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Sell the sizzle, not the sausage

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Sell the sizzle, not the sausage

One of the mantras we use with our client family at Blue Donkey is We sell the sizzle; You sell the sausage. This is important in b2b telemarketing. It’s key to why people come to us for expertise and forms part of our identity as an agency. So what on earth do we mean by sell the sizzle, not the sausage? We’re not sure where the expression originally came from as many lay claim to it, the version we like is Elmer Wheeler’s from the 1920s. He urged salespeople to focus on the experience around a product, rather than simply on the object itself. In b2b telemarketing, we translate that as the familiar concept of benefit selling, where instead of using features to sell (“it has xyz Mr. Prospect”) we use benefits (“which means it does abc”). One is basically what it has – its features or properties, for example, the other is what you get by having it – in other words, the benefit it delivers.

People never buy a product or service because of its features, they only ever buy a product or service because of the benefit delivered. So you won’t buy toothpaste because it contains fluoride, you buy toothpaste because you want clean, white teeth. The fluoride is the feature, the benefit is what you get from having this feature.

Mmm yum!

You’ll notice that sausages sizzling in a frying pan are appealing, often more so than actually eating the sausage (or not!) The sound and smell of the sizzle represent the promise of something nice to come.

Buyers in b2b telemarketing need to know what your product or service can do for them, rather than how it works. To us at Blue Donkey selling the sizzle is all about selling the particular business benefits of a product or service over the telephone. Our job is to connect with the right prospects, find out about their needs, and deliver strong benefits relating to those needs. We build an appetite for a particular way of improving their business or its performance and then critically, we pass that interest to our clients as a lead generated.

As the b2b telemarketing team, we do the first stage of the sales process by connecting with the right person and building rapport and desire (the sizzle), then our clients get the second stage of the process (the sausage) by way of the lead generation. If we go too far on the phone and try to sell the sausage, it negates the point of a meeting, and the lead is lost. This is one of the reasons why technical people sometimes struggle to make a success of b2b telemarketing, they try to take the call too far. According to business publisher Entrepreneur.com The best way to understand the true benefit of your product or service is to answer the “What’s in it for me?” question.

What’s a benefit (or a sizzle, or a sausage??)

Blue Donkey takes the interaction to the point where we have established need, interest, trust, and rapport with the prospect, this is the sizzle – the benefit selling. The sausage is passed to our client in the lead generation process as a sales lead for them to convert by taking the interaction with the prospect further and turning them into customers.

In b2b telemarketing, a benefit is something that helps you, an enabler. For businesses ‘a benefit’ is always associated with time, effort, money or security.

No business purchase is ever made unless it delivers against one of those four benefits. As a consumer we buy for all sorts of different reasons, as business purchasers, we only buy for one or more of those four business benefits.

  • Time – so reduces the amount of time required to do a certain task
  • Effort – so it makes the process easier or reduces the amount of effort required
  • Money – saves money or makes money
  • Security – reduces risk, or increases the sense of security

Sizzling hot sales leads

When we sell the sizzle in b2b telemarketing it’s our job to get the prospect interested, understand how we can help, and once ready and committed to speaking to us further, we ‘close’ – so we ask for a meeting. Sometimes the close can feel awkward. Overcoming this can be as easy as saying “from what you’re telling me, it sounds like there are a number of ways we can help you, throw some dates at me and I’ll have somebody come and show you how we can help”.

More and more companies are finding the task of lead generation and b2b telemarketing specifically challenging for their internal teams. Outsourcing has become a popular choice especially for organisations that can make better use of their resources by concentrating on core tasks and outsourcing non-core activities to specialists like Blue Donkey. To find out more about the work we do, or to discuss a project of your own, get in touch with Blue Donkey today.

B2B lead generation made simple

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Telephone to illustrate telemarketing for B2B lead generation purposes

Lead generation is a key facet of success for all businesses but especially in B2B where big ticket sales are often linked to relationships. Without a robust lead gen mechanism, most companies would find their sales pipelines starts to dry up and their growth is stalled.

Done well on the other hand, lead generation can propagate and drive sales well into the future. It will provide a boost to profits, and build a strong customer base to support growth as well as current success.

As lead generation is so crucial to business success, it’s important that businesses are good at it. At Blue Donkey, we know a thing or two about lead generation. Over the years, we’ve developed a range of effective practices that are guaranteed to boost results. To help you achieve the success you’re looking for, here are a few of our favourite B2B lead generation techniques.

