Whether you are managing a team of sales professionals or you are a telemarketer who hopes to increase your commissions, knowing the basic elements of a successful sales telemarketing call can help you close more sales with new and existing clients. By understanding how phone conversations can meet customer needs that other means of communication cannot, you can ensure that you are meeting and surpassing expectations each time you connect with a prospective client.Creating a personal connection matters. By letting potential customers know you are interested in their feedback and willing to work with them to help fulfill their needs, you can differentiate yourself from the competition. On every call, from your initial outreach to a short call for a reorder, try to ask as many open ended questions as you can. Follow your customer’s lead and allow them to tell you how they want to be helped and which services you can offer will best fit their needs.Do your best to answer any questions they ask as completely as possible. Again, one of the surest ways to make customers happy is to make them feel like they are valued and heard. If a customer asks a question you cannot answer, tell them honestly that you do not know but that you will find out. Most will be surprised if you call back within the next few hours or days with a detailed answer. It is these small courtesies upon which lasting relationships are built. If a sales representative can establish themselves as the first person a client calls with a product question, you will likely start to see more of their business coming your way.Most importantly, have something valuable to say each time you pick up the phone. Though it is important to keep in touch with your best clients, do not call if you have no new information to give them. By ensuring that each time they speak to you they will be learning something new, you will increase the chances that they continue to take your calls regularly.To improve your skill at closing sales telemarketing calls, you need to practice your listening skills as much as your closing skills.
Tag Archives: Telemarketing
Telemarketing Turning to Internet Marketing
Telemarketing is a business format that has been in place for a long time and the direct marketing business model started in the 1950s. While the basic telemarketing format has stayed the same for many years, the recent laws governing it have made it necessary for companies to branch out into other means of doing business. The telemarketing industry has turned to other ways of generating income, such as the use of internet marketing.The earliest forms of it were generally used to sell magazine subscriptions to customers through the phone, using a system of database marketing. Gradually, more and more soliciting was done over the phone, until it got to the point that telemarketing calls were being made at all hours of the day and evening.At this point, the government stepped in and started invoking laws for direct marketing so that the telemarketing companies were not able to call as often. This was good for customers, but of course, it was bad for the telemarketing companies.Some of the laws that were imposed on the telemarketing companies encompassed things such as the time when they could call, being required to stop calling if someone asked to be removed from the call list, and introducing the national do not call registry. This enabled people to take themselves off of any telemarketing list, making it illegal to call them for any kind of solicitation.With so many people taking themselves off of the solicitation lists, the telemarketing companies have had to turn to other means of income generation to keep themselves in business. Now, many telemarketing companies are turning to online marketing to keep turning a profit.With the new laws surrounding it, companies are forced to change the way they approach telemarketing sales. Outbound telemarketing is no longer in as much use as it was in the past, yet some companies use both the phone and the internet to bring people in. They call people and set up internet appointments for a better time.Still other companies are changing from database marketing companies to internet marketing companies. They can either have people call from home as a home business, or they can change to online marketing completely. Having people call from home is a great way for telemarketing companies to keep costs low. With less overhead it is easier for them to make money and stay in business.As you can see, internet marketing is starting to play a much larger role in the world of telemarketing. Some companies have completely switched to the internet as a means of saving business costs by having people call from home through a virtual call center. Other marketing professional companies are changing their focus completely to address the new interests of today’s society. Overall, the world of it and direct marketing is changing and will never be the same again.