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 type of business and how you like things run.

All in all telemarketing will definatley do positive things for your business when it is done correctly. So if you’re looking to add telemarketing to your business plan then get in touch with an experienced telemarketing company today and begin working towards boosting profits for your business!

Telemarketing has emerged as a popular and effective marketing tool. More and more companies are adopting this method owing to the quicker responses received. Companies often outsource their telemarketing services to third party telemarketing firms. The outsourcing enables the companies to concentrate on their core activities, while the telemarketing firms handle the telemarketing services. One of the advantages of utilizing the services of professional telemarketing firms is their expertise in handling a wide range of customers. Outsourcing telemarketing services generally proves to be a wise business decision.

Telemarketing can be broadly classified into inbound telemarketing and outbound telemarketing. A standard firm offering telemarketing services deals with both these kinds of marketing. Telemarketing firms also offer other services such as business-to-business telemarketing, business-to-consumer telemarketing, and automated telemarketing. Some specialized telemarketing services include voice broadcasting, sales lead generation, answering service, appointment fixing, order processing, and sales report generation. These services are provided at a cost effective and reliable manner. Telemarketing can be outsourced for better results and professional services. The outsourcing of telemarketing services has now emerged as a key component in a company’s sales initiatives.

Third-party telemarketing firms usually have tie-ups with numerous companies for selling their diverse range of products and services. The expertise gained in dealing with a diverse customer base can be utilized effectively for telemarketing at different regions with different ethnic populations. Some customers complain that marketing calls are a pestering problem. They enlist themselves into some state or federal do-not-call lists. It is a serious offence to call these customers for any commercial or marketing purposes. The telemarketing firms therefore maintain do-not-call lists in their databases.

With technological advancement and the influx of modern communication channels, the communication gap between people has ended in a dramatic manner. Today, the meteoric growth in mobile apps and smart phones has changed the face of modern business environment and the way consumers conduct business with an enterprise. Modern customers can easily get in touch with businesses anywhere, anytime. Thanks to the multi-channel environment that makes things quite easy for customers to get access to businesses. Remember: An omni-channel experience conveniently enhances the customer journey and serves as a differentiator in order to make customers feel happy and satisfied and give business enterprises an edge.An omni-channel is known for rendering customers a consistent and high-quality experience. It is a great tool to get connected regardless of how and where customers choose to interact. Moreover, omni-channel can make a real difference for the following:
To ensure that data and context from initial contact carries over to subsequent channels
To reduce customer effort
To improve the customer interaction
To enable the business to improve the customer journey.
That is why call centers need to be equipped with modern communication tools and techniques that make a better interaction and allow customers get connected to the contact centers 24/7.Like the omni-channel environment, workforce optimization can also be a great differentiator. It is nothing but the call center workforce that makes things happen and gives customers what they want and expect. As call centers are becoming the ‘face’ of the organization, the responsibility of the workforce becomes more important. Being the first touch-point for the customer, workforce puts a significant impact on the customers’ perception of your business. The workforce is also the mainstay of any call center and it generally accounts for 2/3rd of the operational costs. That is why call centers of all sizes and type need to put their focus on a well implemented Workforce Optimization (WFO) program that not only brings down cost-to-serve but also effectively improves overall productivity.To lead the market and offer customers their choice output, telemarketing call centers need to increase their focus on customer experience as it will allow them to reduce costs, time to market, and gain prominence in the least amount of time.If you are an outsourcing company and want to hire the best call center that can make a real difference to your businesses, then you must go for a leading name that prefers workforce optimization and multichannel environment in order to overcome all expectations.

Every year, a survey is published that lists the nation’s best occupations as perceived by the general public. Supreme Court Justices appear in the top ranks, and as you might expect, surgeons make the cut–but why not telemarketers?Before you dismiss the idea, consider this fact: Many of the most accomplished people in business today got to where they are because they learned to Reach Out & Sell Someone®.For instance, billionaire David Geffen, fresh out of the mail room at the prestigious William Morris Agency in Beverly Hills, made as many as 300 calls a day to build his portfolio of clients. One thing led to another, and this powerful mogul, founder of Geffen Records and partner in Dreamworks Studios, rose to the very top.Of course, telemarketing wears many disguises and uses various names. Stockbrokers and financial advisors are phone-folks, developing their books of business this way. In fact, if you look at many successful people across the economy, one of their greatest strengths is the ability to project their influence over the phone.Here are ten reasons I believe telemarketing is a great job:1. You can find work, fast, in nearly every city, in any economy, good or bad.2. It’s a great place to start your career, because you don’t need a lot of formal education or experience to qualify.3. You can do it part-time, while you pursue your studies, parenting, your real passion, semi-retirement, or another career.4. Depending upon the compensation package in effect, you can earn full-time money for part-time work.5. You’ll learn to communicate with different kinds of people and meet and converse with more individuals in a year than most interact with in a lifetime.6. You’ll learn what selling, and practical persuasion skills are all about.7. The techniques you’ll learn will be easily transferable to other occupations and careers.8. You’ll have to deal with and overcome rejection, which is an ability that will take you far in life. (See my article: “Thanks For The Rejection!”)9. Your contributions will be objectively measured and compensated, unlike in many other jobs.10. You’ll succeed where most fail, and many fear to tread, and this will make you a very unique and rare individual.I began my business life as a full-time collector for a finance company. Then, I graduated to outbound telemarketing for Time-Life Books, which promoted me to sales management, and then I
launched a consulting career over the phone.So, the next time I want to build my portfolio of clients, establish strategic relations with other firms, or sell my
latest bestseller to a major publisher, guess what tool I’m going to use!Dr. Gary S. Goodman © 2005