Focused blogging

Blogging is a fantastic lead generation tool. If you post an engaging piece about your specialist area, businesses searching for related services are more likely to come across your site. When they see that you’re an authoritative figure in your industry they will be more inclined to get in touch and use your company. Focused blogging is also great for SEO and can be shared on social media, boosting your company profile and helping to spread the word about your business.  When planning titles for your blogs, think about the questions that you’re most often asked by other businesses. When other companies search for these queries online, the link to your blog should appear.

Build a social network

Social media is a powerful lead generation tool, even when you’re dealing with other businesses. In fact, according to The Content Marketing Institute, 93% of B2B marketers use social media, making it the most common B2B marketing tool. Of those, 54% said they’ve generated leads via a social media platform.

When building a network on social media, it’s important that your company is an active participant. Share content, like content and interact with businesses in your network. This will ensure that yours is the first company businesses think of next time they need your products or services.

Telemarketing

Done well, telemarketing is an incredibly efficient method of lead generation. A good telemarketer won’t just be able to deliver a powerful and engaging sales message, they’ll also be able to address concerns, collect valuable data and build a positive B2B relationship. However, it’s important that businesses use a skilled and experienced telemarketer, like Blue Donkey, as a less competent telemarketer could damage your reputation and put off potential customers.

Great telemarketing does more than just generate meetings and sales opportunities. It’s a long term solution for business growth. To begin with, proficient telemarketing can be used for investigating and capturing the names of key decision makers within your target sectors. Getting past gatekeepers to have an intelligent conversation with those decision makers is a vital next step. Using powerful open question techniques to get them talking about their needs and how your product or service will fulfil those needs, in addition to gaining opt in, and gaining commitment to the next step in building a firm relationship.

In some instances, this can all happen in a single call, in others, systematic cycles of intelligent telemarketing will generate it over time.

By setting yourself up as an authority in your industry, connecting with other businesses on social media, and following up your good work with some powerful and well placed phone calls, you can dramatically improve your lead generation success rate. If you’d like to learn more, take a look around our site or contact a member of our team.

A new age of data

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While data still sits at the heart of marketing, we have entered a new era where targeting specific prospects is more valid than volumized campaigns, and brand protection matters more than putting an extra 1% on sales numbers.

In the midst of all this talk about data, and metrics, what really makes the difference to competitive advantage is the human element that underlies the myriad of marketing disciplines. Too often businesses can fall into the trap of thinking about marketing in its more abstract form, devoid of the vast amount of differing personalities that play an integral part in every aspect, from the most esoteric to the most ubiquitous. Good marketing will always have people at is heart.

It’s tempting to think that in B2B database terms ‘big is beautiful’. However, this perception is loaded with peril and is completely out of date. After all, who wants to be treated like a record on a database? Back in 2013, advertising agency, Hill Holliday, and brand strategy consulting firm, Lippincott, released the “Welcome to the Human Era” report, which evaluates brands and separates those that are Human Era brands as opposed to Industrial Era. What exactly does it mean to be a Human Era brand? According to the report, being a Human Era brand goes beyond merely saying that one is more “human.” It requires an authentic story delivered consistently through an inspiring experience. It requires hard work — establishing organisational values and commitments that are customer driven, while also driving them toward daily leadership decision-making and employee behaviours. Those brands who fit the Human Era brand mould are creatively paving the way for a new world of marketing that sparks an emotional connection with the audience.

Success in business to business sales is all about uncovering and engaging the right buyers with a sensitive offer that is built around each buyer’s unique needs and wants. So approaching decision-makers with a standardised or shoehorned message of any kind is a fundamentally flawed way of tackling the task of B2B sales. Instead by approaching marketing using a practice commonly described as the ‘segment of one’, enables companies to treat every potential buyer as unique and tailor their messaging specifically around their needs.

This means you have to segment the data very carefully, and test on a small scale before upsizing your campaign to engage with potential buyers to understand more about what their needs are.  Increasingly, service and customer experience have become important as markets continue to become more saturated. Reach Force’ article ‘The 3 Most Popular Methods of Segmentation for B2B’ dissects the protocol for engaging with your potential buyers, segmenting customers by three specific means – firmographics, tiering and, finally, needs. They say “customer segmentation is powerful, because it allows the marketer to draw an accurate picture of their customers, group them according to similarities, and devise pinpointed messages to specific segments of their customer base. Inevitably, these messages are personalised and tailored, which results in a significantly higher number of Human-to Human conversions.

Only companies who can adapt around the needs of unique customers or prospects will really get the benefits that good customer experience, referrals, and repeat purchase can deliver. For the Human Era brand, two-way communication, focusing on the client’s unique needs and requirements is what sets a company apart. Blue Donkey has seen the benefits in this regard, by understanding that no brand is the same and each client needs that one-to-one experience, in order to forge lasting and mutually beneficial relationships.

