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Monthly Archives: November 2019

Do appointment setting companies see Christmas as humbug?

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Do appointment setting companies see Christmas as humbug

The lead up to the festive period provides a popular conundrum for those involved in sales and marketing. Some feel decision makers either won’t want to be bothered by sales calls, or they may be too preoccupied for them. Others take the view that it’s an opportune moment to connect with new potential buyers in the Christmas spirit. At Blue Donkey, we sit firmly in the latter camp. In fact, year after year, where other appointment setting companies down tools and knees up, Blue Donkey work hard to eek out the best possible year end sparkle.

Work is much more fun than fun (Noel Coward)

Appointment setting companies will typically have a calendar of projects that require key metrics to be met. Since any kind of uncertainty in marketing (as in life alas) isn’t helpful, the festive weeks are usually avoided for scheduling purposes. For those organisations, productivity is compromised, and possibly loaded into other months of the year. For appointment setting companies like Blue Donkey who choose to maximise this period Christmas is a chance to have a bit more fun. Phone lines are less busy so there are fewer calls to compete for decision maker attention. In fact running a telemarketing campaign at this time of year can allow you to take advantage of the seasonal good cheer that lingers in most offices, so telemarketing is both fun and rewarding as a result of increased contact and lead rates.

According to workplace experts All Business, a fun workplace is an important factor for reducing absenteeism and raising productivity. So managers at all firms, not just appointment setting companies, should look for opportunities to raise sprits especially at Christmas time when we are expecting teams to give that discretionary extra effort required to deliver results when everyone else appears to have downed-tools.

The final hurrah

After a long year of targets, metrics and KPIs, why would the high performing team want to end the year with a nose-dive to the finish line. Since some competing appointment setting companies and internal telemarketing teams won’t be working, the Christmas period allows those that are to get a head start on the new year. By the time January rolls around, many of your prospective customers will already have heard of your brand, your products and your services, allowing you to stay one step ahead of the competition. This head start can be invaluable in a competitive market and could make the difference between your brand having a good 2020 and a great one.

Business as usual

The key to making the most of this festive period is to keep calls light, engaging and interesting, but do stick to the knitting! In other words, the body of the call should be focussed around business discussions, not Christmas. Appointment setting agencies will always stick to the main focus of the call, which is to engage with the decision maker in a conversation about potential needs and requirements, and when the right needs have been identified, ask for a meeting. There is absolutely no reason why a potential buyer wouldn’t accept a meeting for the new year. Like the rest of us, they will want to capture any opportunity to increase their organisation’s effectiveness with the rights tools or services.

To find out more about effective telemarketing techniques, explore our site or get in touch with a member of our team.

Making the right connections in B2B telemarketing

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Making the right connections in B2B telemarketing

Learning how to identify the right buyers in B2B telemarketing is one of the first challenges marketers face. However, as databases become more sophisticated with profiling tools to help us find that special segment, the task is far easier than it was in years gone by. So now our data is leaner and meaner, what next? Creating an excellent first impression and going on to construct a meaningful relationship, maintaining that connection as a career customer; these things are the true pixie dust that everyone in marketing is after. We don’t just want to sell and move on anymore.

Given then that the process starts with an initial call, it’s worth investing the time to get the first impression right. A good first impression can help to lay the foundations for a positive and productive business relationship and although it’s true that even the best B2B telemarketing team won’t get every call right, a few effective and reliable techniques will help to give them a better chance of getting their calls off on the right foot.

Setting the right tone

The first impression a telemarketer makes when they dial a potential client will set the tone for your B2B relationship. If your telemarketer is too pushy, bends the truth, or is rude to the gatekeeper or the decision maker, it could spell disaster for your future prospects. If your team member can come across as professional, polite and well-informed, both the gatekeeper and the decision maker will be more likely to listen to them now and welcome their calls again in the future. If your team is coming across abrasively or disrespectfully, don’t wait for it to happen twice. Deliver training to help your team member recognise and nurture the right skills. Check your targets and processes and be honest with yourself about whether your team are adopting ‘over-goal-seeking behaviours’ because you have unwittingly taught them to.

