The Small Business Encyclopedia defines Telemarketing as the “use of the telephone to market goods and services directly to prospective customers.” In this instance, one will find ‘Mr. Telemarketer’ or ‘Mrs. Telemarketer’ at home, at the office or at a call center place a call to ‘Potential client A’ with the ultimate intent of influencing ‘Potential client A’ to make a purchase decision.
In the world of telemarketing, there is such a thing as cold calling. This is where the telemarketer places a call to a prospect usually for the first time with the primary intent of introducing himself or herself and business (goods and services) to the prospect. Many telemarketer dread cold calling.
The stark reality is that telemarketers can sometimes be seen as a nuisance and consequently given the rude treatment. This serves as a drawback to telemarketing success. It is not uncommon for telemarketers to place several calls to many prospects and yet never make a single sale. This thing called telemarketing can sometimes be a nightmare for some practitioners. The odds notwithstanding, there are those who thrive. There are telemarketers who make great sales and who earn lots of money as a result. Lessons may be gleaned from their experience by the host of telemarketers who never seem to make a head way. Below are tips for telemarketing success.
1. Learn from those who are living the dream
If you are telemarketer but finding the terrain extremely rough and frustrating, it will do you some good to make contact with colleagues, superiors or other telemarketers you know to learn as much as you can from them. Learn from their wealth of knowledge and experiences and implement those valuable lessons in the pursuit of your telemarketing career. If you do what the top telemarketers do, you will get the same results they get overtime. Such wealth of knowledge may also be obtained from books, tapes and other telemarketing online resources.
2. Have a positive mental attitude
Have a positive mental attitude. Believe in yourself and your capabilities; believe that you can succeed as a telemarketer. Such a belief will propel you to give off your best and to find creative ways to thrive in the pursuit of your telemarketing career. Of cause, if others have succeeded, you sure can, in spites of the odds.
3. Plan before placing a call
Planning is crucial and non-negotiable if you are to achieve great results as a telemarketer; this is especially the case prior to placing the call (cold calling). You simply cannot call without prior adequate preparation. In planning, consideration ought to be given to obtaining the right list of prospects, determining the best time frames for calling, knowing when to instigate the first call and preparing a sales script that will serve as a guide.
4. Be clear about what is and what isn`t your target market
If the company you work with is into the sales of domestic generators, you will be making a big mistake if all you do is place calls to business corporations; it will be an exercise in futility to do so. You would need to get the list of ‘domestic’ contacts and place calls to such prospects. By the very nature of your products (domestic generators, in this instance), home owners and the likes are your target markets.
5. Call at the right time
You do not place calls to prospects during midnight hours or at dawn for instance. This can easily put the prospect off. You would be lucky if you do not get the rude treatment from your prospect. If you are calling an office line for instance, you are likely to lose your contact if you place a call after office hours. Get your time frames right and also the season. You will be making a mistake should you try placing calls to prospects let`s say in February with the intent of selling to them Christmas hampers. The season is obviously not right. You may perhaps initiate your first call somewhere around November. I hope you get the drift.
6. Prepare sales scripts ahead
Your sales script is critical and requires careful and thorough preparation. Prepare a sales script ahead of time. Write down what you are going to say, what responses the prospect is likely to have and how you will reply to them. You should of cause be armed with thorough knowledge about the company you represent and the product or service you intend to sell to your prospects.
7. Excellent phone manners are essential
Place the call and sound confident, yet warm and friendly. If you are usually nervous prior to cold calling, you could practice alone for a while. Relax and muster all the confidence you can before placing the call. You should never sound nervous while speaking with a prospect. It will tell on your voice and communication. The call should usually not take more than five minutes per prospect. You greet warmly, introduce yourself, your product or service and be willing to answer any question the prospect may have about your product or service offering.
8. Prepare for objections
Some prospects may give you the rude treatment when you place a call but keep your cool. Objections may be raised but never let it ruffle your feathers. These objections should be seen as opportunities to proffer convincing responses in a calm and respectful manner. It has been noted that some of those who come up with objections are indeed the very ones who may be interested in the product or service on offer. Your well packaged responses to objections may well generate a sale.
9. Remain optimistic whether or not you make a sale
For some prospects, you may have to make a series of calls before a purchase decision is ultimately made. Never give up. Other prospects will simply let you know they are not interested in purchasing your product or service. It`s critical to know when to it is time to move on to the next call. This should not be allowed to break your morale. That some prospects refused to make a purchase certainly does not mean all prospects will do so. With determination, optimism and hard work you will certainly thrive. To your telemarketing success!
Author: Daniel Dela Dunoo (Freelance writer/editor, blogger, published author)
Email: dudelda3@yahoo.com / danieldeladunoo@gmail.com
Blog: http://danieldeladunoo.blogspot.com