Find out more about how you can focus on your clients unique needs by contacting Blue Donkey on 01353 724 880.

We object!

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Overcoming an objection can often seem like the stage in a call where you’re climbing a mountain and begin to lose your grip. You ask the right open questions, communicate eloquently about the innovative benefits you’re offering, you establish a desire and a need, then WHAM! You’re met with a wall of resistance. This is in fact one of the most common challenges that telemarketers and salespeople have to learn to deal with. Although it’s easier to give up in the face of objections, learning to handle objections – and turning negatives into positives – is one of the most important skills professionals need to succeed. In other words, resistance is one of the many tests of strength that we have to overcome in order to achieve the desired objective.

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

Objections demonstrate 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.

Listening

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 probe and 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.

Product benefits

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 assuage their concerns. 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.

 

 

In For A Penny, In For A Pound

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Marketing is a risky business. Blowing your budget on the new big fad could be expensive and embarrassing. Since few of us have a crystal ball capable of reliable predictions about how much of which media or stream to employ, all we have at best is a bit of experience and a bit of luck.

When choosing whether telemarking has a relevance for your business, we suggest you avoid the In For A Penny In For A Pound approach. Telemarketing is one of the few channels that offers the opportunity and means to test, refine, and try again.

Kolb’s experiential cycle

Kolb’s experiential learning theory (Kolb, 1984) is a four-stage cycle of using the experience of learning through testing. Kolb maintains that learning involves the acquisition of abstract concepts that can be applied flexibly in a range of situations. In Kolb’s theory, the impetus for the development of new concepts comes by testing a set of ideas and learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience.

So what does that mean to telemarketing

Testing small data segments and different messaging will help you make a value judgment based on sound rationale. What message resonates with particular buyers, or against certain backdrops can be tested using small low risk data sets. This is as simple telling a prospective client: Who you are, What you do, and Why its special. Follow this with the right open questions and product proof points and you have a formula ready to test.

Message testing

How well does your message condense into a pithy non cheesy opening introduction, what are the key questions that can get your potential buyers talking, how much time do you need to expend the learning curve. All these questions can be ironed out with a small segment of test calls before you’re ready to scale-up.

Getting some of your tested records through the various stages of gestation, from cold call, to relationship and rapport building, to getting the meeting or sale will help you map a potential journey and time line for the rest of your data. Testing with a small segment or selection will not only help you upscale successfully and set fair and viable targets, it will help you brief your telemarketing team or agency with the right information for them to get off to a good start.

Be brave but don’t jump in blind. In For A Penny In For A Pound may be sage advice for some aspects of life, but it’s not for your telemarking. Upscaling mistakes can take a long time to recover from.

Talk to Blue Donkey today about a free mini test. If we think your project has potential, we’ll test for free and give you some sound basics about how telemarking can work for you.

 

 

Simple but effective B2B lead generation techniques

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During tougher trading conditions especially, lead generation is an important part of sustainable business growth, without it, many companies would fail to secure new clients and few businesses would be able to grow. Done well on the other hand, lead generation can propel a business to new heights, driving sales, boosting profits, and helping it to build a stable customer base that will support it for years to come.

As lead generation is so crucial to business success, it’s important that businesses are good at it. At Blue Donkey, we know a thing or two about lead generation. Over the years, we’ve developed a range of stunningly effective practices that are guaranteed to boost results. To help you achieve the success you’re looking for, here are a few of our favourite B2B lead generation techniques.

Focused blogging

Blogging is a fantastic lead generation tool. If you post an engaging piece about your specialist area, businesses searching for related services are more likely to come across your site. When they see that you’re an authoritative figure in your industry they will be more inclined to get in touch and use your company. Focused blogging is also great for SEO and can be shared on social media, boosting your company profile and helping to spread the word about your business.  When planning titles for your blogs, think about the questions that you’re most often asked by other businesses. When other companies search for these queries online, the link to your blog should appear.

Build a social network

Social media is a powerful lead generation tool, even when you’re dealing with other businesses. In fact, according to The Content Marketing Institute, 93% of B2B marketers use social media, making it the most common B2B marketing tool. Of those, 54% said they’ve generated leads via a social media platform.

When building a network on social media, it’s important that your company is an active participant. Share content, like content and interact with businesses in your network. This will ensure that yours is the first company businesses think of next time they need your products or services.

