16/07/2008 by Stephen Law.

Let’s face it, most people hate undertaking telemarketing or telesales themselves. But there is a huge difference in the telemarketing industry between what is known as - Consultative Telemarketing - and using the services of a Call Centre. I’ll explain the difference and show you how to get the best results from Telemarketing.

I don’t remember anyone at school, college or University teaching me how to use a telephone. The telephone is one of those every day tools, that is so familiar to us all, that we simply assume that everyone knows how to use it effectively. I’m not necessarily talking about how to dial a number or pick up the receiver. I’m talking about effectively communicating with another person on the telephone.

We’ve all chuckled seeing Grandparents call long-distance and YELL down the phone - as if their voice has to be loud enough to reach us 100s of miles away. But it’s quite common to call a major corporation or government office, only to be met by a feint murmur from the receptionist - or worse still - a receptionist SHOUTING at you. These people are paid good money to represent their organisation every day - yet if they are unable to answer an incoming call effectively, then think how many more skills are required to sell a concept or product via telephone?

Telemarketing is like any other industry - there is the high end and the low end. We all hear about football stars and their glamorous lifesytles, but for every high-profile professional there are literally millions of amateurs out there. The difference in the telemarketing industry, is that the fame (or rather infamy) generally goes to the millions of amateurs rather than the professionals.

How often has your evening meal been disturbed by someone trying to sell you a mobile phone package? Just when you wanted to settle down for the evening - you receive a call from someone who can barely speak or understand English. Worse still, you might recieve an automated message where a voice recording simply spews out nonsense - from a robot that cannot even talk back to you! This is a million miles away from Consultative Telemarketing.

So why is it that corporations large and small always come back to telemarketing? If the industry is so awful, then why use telemarketing at all? The simple answer is that when used correctly, telemarketing is probably the fastest method to increase sales. To use the football analogy again, do you think a premier league manager would ask his next-door neighbour’s grossly overweight lad to play in the next match - just because he’s available and cheap? The obvious answer, is that anyone of sane mind would hunt around for the best person and not simply take on the first person available. There is only one winner in a football final and there is only one winner in business. There is no second prize if you don’t win a sale!

So this brings me on to discussing Freelance Telemarketing. Are all Freelance Telemarketing people better than using a Call Centre? The simple answer is NO! It’s really about deciding whether the product you are trying to sell requires the ‘consultative telemarketing‘ approach or not. If you are in an industry of ‘pile em high - sell em cheap’ - then by all means find a really low-end call centre in Mumbai - personally I think you’d get better results from direct mail or advertising - and less animosity from your customer database.

If you are serious about your offering - you have something interesting to sell, that requires explaining a concept to intelligent people - then you must seriously consider using a freelance telemarketing person or team. I’m not saying there aren’t any decent Call Centres out there - but on the whole they’re populated by people who work there as a stop gap between jobs.

So what makes a Freelance Telemarketer different? At the beginning, I told you how I was never taught to use a telephone at school, college or University. I also spoke about how most people don’t like undertaking telemarketing themselves. Due to the infamy of the low-end telemarketers - the industry has a bad name. If your son or daughter anounced one day that they were going to become a doctor, and spend years training to be the best doctor - you would probably be elated. By the same token, if your son or daughter anounced taht they were going to spend years training to become the best freelance telemarketing expert - would you be quite so happy?

Ask any Managing Director who built a business from scratch, whether he began by calling companies to do business with them. Most MD’s started by begrudgingly picking up that telephone and making calls. The funny thing is, that those calls probably put them on a road to wealth, more than any other thing they did. So it’s really all about perception. We know that telemarketing is important. We know it can be the difference between success or failure of an enterprise - but with such a bad rep’ - are you beginning to see why few people take up consultative telemarketing as a serious profession?

A freelance telemarketing expert (like me) has probably studied sales psychology, rapid-learning techniques, opening and closing skills, etc, etc. They’ve probably spent years learning their trade - and here’s the major point - they like it! I love telemarketing, and the more high-tech and complex the offering, the more I enjoy it. So the first question you need to ask, when searching for a freelance telemarketing expert is - “do you enjoy what you do?”

We all have our good days and bad days. But if you seriously believe that any professional footballer is only in it for the money - then please don’t ever call me about telemarketing. We all need to earn a living, but you will never get professional results from someone who has no passion for their work. Choose the best, choose someone who is passionate about their work - choose SL-Freelance.

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16/07/2008 by Stephen Law.

Welcome to my blog page for Freelance Telemarketing. My name is Stephen Law, and I am a freelance telemarketing expert. If you are interested in the world of Freelance Telemarketing, perhaps you would like to visit my website at www.sl-freelance.co.uk or call me for a chat on 0870 042 1263.

I’ve been in sales / marketing / business development now for about 25 years. I started out on the telephone making appointments in the 1980s and worked my way up to Executive Director of a number of technology-based SMEs. I was also an Honorary Director of LCDA in London for a number of years - a business training centre, where I advised on general business matters - especially sales. I’ve come full-circle in the last few years - returning to the part of business development I enjoy the most - Telemarketing!

Telemarketing is not everyone’s cup of tea. In fact most people hate having to do it. Hiring an employee to take on this work is very expensive, if you want someone half decent; and often cost-prohibitive if you want to employ a full-time expert.

After many years running sales teams, I realised there was a gap in the market for the Telemarketing Freelance expert. Three years ago when I began, I was fully booked within a matter of weeks - due to my rapid ROI for customers and excellent rates. Over the years, I have built up a network of like-minded people who love telemarketing and work remotely to keep the cost affordable.

There is no doubt that freelance telemarketing is the fastest route to creating sales opportunities - when you use choose the right people for your project. My clients generally find that I bring them more business working one day per week, than a fortnight of work from a junior employee or a call centre. In a nutshell - there’s is nothing like experience - and I can offer you plenty of that.

I look forward to talking to you soon - Stephen Law - 0870 042 1263 - SL-Freelance.

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