule and meet deadlines promptly in sales. Customers appreciate reliability. No one likes to be kept waiting, so learn from the contestants’ mistakes and keep a close eye on the clock.

4. It’s all about strategy

Regular viewers of The Apprentice will know that it’s all about strategy. The clearer, more concise and simpler a team’s strategy is, the more likely they are to succeed. Making a sales strategy too complex or convoluted inevitably leads to confusion and mistakes. By keeping your message clear, your sales team will be focused and better able to convey ideas to potential customers.

5. Be honest

Customers don’t like being misled. Contestants on The Apprentice often try gloss over their mistakes with exaggerations and embellishments. This usually backfires and makes the sales team look dishonest and untrustworthy.

Instead, sales teams should ensure that they know their products inside and out and that all claims they make can be backed up with evidence.

If you’d like to learn more about improving the quality of your company’s sales approach, explore our site today.

Herzberg’s two-factor theory and sales

Posted on 6 February 2018 by bluedonkey

In previous posts we’ve looked at how Frederick Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory can be applied to boosting motivation in the workplace. His thoughts on the elements that motivate workers by their presence and those that de-motivate by their absence can be applied to companies around the country. And it could help managers in all industries to get the best out of their employees.

However, as well as being relevant to motivation methods, Herzberg’s theory can be applied to sales. By looking at the motivating factors and the hygiene factors he identifies in his theory, we can see how salespeople can motivate a customer to buy a product from their business instead of from a competitor, and how qualifiers can be used to seal the deal.

Hygiene factors in sales

In his motivation theory, Herzberg discusses the need for hygiene factors to be present in order to maintain a certain level of motivation. These hygiene factors are essential provisions that all employees should expect to benefit from when in the workplace. These include things like adequate pay, safe working conditions and fair treatment from supervisors.

When you translate this theory to sales you can see that hygiene factors are essentially qualifiers – the features that buyers expect to be present in a product or service. Although the presence of these qualifiers won’t necessarily help to push decision makers into buying from your business, their absence could put customers off. Understanding these qualifiers can influence and motivate your potential buyers, and working this theory clearly into your sales strategy, could help your business to improve the results of its telemarketing campaigns.

Motivators in sales

Motivators complete Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory. It’s these extras that can help to motivate workers to push themselves that little bit harder, becoming more productive and more dedicated in the process. Motivating factors include recognition of achievements, fulfilling and meaningful tasks and increased autonomy and independence in the workplace.

In sales, these motivating factors can be directly compared with Order Winners. These little extras help to make a product or service more compelling for the decision maker and can easily swing a deal. If salespeople know how to use these Order Winners correctly, and how to combine them with qualifiers, they should be able to make their calls more persuasive and encourage a higher number of decision makers to opt for their product or service.

Ensuring that sales people are familiar with Herzberg’s theory can help your team to hone its sales technique and become even more persuasive. To find out more about sales and telemarketing techniques that really work, or to learn how we can help you to improve the quality of your sales calls, take a look around our site or get in touch with a member of our team today.