Sales - Telemarketing
The Lowdown on Telemarketing

The Lowdown on Telemarketing

Inbound vs. outbound

There are two types of telemarketing.

Inbound telemarketing involves sending out a flyer or a reply card to a target list of consumers inviting the consumer to call your company to purchase a product or service. When the consumer calls, your telemarketers will provide information on the product or service, but their primary function is to take orders rather than proactively sell the product or service to the consumer.

Outbound telemarketing, on the other hand, involves a proactive sales approach wherein your telemarketers make calls from your company to a target group of consumers to sell them your product or service.

Costs

The cost of a telemarketing program depends upon a variety of factors. These include how many phone lines you decide to install, the number of telemarketers you employ, the number of hours they spend calling prospective customers, the number of calls they make per hour, and the number of leads generated per telemarketer.

Making the call

When you are making outbound calls, you must attract the customer’s interest in the first ten to fifteen seconds of the phone call. Engage the customer in a friendly conversation so that you can build trust and establish polite inquiry as to the person’s state of mind. Open with something casual like “How are you today?” Do not attempt to launch into the sales pitch until you get the customer talking and feeling positive about your intentions.

When the customer first picks up the phone, speak slowly and clearly. Sound upbeat without losing your focus. Remember, too, that the customer’s natural tendency, right off the bat, will be to say “no, thanks.” You need to get past this response quickly and pique the customer’s interest before he or she hangs up. Once you have the attention of a target customer, you can follow the telemarketing script for the product or service you are selling.