Using the best tools available

When we meet people in person, body language is a major factor in deciding how we judge someone. Often, when someone is trying to make a good first impression, they’ll smile, mimic their counterpart’s body language and hold themselves in a way that makes them appear open and friendly. Using the telephone, telemarketers have to rely on their verbal dexterity to convey the information normally communicated through body language. Although this does present challenges, an experienced telemarketer should be able to use their communication skills to engage the prospect. They can create a productive dialogue and thus make a great first impression without ever having to see the prospect. Seeing someone in ‘your mind’s eye’ will help replace some of the human skills that you lose by being on the phone. Try it, imagine someone in your head, and speak to them. It works.

Body language matters

Although the spoken word is king when it comes to B2B telemarketing, body language does still have a part to play. Smiling as they dial will help your telemarketers to sound more friendly and enthusiastic over the phone and sitting up straight will help them to feel alert and focused. Using the whole body when we place a call can go a long way to making the voice sound more approachable and the conversation more engaging. Using hands, facial expressions, adopting dress codes, all help your team ‘see themselves’ as authentic, skilled, professionals – which of course they are.

Wellbeing expert’s verywellmind tells us that body language  refers to the nonverbal signals that we use to communicate. According to experts, these nonverbal signals make up a huge part of daily communication. From our facial expressions to our body movements, the things we don’t say can still convey volumes of information. It has been suggested that body language may account for 60 to 65 percent of all communication so it’s important we don’t try to silence this part of ourselves just because we use the telephone in our work.

Speak with people, not with companies

One thing that makes a poor impression is scripted, robotic telemarketing calls. Impersonal and unhelpful, decision makers and gatekeepers can tell a generic sales pitch from a mile off. A good way to ensure the calls your company makes aren’t dismissed as irrelevant or poor quality is to remind your team they’re speaking to people, not companies. Thinking about the gatekeeper and the decision maker as a person, and remembering that they’re often busy and under pressure themselves, can help telemarketers to get a rapport going and create a productive two-way conversation in the process.

Although making a good first impression over the phone takes skill and ability, with practice and commitment your team should be able to start a call well – every time. For more information on improving the quality of your telemarketing calls, get in touch with a member of our expert team today.

Closing techniques used in B2B Telemarketing

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Closing techniques used in B2B Telemarketing

B2B telemarketing relies on some important tools to be successful. As an outsource agency, Blue Donkey has two key success factors that must be front of mind every minute of every day. These factors are efficiency and effectiveness. In other words, like any other telemarketing agency, our work has got to deliver value for each hour (efficiency), and for every penny, we have to demonstrate that we’ve achieved something useful (effectiveness). Understanding how and when to close is, therefore, one of those important tools that have to be mastered in a project, pretty much from the get-go. But how do we know which close to use, and when to use it? Read on to find out more.

No dogs allowed

These days, classic closing techniques like ‘the puppy dog’, ‘good cop, bad cop’ and ‘impending doom’ are irrelevant in B2B telemarketing. Decision makers can see through them and will no doubt feel irritated or frustrated that the telemarketer has tried to manipulate them. Instead, we propose that the professional telemarketing approach is to lose the tricks or gimmicks and slowly manoeuvre the call to its natural conclusion. If you ask the right questions, listen carefully to the answers, cascade your message in a way that it generates lots of ‘yes’ type noises, and perhaps use a ‘test close’ first to gain agreement, for example ‘that sounds like it could be useful to you’ and then close depending on the outcome… ‘can I have someone come and show you…’

By testing the prospect’s understanding, and gently gaining commitment based on what they have told you, you’ll go a long way to winning trust. After all the best business relationships start with a warm connection between two people. Where the trial close suggests the buyer isn’t ready, choose instead to ask if you can speak again at a certain time to take things further.

