Sales - Telemarketing
Ask Bob

Ask Bob About Telemarketing

Generally, for business-to-business telemarketing, it is recommended that you send a simple letter, a flyer, and perhaps even a product sample before you place a sales call.

If you are selling a relatively expensive product or service to consumers you should also send a letter or flyer before calling. If you are selling a less expensive product or service to consumers you may want to experiment. Test your sales results with a pretelemarketing direct mail letter versus cold calling.

Sending announcements prior to phoning is least important when you are selling a brand-name product or a product or service that is easily described over the phone. It is also less important if the product or service that you are selling is relatively inexpensive.

?Where can I get lists of good prospects?
For local businesses, an obvious place to start is with the phone book. You might also consider approaching local trade or special-interest groups to see if they make their lists available for sales use. They may require that you offer their members a special discount.

Other sources are the mailing lists of magazine subscribers or business lists compiled by mailing-list brokers. Most mailing lists are available in very small quantities and may be ordered with special selections by state, zip code, or business size, for instance. There are also all types of business and manufacturing directories available through your local library that would enable you to compile your own appropriate list of contacts.

?If I'm making my own calls, how can I motivate myself to place the calls?
Everyone has some degree of difficulty staying motivated to make many calls. Consider trying to call a certain number of prospects first thing each day. Or you might set aside an hour or two to make as many calls as you can.

More so than face-to-face selling, telemarketing can quickly get repetitive and boring. Try to call for shorter periods of time over a number of days.

?How can I prevent my neck from hurting?
After even a couple of hours on the phone, you can develop a sore neck if you tend to cradle the phone between your shoulder and your head. The best solution is to get a headphone from your local electronics store. There are also pads that attach to the phone and decrease the angle you maintain between your head and shoulder to prevent the phone from dropping. This is a cheap solution, but also less effective.

?When is the best time to call people?
Try calling at different times of the day to determine what works best for you and your product.

With the increase in two-income families and individuals working more than one job, it can be difficult to find prospects at home. If you reach your prospects just after they have come home, they are less inclined to want to bother with a sales call. If you call late, they may feel you are intruding on their privacy. It's tough. Keep trying for the right balance.

When calling business-to-business, calling during business hours obviously makes sense. But try to avoid Mondays. Monday is usually a very busy day. The best day to call seems to be Friday. People tend to be in better moods as they look forward to their weekends.

?Should I wait for prospects to call me back?
Prospects who offer to call you back if they are interested in your product are telling you one of two things. They might be politely informing you that they have absolutely no interest in your product. Or they might want to consider the product without any pressure. Unfortunately, it is often difficult for a telemarketer to determine which tack the prospect is taking and whether or not there is any potential for a future sale.

If you believe the prospect is showing some interest in your product, but you are certain that you can't close the sale during this particular call, offer to make a follow-up call yourself. End the conversation with "Tell you what? I'll call you back in a week. That will give you some time to think about it." Otherwise, even if the prospect really does have some interest in your product, chances are that he or she won't call back.