Telemarketing calls: What makes a good question? Questions are an integral part of any telemarketing call. Whether you’re using them to garner information, to make your potential customer think about their needs and requirements or to lead the conversation in a particular direction, questions can be an incredibly useful telemarketing tool. Thinking about what makes a good question, and how your query could impact on the conversation, will help you get the most out of your telemarketing call.
Leaving it open
Closed questions are something you want to avoid during a telemarketing call. So, instead of asking questions that can be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’, try to think of questions that require a slightly more elaborate answer. These ‘open questions’ help to get conversations going, especially when they’re used early on in a telemarketing call.
Even simple things like swapping, “How do you xxxx?” to, “Tell me how you xxxx?” can help you to strike up a dialogue and connect with your potential customer. This straightforward adjustment in phrasing can dramatically open up the conversation. Inviting the decision maker to give you their opinion can provide you with valuable information about your prospective client and help you to get the conversation going.
Leading questions
Ideally, you want the questions that you ask during your telemarketing call to help you make your point. Think about how the questions you ask your prospective customer could help you to lead onto a discussion concerning a particular aspect or benefit of your company. When asking these leading questions, make sure you don’t jump in too quickly with your point. This will make your potential customer think that you only asked the question to move the conversation on and that you’re not really interested in what they have to say.
Making it relevant
Any questions you ask during a telemarketing call need to be relevant to your company or to your potential client. The best way to come up with questions is to do some research before you make your call. Researching your potential client should help you formulate questions fairly naturally. Think about how your products or services relate to your prospect, how they could benefit from them and the information you need to find out to ensure your products or services are the right fit. Try to avoid making your questions formulaic and instead tailor them to each individual company or decision maker.
Listen to the answers
If you don’t take the time to listen to the answers your potential customers give, your questioning will be in vain. Work hard to listen carefully to both the words and the underlying meaning of your prospect’s response. Use the information they provide to inform your next question and you’ll be able to demonstrate that you’re taking their needs and requirements on board.
If you’d like to learn more about improving the quality of your telemarketing calls, or about the work we do, get in touch with a member of our team, or take a look around our site today.