Quality

Messaging is important in B2B telemarketing because our buyers are time-poor. So rather than rushing ham-fistedly through a call and then trying to close, telemarketers must instead do a good job of engaging the decision maker, describing the benefits and proof points compellingly. Telemarketers who are proud of the product or service they’re promoting can handle objections well and are able to create rapport with decision makers. They shouldn’t have to use tired prescribed closes at the end of a call. Managers who provide telemarketers high-quality training in effective telemarketing and communication techniques will find their team is more than capable of bringing a call to a satisfactory conclusion without a puppy dog in sight. Business benefits, unlike features of a product or service, actually tell the buyer what they will get from adopting something, for example, X is a 25% tougher disk than its nearest rival (that’s the feature) so your production efficiency will be improved by a quarter (the benefit). The right questions and benefits will counteract any need for closing techniques.

Do remember to close

So often in B2B telemarketing, the telemarketer or salesperson has engaged the buyer in a good and productive discussion, communicated some fabulous benefits, uncovered needs, answered objections, the call seems to have reached a natural conclusion that indicates the buyer is interested and then nothing! Nada! Niente!   Fear of asking for the meeting or sale is remarkably common. Sometimes you just have to pull on your big-girl-pants and ask ‘that’s great, can I come and see you?’

Summarise

A good way to finish a B2B telemarketing call is to sum up all the points you’ve covered in your conversation. Use this as an opportunity to repeat any concerns or objections the decision maker has raised and the solutions you’ve come up with to overcome them. Reiterate how the service you’re offering can make their life easier and demonstrate that you’ve listened to the points they’ve raised during the conversation. Tell them what happens next, and importantly, what you propose to do with their data. Ask if there is anyone else in the organisation that you can speak with so you can grow your sales base and understanding, especially with large companies that have lots of similar or autonomous decision makers.

Improving communication skills and learning effective B2B telemarketing techniques can help to improve the quality of the calls you and your team make. Find out more by taking a look around our site, or by getting in touch with a member of our team.

How B2B telemarketing agencies get past the gatekeeper

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How B2B telemarketing agencies get past the gatekeeper

B2B Telemarketing agencies must be able to get past gatekeepers. That’s it, simple. Without the competencies to do so, they would quickly cease to exist. In sales, we generally think of the gatekeeper as the person who is stopping us from gaining access to an organisation’s key decision-making team. They are usually a receptionist or a PA of some kind. You can understand why they are necessary for the efficient running of a business, you might even imagine that if you were the gatekeeper you’d be so diligent that nobody would ever get beyond you. However, when you’re on the receiving end of the gatekeeper stopping your path to your next key account, you might find yourself resenting the role they play in shaping your success that day.

If you manage a sales or telemarketing team, you’ll know that selecting good communicators is key to achieving results. Ideally, you need everyone on your team to be able to connect with a prospect, create rapport and get their message across within moments of having their call answered. If they can’t achieve these objectives, your marketing and communication campaigns will suffer and you might find your company under-performing. If your team members can’t navigate their way past the gatekeeper, they may decide to use some other form of communication, or attempt contact through an influencer in the organisation rather than a decision maker on the basis that influencers are easier to reach and not usually so heavily guarded. For B2B telemarketing agencies, all output is linked with reaching buyers on the phone. Aiming for non-decision makers or using a less effective or compelling medium than the telephone to reach a target buyer is not an option. Therefore, working with employees to create methods and strategies for getting past the gatekeeper is key. If your team can get their foot in the telephonic door, they’ll gain the opportunity to work their magic on the decision maker and all their outstanding communication skills and get on their way to hitting their goals. So here’s how B2B telemarketing agencies propose your teams handle the gatekeeper challenge.

Remind them, gatekeepers are not the enemy

One common mistake telemarketers make is treating the gatekeeper as the enemy. And although it’s true that the gatekeeper can make or break a telemarketing call, it’s important to remind your team that the gatekeeper is simply doing their job. Being friendly, courteous and polite, even in the face of an immovable gatekeeper, will help your team to keep things professional, something that’s good for your company’s reputation and your relationship with other businesses.

