“A Nice Overview Of Available Options.“
– Bill Kerth, Movere Teleservices
The following article appears in, Approved Index
SMEs looking to employ great telemarketing should consider these options
When it comes to marketing, one of the oldest and most effective methods of alerting customers to your services or products is telemarketing. By contacting the customer directly, it is possible to offer a more personalised form of advertising.
This can be particularly vital for smaller B2B operations, as it offers greater access to a larger customer base and means you can tailor your approach and alter the message to fit a prospect’s needs better.
The main downfall with telemarketing for small companies is the time and manpower it takes to carry it out. This has led to an increase in the popularity of outsourcing telemarketing operations.
Types of Telemarketing for Small Businesses
There are two main forms of telemarketing, outbound and inbound, and both have many methods of being carried out.
Inbound telemarketing covers the calls coming into the business and focuses on listening to the customer’s needs and providing solutions, whilst outbound telemarketing requires cold or warm leads and involves calling potential customers in order to try to sell them a product of service.
The Benefits of Outsourcing Telemarketing
There are many benefits to small businesses wishing to outsource their B2B telemarketing operations.
Outbound Telemarketing
For outbound telemarketing, you can gain the opportunity to make business communications simpler. By having calls directed to a dedicated third party service, who are not rushed or busy with other tasks relating to your business, you can save your own team’s valuable time whilst also additionally benefiting from the telemarketers up-selling add-ons and building relationships for you with prospects.
This also means that calls can be documented fully and any issues can be directed to the best suited person within the business, who will have more time to provide a solution as they will not be answering queries for other departments.
Inbound Telemarketing
Having a dedicated inbound telemarketing team can lead to increased sales, alongside an increased customer base, as your clients learn that you are professional in handling customer queries and your reputation grows. Issues can be dealt with in a practical and timely manner which helps build customer trust and encourages prospects that you are a worthy partner to do business with.
How Outsourced Telemarketing is Delivered
There are many forms of outsourced telemarketing, including pay-per-lead or pay-per-appointment, which are not widely offered, but can be very lucrative if they are found, since you only need to pay for calls that generate interested clients, whilst calls that lead nowhere cost you nothing.
However, many outsourced B2B telesales companies are understandably reluctant to offer this service, due to the high cost risks associated with them. Those companies that do offer this service are likely to be very selective about the sort of clients they choose to work with, preferring those with high sales figures and a very desirable product or service.
Pay-per-lead
This method often results in higher lead generation numbers and is beneficial to small businesses as they are directly paying for interested customers. However, the responsibility of converting those interested into paying and loyal customers rests on the business itself, so profit is not guaranteed and the sales approach of the business will need to be polished to make the conversion a success.
Pay-per-hour or per-month
This is the more common process for telemarketing companies, though it is important when selecting a telemarketing company to carry out B2B telesales activities, that they offer a targeted sales technique rather than a catch-all approach, as this will result in higher conversion rates and less wasted investment.
Paying for time with a telemarketing company can carry large risks, as your small business will have to pay for the time taken making calls, even if no leads or appointments are generated, which leads to a loss of investment. However, when calls seem to be failing consistently, it can be a sign that the sales approach needs to change, or may indicate that the business needs to reassess its target market or USP.
How Can Businesses Ensure Success Through Telemarketing?
There is no sure-fire way to ensure the success of a telemarketing campaign, but there are steps that your small business can take in order to give your campaign the best opportunity to succeed.
Training and briefs
The company chosen to undertake the campaign should be willing to adopt your sales approach and company personality in order to provide a streamlined and familiar experience to the customer.
Researching the telesales company
You need to be completely sure that you’re entrusting a campaign to a company you can trust and work alongside; this may include the ethical treatment of their staff, their method of working, whether they use scripts or prefer a natural approach to sales as well as how they source their contacts and leads.
Small businesses simply do not have the time or people to carry out their own dedicated, professional telemarketing campaign and this has led to an increase in outsourced telemarketing companies, therefore businesses searching for an outsourced telemarketing company are able to take their time when finding the most suitable telemarketing company for their needs.
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