Telemarketing

Telemarketing is the process whereby a salesperson initiates a telephone call with a prospective customer in order to sell them a product or service.  Calls can be made from a company’s office, a call center or from your home. Potential customers are identified by their past purchases, credit limit, online forms, the telephone directory or from the databases of another company. The two main categories are business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing. The first is commercial transactions whereby the client is another business such as between a wholesaler and a retailer; the latter is between a business and the end user who might be an individual or a group of people.

Telemarketing is a profession viewed by many customers as a nuisance, partly due to automated messages where a recorded message is played back when the customer picks up the phone, and also due to aggressive telemarketers who hound customers to buy their products. Most people hesitate to join the profession because of its bad reputation and the fear of constant rejection. However, cold calling is a necessary part of building a business and a shift in attitude and technique can help you become more effective in this much maligned profession.

Know the reason you are calling before you make the call. Are you conducting a survey, trying to pitch your product or service or just looking for the decision maker? Knowing the purpose of your call will help you to communicate effectively with your customer, thereby gaining his confidence.

Your time is precious and so is your customer’s. Be respectful of their time by being fully prepared with the facts and information you need to make the call. If you are trying to sell a product or service, know everything about it so that you are prepared with answers before hand. Your call will have interrupted the customer from whatever he was doing, and a fumbling salesperson who does not know his stuff can be even more annoying.

You may have a written script to help you remember the facts and figures, but use this as a guideline and don’t read directly from it. Customers can tell, without being in front of you, if you know your product inside out. A salesperson, who is familiar with what he is selling, will sound more confident and enthusiastic on the call. Customers often pick up on this enthusiasm and are more likely to hear you out, increasing your chances of making a sale.

Take no for an answer! Be quick when determining whether your customer is interested in what you are selling. If not, hang up the phone and don’t try to push him into buying something he does not want. Such traditional cold calling methods have given the profession a bad name. Be positive in your attitude; a ‘no’ is not personal rejection and nor is it a reflection on your abilities. It is simply another step in finding the right customer for your product.

Make sure you call at the right time. Many a sales have been lost due to bad call timing. Not many people like to be disturbed at lunch time so this may not be the best time to call. Research the best times when your potential customer is most likely to be receptive to your call, before making the call.

Successful telemarketing is about having the right attitude and selling a result-oriented product. Be upbeat, speak confidently and know your product; this will greatly increase your chances selling your product or service over the phone.