See the gatekeeper as an opportunity

All too often, telemarketers see the gatekeeper purely as an obstacle to overcome. However, if you can help your team to see their interaction with the gatekeeper as an opportunity, you can not only improve the quality of their calls, you can also mine a wealth of valuable information. Remind your team that the gatekeeper they’re trying to outsmart knows a lot about the business and the decision maker they’re trying to speak to. Encourage them to take advantage of the conversation to check the person they’re attempting to contact is the decision maker, learn a little more about the decision maker and confirm any unknown facts about the business.

Remind them never to sell to the gatekeeper

Although the gatekeeper is an important person within the organisation, it’s important to make sure your team understands that this person can’t make any purchasing decisions. This means that selling to the gatekeeper is pointless. At best, they’ll waste some of their valuable time, at worst the gatekeeper will decide your product or service isn’t right for the business and cut your company off from the decision maker for good.

Make sure they avoid lying – at all costs

Lying is the worst thing your team can do when trying to navigate past the gatekeeper. If they’re caught out – which is generally the case – it will reflect badly on your business and could well impact on future relations with the decision maker. Ideally, your team should be so skilled at getting past the gatekeeper they won’t need to resort to lying. However, if the gatekeeper is being especially stubborn, telemarketers could try sending an email to the decision maker beforehand. This will allow your team to then legitimately state that they’re following up on initial contact.

Continually working with your team to improve their communication and telemarketing skills is key to achieving impressive and consistent results. For more advice on getting the best out of your telemarketing team, explore our site, or get in touch.

B2B telemarketing – Up close and personal

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B2B telemarketing -Up close and personal

In the late 1990s and early 2000s telecoms company one2one, now T-Mobile, ran a successful campaign in which it asked viewers which living person or historical figure they’d most like to have a one-to-one conversation with. The promotion successfully won over audiences and became one of the most memorable campaigns of the era. Thinking about who we might want to have a one-to-one with, and thinking about what we’d say to our hero if we met them, can help to crystallise thinking and focus your mind. Although long-departed historical figures may not be able to give you any answers, the exercise is a good way to learn more about your own thought process.

Reflecting both the company’s name and its ethos, the one2one campaign saw stars like Ian Wright, Vinnie Jones, and Kate Moss line up to discuss their all-time heroes. While footballer Ian Wright chose Martin Luther King Jr. and Kate Moss chose Elvis Presley, Vinnie Jones opted for his wife Tanya as the person he’d like most to have a one-to-one with (yeah whatever!).

One-to-one

Whether it’s a colleague, an employee, a friend or a relative, sitting down for a one-to-one with another person can be very enlightening. Giving you the opportunity to discuss important issues, find out how another person has lived their life and examine your own professional and personal choices, a one-to-one can be incredibly enriching.

Asking questions that matter

The key to a productive one-to-one in B2B telemarketing, as with other things, is exploring key issues by asking the right questions. Not only will the right questions help you to get the most from the discussion, they’ll also demonstrate to the person you’re speaking to that you’re genuinely interested in their work and their needs. Knowing exactly what to ask in a one-to-one can give you an invaluable insight into someone else’s business and help you to get a real conversation going.

Open questions are those that generate expansive answers, closed questions usually get a simple yes or no, so it’s important to ask open questions that are clear and relevant to the purpose of your discussion. They usually begin with the words who, what, when, why or how.

According to research and learning specialists Mind Tools when it comes to questions, it’s “Garbage in, garbage out”, they go on to explain, it’s a popular truth, often said in relation to computer systems: if you put the wrong information in, you’ll get the wrong information out. The same principle applies to communications in general; if you ask the wrong questions, you’ll probably get the wrong answer, or at least not quite what you’re hoping for. Asking the right question is at the heart of effective communications and information exchange. By using the right questions in a particular situation, you can improve a whole range of communications skills. For example, you can gather better information and learn more, you can build stronger relationships, manage people more effectively, and help others to learn too.

One-to-ones in B2B telemarketing

If every time you make a B2B telemarketing call you treat it as a one-to-one, you’ll find you get a lot more from your marketing. By bringing the focus, the conversation and the connection you experience in a one-to-one to your call, you can engage your prospect in a real two-way conversation, build a rapport and lay the foundations of a mutually beneficial business relationship. By thinking about the questions you’re going to ask beforehand, you can ensure your call stays on point and that you gain valuable information and insight into the person and the business you’re connecting with.

