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3 Scary telemarketing mistakes you don’t want to make

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3 Scary telemarketing mistakes you don’t want to make

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.

The great thing about B2B telemarketing

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More than ever, successful companies are seeing stronger links between their customer experience levels, sales, and the ability of their sales team to get under the skin of buyers, to understand what they want and deliver the best service possible.

Its no accident that we buy the most expensive cars or houses from the people who deliver exceptional service. And where staff are ambivalent, complacent, or lack charisma, most of us will walk away.

The connections made by sales teams in B2B have never been more important. And in turn B2B telemarketing offers an almost unique opportunity to reach out to potential buyers, lots of them in a systematic and measurable way, to find out what they need and what we can do to meet those needs. Done well telemarketing can make a powerful and measurable difference to sales success.

Well executed telemarketing will enable a business to connect with clients, research potential new markets and promote a product or service. It can test small segments to inform and empower innovative marketing strategies on scale. 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 its 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 for complex solutions

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.

Getting the buyer involved

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 22 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.

Avoid written scripts

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.

Stop hating 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.

Gently does it!

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 at Blue Donkey’s website today.

 

Dispelling the myths surrounding B2B telemarketing

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A man using a mobile phone

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.