Telemarketing can really boost your profits and increase sales for your business. If you aren’t already utilizing telemarketing within your business then now is the perfect time to look into adding telemarketing into the mix to ensure better results for your business.
Is telemarketing expensive?
Telemarketing can be very expensive, but it depends how you go about it. Conducting in house telemarketing is generally the biggest expense. Set up, hiring of staff and telco all add up quite quickly.
The best bet for those of you looking for a hassle free way to incorporate telemarketing to your business would be to look for telemarketing companies such who are inexpensive, experienced and also offer a replacement policy. They should allow you to pay per hour or per lead whichever would work best for your business model. You do however need to be prepared to pay upfront if you want a high quality job completed. If you’re on a budget work out how much you’re looking to spend per week and then stick to that and grow your telemarketing campaign as your business grows. Most marketing companies will be willing to work with your budget and help you grow since it will also benefit their business.
To give you some idea, some Australian based telemarketing companies charge as little as $25 per hour per agent, from $25 per sales lead or from $33 per appointment. They can offer these affordable rates due to their special telco rates and experienced staff. So ensure you don’t get stuck with high rates, shop around and see if companies can beat other quoted rates!
How will telemarketing increase profits for my business?
As business owners we all know that fresh leads are a vital part of increasing sales and profits for your business. Telemarketing is the perfect way to ensure you have a consistent supply of hot sales leads, appointments etc.
One thing you should realize however is that leads are leads… whether they’re generated online, through word of mouth, via television, radio or telemarketing not every single lead will close, it is simply an opportunity for your business to present it’s products and services to an interested party.
So therefore it is important to ensure that the leads you’re bringing in from telemarketing will be correctly utilized and not expected to turn into instant sales. You must remember that telemarketing is a form of advertising your business rather than direct sales and you need to be patient with the progress of the leads and utilize them properly.
How can I utilize the leads or appointments properly?
Firstly you need a high quality sales team. If you already have one then you need to ensure that they understand exactly what a lead is, its not a closed sale… that is their job as sales people to close the prospect. It is simply a lead of someone who has expressed interest in your products or services.
Pick the correct qualifying questions. Many businesses dont put enough effort into the qualifying questions they select for their product or service. This is the most important task in setting up your telemarketing for your business. In order for it to be successful you need to ensure that the questions meet up with the end result you expect.
A great way for you to ensure you have covered everything you need in your qualifying questions is to run it by your sales team before submitting it to the telemarketing team. Your sales team will be the first to complain about leads so their input here should make for a more productive experience.
You need to ensure that leads or appointments are not being wasted. Sometimes sales people get lazy and they want to simply call a lead or visit an appointment and have them fall into their lap as a sale then and there. But unfortunately not every lead or appointment will be that easy. Sales teams need to be watched carefully by you as to how they’re utilizing the leads and appointments, are they giving follow up calls when the potential customer asks? Are they re-scheduling any appointment which cant be kept? Do they know the status of each lead or appointment they’re working on? These things are all important for the benefit of your business. Too often do I see sales leads being sent back for silly reasons such as “This customer had a family emergency and needs to re-shedule appointment” In this instance the sales person should be embracing this as a future appointment, there is already a sense of rapport being built and some information on the potential customer. This doesn’t mean it is a bad lead, and could in fact prove to be a much easier lead to close in the future than most due to the level of rapport being built.
Bottom line is you need to be tough on your sales team, scrutinize their work and whatever leads you believe weren’t properly qualified to the standard you were promised based on your qualifying questions should be returned and replaced by your selected telemarketing company.
How long will it take to start seeing profits from telemarketing?
It all depends on the progress of your campaign, sometimes telemarketing is a working progress so you should not expect dramatic results quickly. You need to work hand in hand with the telemarketing company you have selected to ensure the success of your telemarketing campaign and to see positive results. Sometimes you will need to alter qualifying questions in order to get the best results, this can sometimes be a learning process for both parties.
Usually things will run much smoother if you’re dealing with a company who has experience in telemarketing for your industry, product or service. Especially if you yourself are not 100% sure on what qualifying questions will work best.
Telemarketing companies can also provide insight as to what qualifying questions should be included if you give them detailed information on your product or service as well as what results you’re looking for and your sales process.
Generally if you begin your campaign with all the correct qualifying questions then you can easily begin making profits as soon as the leads or appointments are worked on by your sales team. This could be as quick as one week!
Does telemarketing have other benefits besides generating sales leads and appointments for my business?
Of course it does! Any marketing that is actively getting your business name and details out there will certainly have other benefits for your business and it is important to monitor this and to ensure you are getting the best value for your buck when investing in telemarketing services.
Don’t just look at telemarketing as a lead generation service or appointment setting service that will generate you just the leads or appointments you’re paying for. Maximize it!!!! Allow telemarketing agents to give out your website or business details to those who don’t exactly qualify or aren’t available for an appointment right now.
Not only will this increase traffic to your website but it will also provide you with future business and will expose your business to many people every single day! Most telemarketing agents are capable of making upto 400 connected calls daily, so why not share your business with as many of those potential customers as possible. The person they speak to may also know other people who are interested in your products and/or services as well.
Is telemarketing the only marketing I need for my business?
If you’re just starting out then telemarketing is definitely a great place to start, it is fast, effective and will definitely increase profits for your business and allow your business to grow.
But like any marketing technique for your business the more the merrier as long as they work that is. Combining your telemarketing services with things such as an online presence, sms marketing, email marketing, advertising through radio, newspapers or television, billboard advertising, and much more would only bring more exposure and business your way.
Like any marketing strategy you need to see if it will work in with your t