Learning how to make the most out of a one-to-one conversation is an essential part of telemarketing. To find out more, or to learn how to improve the quality of your calls, explore our site today.

Help your B2B lead generation team stand out from the crowd

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Help your B2B lead generation team stand out from the crowd

We all understand that how we come across is incredibly important in the world of business, and more particularly in B2B lead generation where we are trying to cultivate long and high-value relationships. If you get off on the right foot you might just create a professional relationship that will last a lifetime, get off on the wrong foot, however, and your liaison could be over before it’s even begun. Ensuring that your telemarketing team is making a good impression when they pick up the phone for your precious brand is therefore essential.

NO to scripts

Keeping a few notes and bullet points handy isn’t a problem, however, you should avoid having telemarketers follow a script. Reading text out word for word will instantly make a call sound robotic and boring. It’s disempowering and unfair on your staff too, why hire them if you don’t trust them to represent your business? At best you’ll keep staff but they’ll become apathetic and inefficient, at worst, the potential clients receiving your team’s calls will view your company as mundane and lose interest in what your telemarketers are offering. Not helpful to your B2B lead generation objectives, or your company’s long term success.

Telemarketers need to possess some natural communication skills and be familiar with and interested in the products and services their B2B lead generation is about. If they’re able to engage quickly and easily with the potential buyer and talk freely about your business and your company’s USP, they’ll be able to navigate past the gatekeeper and get a real, two-way conversation going without a script in sight.

Removing the notion of a scripted dialog also helps build skills and challenge your B2B lead generation team to step outside their comfort zone. According to Finance company Fleximise, challenging work can be a great motivator, as it keeps employees engaged and interested in their role. For many people, having to overcome some level of difficulty in their work is much more preferable to the boredom of an easy, unchallenging job.

It’s all in the targeting

The success of your B2B lead generation will largely depend on the effectiveness of the list you provide to your telemarketers. A well selected and profiled list will mean that every call your team makes has the propensity to convert to either a lead or the beginning of a worthwhile relationship. This is because the company size, type, geography and so on, have been specially selected to fit with the ‘ideal type’ prospect. In other words, the records in your target list should be homogeneous (or have similar needs) so your B2B lead generation team can connect the right messages to the appropriate buyer in a more knowledgeable way. This is great for morale and will help every telemarketer in your company to approach calls in a motivated and positive way.

If you have a poor quality call list, on the other hand, your team may strike out again and again with a low rate of success. As well as creating a negative atmosphere in the office, this can cause your team to become complacent and to reduce the amount of commitment they invest in each call.

Get excited!

Positivity is incredibly important when it comes to making good first impressions. Try to get your team motivated about your company, your products, and your services. Before they pick up the phone – or while they’re calling – have them think of five to ten of your key business benefits. This will help them to sound enthusiastic and passionate when the prospect answers, two things that can help to make a great first impression.

Smile & sit up straight

Two of the simplest ways to improve the way you come across on the phone are smiling and sitting up straight. Encourage your team to ‘smile as they dial’ so that the prospect hears the positivity in their voice the moment they answer the call. Sitting up straight will help your telemarketers to feel more awake and more alert.

Communication, not sales should be the focus

Although you want to see results from your B2B lead generation, it’s important that your team focuses on building relationships rather than just selling. If the main purpose of the call is sales, the decision maker may be put off, damaging your chances with the prospect for good. Encourage your team to see communication as the goal. If your telemarketers can create a good first impression, find out more about the company’s needs and arrange a time for a future meeting, it will help to produce long term results.

Find out more about improving your telemarketing technique by exploring our site today.

IIP standard-setting for B2B Telemarketing Agencies

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IIP standard-setting for B2B Telemarketing Agencies

So who ever said they want to be in telemarketing when they grow up? Not many of us probably, it’s a tough gig, hard work and relentless. But if you need to be challenged, and you want to use your brain, if you enjoy the sheer diligence of speaking to decision makers with diverse business interests all day every day, there’s nothing to beat B2B telemarketing, provided you choose the right company. Therein lies the rub – how do you know? Whether its telemarketing or something entirely different, finding the right employer, that sets itself apart as a people business is not always easy.