Telemarketing

Done well, telemarketing is an incredible efficient method of lead generation. A good telemarketer won’t just be able to deliver a powerful and engaging sales message, they’ll also be able to address concerns, collect valuable data and build a positive B2B relationship. However, it’s important that businesses use a skilled and experienced telemarketer, like Blue Donkey, as a less competent telemarketer could damage your reputation and put off potential customers.

Great telemarketing does more than just generate meetings and sales opportunities. It’s a long term solution for business growth. To begin with, intelligent telemarketing can be used for investigating and capturing the names of key decision makers within your target sectors. Getting past gatekeepers to have an intelligent conversation with those decision makers is a vital next step. Using powerful open question techniques to get them talking about their needs and how your product or service will fulfil those needs, in addition to gaining opt in, and gaining commitment to the next step in building a firm relationship.

In some instances, this can all happen in a single call, in others, systematic cycles of intelligent telemarketing will generate it over time.

By setting yourself up as an authority in your industry, connecting with other businesses on social media, and following up your good work with some powerful and well placed phone calls, you can dramatically improve your lead generation success rate. If you’d like to learn more, take a look around our site or contact a member of our team.

Telemarketing is increasingly seen as a specialist skill, so could Outsourcing be the answer?

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“We saw a £12 return for every £1 we spent with Blue Donkey in 2018”

 Outsourcing specialist business functions is increasingly making more business sense for both large and small organisations, with business owners having to become far more savvy than they once were and the necessity of having to explore different avenues in running a modern day business, whether it be, for example, due to the wider problems of an unstable global economy and thus keeping costs down, outsourcing becomes the best option, or simply because a business has reached a point where core staff must keep their eye on other equally important duties, leaving them lagging behind in other areas, such as telemarketing, which for many businesses is crucial in helping relationships with potential and existing clients.

With cost control and efficiency becoming the bywords for any sensible business out there today, as well as an important driver that helps keep a business successfully afloat, it stands to reason that an organisation that is doing a particular task or activity regularly will be able to do it with more skill, and less time wasted and less financial resources, by outsourcing.

We can also take technical advancements in recent years playing one of the biggest roles in the growing appeal of outsourcing, with the increasing sophistication and reliability of IT systems giving businesses the option to broaden their scope and, in many cases, turn a local business into a global one, it means an organisation based miles away from you can be as effective as if they were in the next room. In other words, the barriers of separate geographic location are no longer there. We have seen a major shift right across the board, with businesses in the private and public sector alike refashioning their operations in ways that bring the concept of outsourcing to the forefront. For potential clients, particularly those who operate in specific sectors where outsourcing is the rule, they will appreciate a business that has the wherewithal and far reaching sense to outsource effectively.

Outsourcing telemarketing to a partner that reflects your own style and values is a particularly attractive proposition. Most organisations know it’s really difficult to recruit staff who are both competent and consistent using the telephone as a marketing tool, and hiring someone who lacks the qualities of good communication can cause a dramatic downturn for even the most efficiently run businesses out there. With both large and small scale companies having their time taken up by focusing attention on myriad other areas, outsourcing telemarketing becomes, by far, the best option, as all the hard work in finding the right candidates falls in the hands of professional agencies. Blue Donkey with its long experience in the field and careful attention paid to each client, will find the right buyers, make intelligent and sensitive connections with them, and nurture relationships until the point where they’re ready to make buying decisions.

Most senior decision-makers within organisations have a very low boiling point for mediocre telephone calls. Outsourcing telemarketing to a specialist who has trainers on tap, the technology to integrate effectively, and whose objectives are the same as the client organisation will help engage and create an enduring and consistent pipeline of high quality new relationships and leads.

If you would like to learn more about outsourcing your telemarketing to B2B specialists Blue Donkey make contact on 01353 724 880.

Data-driven marketing identified as a top 5 prediction for 2017

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2017 title image

With 2016 having now drawn to a close, marketing experts, business leaders and other professionals involved with the marketing industry are working hard to predict how the sector is going to evolve over the next 12 months. One of the most hotly predicted trends is data-driven marketing. Made possible by the huge volume of data that’s now collected on companies and individuals across the country, the move to data-driven strategies is set to increase in pace in 2017.

If you are planning your marketing approach for 2017 and are looking for techniques that will inform and improve it, data-driven marketing could be for you. Keep reading to find out more.

What is data-driven marketing?

Once upon a time, salespeople had to work blind. Most knew virtually nothing about the individuals or companies they were calling, relying solely on their finely honed sales skills to get results. These days however, we have a huge amount of data to work with. Collected across a range of platforms and by a variety of providers, this bounty of information helps marketing professionals to target their calls more effectively. This can help to dramatically improve results, enabling businesses to make lucrative leads and boost their income.

