Telemarketing can be scary. It’s one of those tasks people dread. They think it’s harder than it is. It’s not hard, you pick up the phone, you dial a number and you speak. Simples! So why the big heartache. At Blue Donkey we think the reason why telemarketing is scary to some, is they expect failure. In fact, it’s one of the few workplace tasks where people often do actually expect to fail. If you think telemarketing will hurt, you probably won’t be disappointed. If you think you’ll fail at it, guess what happens.
So first thing’s first – let’s fix that mindset. Get warm and cuddly with all the reasons why telemarketing doesn’t suck. Think about a time when you had a great call, you reached someone important, you got them talking, you made a good connection, you understood a prospect’s needs and they saw how your solution would meet those needs. Packing your head with these stories, and taking a moment to reflect on them will help more than any telemarketing technique ever can. And then, throw out all the awkward telemarketing memories in your head. These occur when you have those toe-curling moments that crush your confidence, the mistakes or faux pars. You’ll be pleased to learn, we have a few tips for avoiding them forever, so from now on, you only make good-news stories to fill your head with. Read on to find out just how simple avoiding telemarketing torment can be.
1. ‘How are you’
If you don’t know someone, it’s generally best not to ask them how they are. In fact, our advice is, if you don’t care, don’t ask. That applies to pretty much anything in telemarketing. ‘How are you’ is an open question. It would be a great open question if it wasn’t so irrelevant. If you’re a GP or a councillor, go ahead, ask it. On a telemarketing cold call, it’s a waste of precious moments.
When you start your telemarketing cold call with the question ‘how are you’, the impact of the first impression is reduced to an awkward few seconds when the person answering your call is forced to mumble a half-hearted ‘fine thank you’. And anyway, put yourself in their shoes; you get a cold call, the first question is ‘how are you’ – what does that make you feel. You’re probably thinking ‘is that why you called me, to ask me how I’m feeling?’
2. Too few dials
So you attempt to cold call someone once, fine, they’re not there. You attempt them again, still not in. Again. This time they’re on holiday. Again. They’re in a meeting. “Enough already! They clearly don’t want to speak with me”. Wrong! They don’t know you’re calling them, they’re not avoiding you, they don’t even know you’re alive.
At Blue Donkey we’re all about telemarketing. Telemarketing is all we do. We eat gatekeeper skills for breakfast, and opening techniques for lunch, peppered with a smattering of benefit selling. If someone’s not there, even we can’t reach them. On average, it takes our team between seven to thirteen dials before a decision maker is reached. So if our super-heat-seeking-missiles take that long, you’ll probably need that many attempts too. If you give up after three, you’re not even close. Spread your attempts out over several days (don’t redial) and be patient. You’ll get through where your competition will have given up.
3. Leaving messages
Another common faux par is the leaving of messages. This might be because someone’s frustrated with their unsuccessful attempts, or it could be that they simply think it’s easier to leave a message and wait for the buyer to do all the work. This is a mistake on two levels. If you leave a message for a call-back, you’re effectively giving away the control element. Once you’ve handed over that unwanted responsibility, it will be hard for you to call them without looking and feeling undermined. If they do call you back, they’ll be annoyed since it’s likely your message didn’t indicate the call was telemarketing.
Well researched prospect data is a limited resource, why waste it by taking lazy shortcuts. Be patient, it will be worth it when you get through because as before, your competition probably won’t work so hard. Telemarketing takes time, skill and perseverance. According to experts at Workbrighter, avoidance is often down to a lack of confidence, or skill. So taking the time to practice, and reflect on the things that work for you is key to the progress you make.
Telemarketing is a magical discipline because just one phone call can deliver career and company changing rewards.