Investors in People, or IIP, is a popular quality standard used for excellence across people management. It’s a recognised accreditation system, across 75 different countries that highlight organisations who embrace and champion high standards for the development of their most valuable assets, their people. Established over 28 years ago as a government project, IIP set out to help companies achieve differentiated service quality, something that’s especially valuable for industries like B2B telemarketing where competition is high. Now an independent not for profit organisation IIP has already helped thousands of companies raise their game to become more competitive in their respective markets.

From a people perspective, a key benefit of gaining IIP accreditation is that it helps to attract the best quality B2B telemarketing talent since most of us would choose to work in an organisation that cared about its people, enough to invest in systems, processes and feedback models designed around the needs of its workforce. Indeed, a company that takes pride in its people will deliver a sense of pride to its customers and market. For companies that have IIP accreditation, there are a number of different initiatives that bring together employees from different functions of the business, with the objective of making work more enjoyable and satisfying for staff. It’s also widely accepted that happy staff makes happy customers so not only does IIP build a cohesive and productive workforce, it helps create a business that customers want to be a part of too.

IIP standards

The Investors in People standard is based on three core areas: leading, supporting and improving. Each of these categories is then further divided into subsections, giving business leaders a clear framework on which to build. As companies work to incorporate the specific ideas and criteria of the IIP standard into their business practices, they will receive accreditation from the governing organisation. The highest level of accreditation is Platinum followed by Gold and then Silver.

Leading

The ‘leading’ element of the IIP standard is divided into three areas: leading and inspiring, living the organisation’s values and empowering and involving people. Where the organisation is in B2B telemarketing or something entirely different, incorporating these ideas into a company’s everyday operations will help the leadership to make the organisation’s objectives clear, inspire their workforce to deliver and create a culture of trust within the organisation.

Supporting

Creating a supportive environment is essential for businesses that want to get the best from their workforce. The IIP standard outlines three core areas that are key to achieving excellence in the area: managing performance, recognising and rewarding high performance and structuring work. When workers feel supported, they’re much more likely to commit to an organisation, come up with innovative ideas and work effectively with other members of their team.

Improving

As all successful business leaders will know, organisations that want to succeed and to grow need to be constantly looking for ways to improve. Within the IIP standard, improving is divided into building capability, delivering continuous improvement and creating sustainable success. Creating a culture in which constant improvement is expected and encouraged is essential for businesses that want to achieve their potential.

IIP standards and your workforce

The IIP standard gives organisations a clear and practical framework on which to build their management structure. Employing these standards, and working to reach the highest possible level of accreditation, can help companies of all sizes to boost morale, get the very best from their employees and build a workforce to be proud of.

To learn more about B2B telemarketing or getting the best from your team, or for more information on practical and effective management techniques, explore our site today.

Pitch, pace & tone for B2B telemarketing

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Pitch, pace & tone for B2B telemarketing

Not all the information we communicate comes from the words we use, or the sentences we compose. Often it’s not what we are saying but how we say it that matters (anyone with teenage kids will confirm that). Tone, pitch, pace, and body language are all used by others to help determine the exact meaning behind the words and phrases we use. Using the right vocal range in a call can dramatically increase the chances of success in B2B telemarketing. Just a few small changes to the way calls are handled can make a significant difference in how they resonate in the mind of the buyer.

Be positive and be You

Before telemarketers dial the phone, they need to take a few moments to go over the benefits and unique features of the product or service they’ll be discussing. If they’re in a positive frame of mind and feeling enthusiastic about the product they’re promoting, the business they work for, and the role they play in that company, it will come across in their voice. Indeed, being enthusiastic about ourselves and our work is important, not only for getting the call off on the right foot and setting a productive tone for the conversation but also for our personal wellbeing. Being clear about the benefits of what we offer, and having a positive outlook about how we can enable a buyer to achieve their goals will go along way to help us be authentic in our work. Feeling authentic has been linked to good mental health, workplace wellbeing, and job satisfaction. Recruitment website Monster.com goes further and argues that being true to yourself has a lot to do with knowing who you are and bringing that uniqueness to the workplace. It’s liberating to express your personality, values, and background without pretending to be someone you aren’t.