How can data inform telemarketing?

One of the most important elements of telemarketing is list creation. The more time and effort professionals put into creating informed and accurate lists, the better chance they have of success with every call they make. Marketing professionals can use the wealth of data that’s now available to them to refine their lists, allowing them to make a call sheet that’s filled exclusively with businesses and individuals that are likely to have a real interest in the product or service that’s on offer.

Giving each and every call a better chance of success

By using data to create targeted call lists, telemarketers can ensure each call they make has an excellent chance of success. Because data is now so well profiled, when telemarketers dial a number, they have the assurance of knowing that the company, their activities, and the person they’re speaking to are relevant to their call. In theory, this means every call has the potential to produce an important business relationship, something that’s great news for growing companies everywhere.

Using the telephone to add intelligent information to your lists

In the hands of a skilled communicator, the telephone is a powerful research and marketing tool. An intelligent company like Blue Donkey can take the basic information offered by data-driven marketing and add to it. We’ll append key information to your marketing list like the name of the decision maker, relevant contract renewal dates, turnover and staff numbers. This will give you a much more valuable list and give your company an excellent starting point for your next marketing campaign.

As well as being essential for telemarketing, a reliable, data-packed list can be used to develop professional contacts and cement business relationships. For example, if you’re holding a meeting or event, you can personally call and invite relevant people on the list. By calling each person individually, you can increase their chance of attendance and boost the event’s chances of success. After the event, you use the list to call attendees and build on your professional relationship. This will allow you to maximise your return on marketing and help you to develop valuable contacts.

Thanks to the exciting opportunities data-driven marketing offers to telemarketers and companies across the UK, it’s no surprise it’s one of the most talked about trends of 2017. To find out more about innovative marketing techniques, or to plan a telemarketing campaign of your own, contact a member of our team today.

Simple but stunningly effective B2B lead generation techniques

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Facebook and twitter icons

Lead generation is an incredibly important part of business, without it, many companies would fail to secure new clients and few businesses would be able to grow. Done well on the other hand, lead generation can propel a business to new heights, driving sales, boosting profits, and helping it to build a solid customer base that will support it for years to come.

As lead generation is so crucial to business success, it’s important that businesses are good at it. At Blue Donkey, we know a thing or two about lead generation. Over the years, we’ve developed a range of stunningly effective practices that are guaranteed to boost results. To help you achieve the success you’re looking for, here are a few of our favourite B2B lead generation techniques.

Focused blogging

Blogging is a fantastic lead generation tool. If you post an engaging piece about your specialist area, businesses searching for related services are more likely to come across your site. When they see that you’re an authoritative figure in your industry they will be more inclined to get in touch and use your company. Focused blogging is also great for SEO and can be shared on social media, boosting your company profile and helping to spread the word about your business.  When planning titles for your blogs, think about the questions that you’re most often asked by other businesses. When other companies search for these queries online, the link to your blog should appear.

Build a social network

Social media is a powerful lead generation tool, even when you’re dealing with other businesses. In fact, according to The Content Marketing Institute, 93% of B2B marketers use social media, making it the most common B2B marketing tool. Of those, 54% said they’ve generated leads via a social media platform.

When building a network on social media, it’s important that your company is an active participant. Share content, like content and interact with businesses in your network. This will ensure that yours is the first company businesses think of next time they need your products or services.

Telemarketing

Done well, telemarketing is an incredible efficient method of lead generation. A good telemarketer won’t just be able to deliver a powerful and engaging sales message, they’ll also be able to address concerns, collect valuable data and build a positive B2B relationship. However, it’s important that businesses use a skilled and experienced telemarketer, like Blue Donkey, as a less competent telemarketer could damage your reputation and put off potential customers.

Great telemarketing does more than just generate meetings and sales opportunities. It’s a long term solution for business growth. To begin with, intelligent telemarketing can be used for investigating and capturing the names of key decision makers within your target sectors. Getting past gatekeepers to have an intelligent conversation with those decision makers is a vital next step. Using powerful open question techniques to get them talking about their needs and how your product or service will fulfil those needs, in addition to gaining opt in, and gaining commitment to the next step in building a firm relationship.

In some instances, this can all happen in a single call, in others, systematic cycles of intelligent telemarketing will generate it over time.

By setting yourself up as an authority in your industry, connecting with other businesses on social media, and following up your good work with some powerful and well placed phone calls, you can dramatically improve your lead generation success rate. If you’d like to learn more, take a look around our site or contact a member of our team.

Overcoming objections – address don’t ignore

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overcome-obstacle

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.