Smile

We’ve talked about the benefits of smiling over and over again (maybe enough to cause a grimace) but it’s one of the most simple, effective ways to create the right tone when making B2B telemarketing calls.  Smiling affects the way the voice sounds and most prospects will be able to pick up on it in a call. More often than not, they’ll instinctively smile in return, something that can help the call to progress productively.

Pace yourself

The pace of a b2b phone call can be one of the most difficult things to get right. Go too quickly and the prospect won’t have time to process the information you’re providing. However go too slow and it can be interpreted as a sign of boredom, disinterest or dejection. Ideally, telemarketers should go fast enough to retain the interest of the prospect and to come across as enthusiastic, but slowly enough that their words hit their mark. The only way to perfect the pace of B2B telemarketing calls is to practice. Have telemarketers listen out for each other or practice ‘calling’ so they can see how pace affects the impact of the call.

Pitch perfect

Like tone, pitch is affected by the telemarketer’s enthusiasm and the way they approach the call. As well as smiling during a call, pitch can be improved by telemarketers taking a genuine interest in the prospect they’re speaking to. This interest will come across in the way they speak and will help the prospect to feel that their company’s needs and requirements are at the heart of the call.

Getting the pitch, tone and pace of B2B telemarketing just right can go a long way to boosting its chances of success. Explore our site today to find out more or speak to one of the members of our team.

How to create first impressions that last

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How to create first impressions that last

Knowing how to make a strong first impression is one of the most important skills in B2B telemarketing. Not only will it help you to start your calls off in a positive way, it will also allow you to begin to build rapport with a potential buyer and lay the foundations for your future business relationship.

Smile

A simple and instantly effective way to come across well in B2B telemarketing is to speak with a smile. The person your speaking with will hear this as confidence, and enthusiasm. Your smile creates charisma and makes you more interesting and engaging to talk to.

Over the years scientists have sought to understand why the simple smile can do so much to elevate the mood of the person smiling and those around them. Experts have found a strong link between good health, longevity, and smiling. Most importantly, studies show​ that just the act of smiling (making the physical facial shapes and movements) whether the result of real joy or an act, can have both short- and long-term benefits on people’s health and wellbeing.

Sit up straight

Posture also has a big impact on how you come across on the phone. Before you dial, take a few seconds to ensure you’re sitting up straight. Maintaining a good posture when you’re on the phone will help you to come across as more passionate, more focused and more engaged, all things that will contribute to a great first impression. In fact, there are several benefits of good posture, if you are sat up straight you can breathe better for one, so the voice is clearer and unconstrained, giving the impression of confidence. If you ever go home after a busy day on the phone with a sore throat, sit up, so the sound is generated in the diaphragm, not the throat, and finally, sitting up straight helps you position your eyes upward, which in turn helps you think more creatively (what’s your favourite tree? – See, you looked up!)

Check your data

When making telemarketing calls, it’s important to know who you’re calling and have some understanding of the needs and requirements of the company you’re contacting. Checking the database record carefully, getting the website up as you’re dialling, or doing a small amount of research to see when they were last spoken with, will allow you to answer any questions with authority and composure. This kind of response goes a long way to assuring a potential client that you’re capable of fulfilling their needs. In other words, use the time between calls to concentrate and plan the next interaction, typically this is the moment we use to chat with our neighbour about dinner! Save that for the water cooler.

Positive attitude

Before you pick up the phone, take a minute to think about all of the positive aspects of the product or service you’re offering. Memorise its USPs and try to get yourself excited about what’s on offer. This positivity will automatically come across in your voice and will help the prospect to warm to you. Listening is one of the most important parts of a telemarketing call. If you lecture a prospect, they’ll soon get tired and could well begin to view you negatively. Failing to listen can also cause a call to come across as too ‘salesy’, another pitfall that will cause clients to switch off. Instead of launching into some ill-considered “pitch” and talking relentlessly, try to listen. This will help you to have a real two-way conversation with your prospect, build rapport and engage them in a productive call. This isn’t a mass-marketing ploy, but a chance to talk to a decision-maker at a company. Make it count by using your ears.

Put the buyers needs before your own

Putting the prospect at the heart of the call is a good way to ensure you make a good first impression. In sales we have a tendency to be driven by targets, which is important, but does have inherent dangers so take the middle line, buy working efficiently, but putting the customer first. Make it all about them by discussing their needs, their requirements and their company structure. You can then use this information and demonstrate to the prospect how your product or service can make their life easier. Making a good first impression will help your telemarketing call to get off on a positive note and will give you a better chance of success. To find out more about improving your team’s telemarketing skills, explore our site or contact a member of our team.

Personality types and B2B telemarketing (are you bovvered though?)

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Personality types and B2B telemarketing

For many years pushy sales techniques were as popular in B2B telemarketing as they were in other areas of sales. The term ‘hunger’ was often used to describe unyielding and headstrong personality types that were deemed advantageous to sales success. These personalities were often ‘not bovvered’ about the negative consequences of hard-selling for those on the receiving end of their transactions, and chose instead to focus on the delivery of results. Extremely successful in its day, this notion of single-minded selling was used around the world for decades.

Fortunately, the modern sales landscape is changing and a new more caring approach has become mission-critical for sales professionals who expect to win career-long relationships and networks with the community of buyers they connect with. Indeed, buyers are now pickier about who they buy from, making an inextricable link between caring people and a reputable brand. What’s more, professional B2B telemarketing operations now have a low boiling-point for pushy salespeople. They know that short term selling can lead to long term reputational damage and pain. So yes, they are definitely bovvered, and no they are not likely to hire a personality that refuses to associate with the needs of others.

There is a lot of fascination around personality type and suitability for certain roles, and much has been said about introducing the right personality types to a sales team. According to psychometrics experts Personality Growth, there are 8 Jungian Cognitive Functions that make up Myers Briggs personalities, so where some people excel at being a salesperson, others hate the job based largely on personality type.

Problems with pushy ‘foot in the door’ selling

Pushy selling techniques where a salesperson persuades someone to accept a modest request (the foot in the door) before getting them to agree to a much larger one are still used. However, buyers see past such attempts now. Decision makers tend to respond poorly to these kinds of techniques as it implies there’s some deception going on. No one likes to feel like they’re having the wool pulled over their eyes. Using ‘foot in the door’ can also compel decision makers to buy products or services they don’t really need. This can damage the relationship between the salesperson and the prospect and can limit their future business interactions.

The ‘carer’ personality type

Instead of working a call to suit their objectives and goals, intelligent telemarketers are placing the prospect’s needs and requirements at the centre of the conversation. Rather than making the call solely about closing, B2B telemarketing involves talking to decision makers, finding out about their specific requirements and tailoring services accordingly. By genuinely caring about clients, and by listening to their queries and objections, sales professionals can build trust and lay the foundations for a productive business relationship.

Benefits of the ‘carer’ personality

In the long run, this approach can be far more beneficial than the pushier ‘foot in the door’ technique. By caring about prospects, working to meet the needs of a decision maker and listening to objections, queries and questions, salespeople can begin to build a trusting and productive business relationship. These types of relationships often last longer than those built on ‘foot in the door’ sales calls. This means that over time the prospect may become a more lucrative lifetime customer.

Using a caring personality in sales calls is often more beneficial to the telemarketers as well. Rather than forcing them to sell, sell, sell, it allows them the time and the space to properly connect with the prospect and to adjust their sales approach accordingly.

Revising tried and tested techniques, innovating on familiar methods and staying up to date with changing trends are vital in telemarketing. To find out more about modern approaches to telemarketing or for more advice on getting the most out of your telemarketing campaigns explore our site today.