21/06/2009 by Stephen Law.

This article is written for those of you thinking about using telemarketing to find new customers.  Without sales, no business can survive and prosper; but how do we find potential customers in the first place?  There are many routes to market, but this article discusses the classic use of telemarketing to achieve the objective of lead generation and sales opportunity creation. 

You may be asking yourself at this point “what is the difference between ‘lead generation’ and ‘sales opportunity creation’.  The two terms sound very similar, but the difference starts right at the beginning of the sales process.  Choosing the right approach could make all the difference to succeeding or failing in finding the right customers.  Please note - BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR - IF THE BEST TELEMARKETING PROVIDES THE BEST RETURN ON INVESTMENT, THEN THE BEST ACTUALLY COSTS LESS.

Though few people have visited a Call Centre, most people have a fairly good idea what goes on there.  Anywhere between 30 and 250 people are sat at desks, generally being fed calls by a computer queuing system - where they read scripts from screens.  This is the base end of telemarketing lead generation.  The calibre of the staff ranges from low to medium.  So in terms of lead generation, the Call Centre staff are led by those who design the campaign and write the scripts for them.  So let’s first take a look at what most people think of lead generation via a Call Centre.

Because a certain number of people are allotted to a campaign at a Call Centre and the campaign has to book these seats, getting the sales message correct at the start is crucial.  You need to remember that for a Call Centre, it is either the customer or the manager at the Call Centre who will devise and write the scripts for the callers for lead generation.  The first basic difference between lead generation and sales opportunity creation starts here. 

The Call Centre manager may not know who will be making the calls, so a script is devised to aim at the lowest common denominator.  Such a script can rarely take in to account any individual methods and must be a “one size fits all” script.  It’s not surprising that Call Centre lead generation sounds somewhat ‘robotic’.  Therefore, logically the Call Centre approach to lead generation often uses a ‘scatter-gun’ approach, on the basis that if you make enough calls you should find enough interested people.

If you think about all this carefully, you can start to see why Call Centre lead generation works for some companies but fails miserably for others.  If a Call Centre relies on the ‘throw enough mud and some will stick’ approach to lead generation, then logically they will need to buy enough data for your campaign.  If you’re selling something like mobile phones to end users, then you can see why a Call Centre lead generation approach will work in such a saturated market.  On the other hand, if you are selling Consultative Expertise then you can see why your chances of succeeding via Call Centre lead generation suddenly begin to dissipate.  In other words, if you are selling something that requires a dialogue with an intelligent buyer, you need to move away from the standard Call Centre lead generation approach and adopt the approach of sales opportunity creation.

Sales opportunity creation is a form of lead generation that takes a ‘laser-guided sniper’ approach to a campaign rather than the Call Centre ‘scatter-gun’ approach.  I use the ‘laser-guided’ analogy because this form of lead generation begins with very careful targeting.  To use the military analogy further for your sales campaign, you will generally hire a very small number of ‘special forces’ (better known as Consultative Telemarketing people) as opposed to a large number of ‘conscripts’ (Call Centre staff).  Instead of the Call Centre ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to lead generation, the Consultative Telemarketing person will create a ‘pitch’ instead of a ‘script’.  The pitch will be matched to a carefully selected database that the expert will build for you or work with you to produce.  Sales opportunity creation is a business development approach that uses a high-calibre telemarketing person.  This form of lead generation is geared towards medium to high level decision makers with larger budgets.  This approach is far more suited to new markets, new technologies, niche offerings and specialist skills provided.

To summarise, if you have a product in a saturated market place that takes little or no explanation of what your product does, then use Call Centre lead generation.  If your product or service is a complex or specialist offering, then your lead generation requires a sales opportunity creation approach - using a high-calibre consultative telemarketing person.

If you are in any doubt, I offer high-calibre consultative telemarketing for lead generation.   I’m happy to explain the difference if you need further help – call 0870 042 1263.

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15/06/2009 by Stephen Law.

Choosing the right people to help you with Telemarketing can be a mission critical decision for your business.  Do you employee a team, outsource to an agency or hire a freelancer?  Without sales no business can survive, so choosing the best Telemarketing people is vitally important.  The problem is how to arrive at that decision.  I will explain how to sort out the wheat from the chaff – who are the best Telemarketing people and who is bluffing you. 

There are those of us in this world who are willing to learn from others and those of us who have to try something ourselves first before we truly understand.  Any adult knows that if you put your fingers in a fire, you will burn your fingers.  Unfortunately, I receive calls from potential customers every week, telling me how they just had their fingers burnt by not hiring the best Telemarketing people.  So for those who’ve had their fingers burnt, or for those of you who don’t need to experience pain before learning – here is how to choose the best Telemarketing.

It’s a sad fact (recognised by all the best Human Resources Directors) that about 90% of people tell lies on their CV and provide references that are not worth the paper they are written on.  In fact, legislation makes it very difficult for a former employer to say anything bad about a former employee.  Likewise, it’s so simple these days to set up a business.  So how difficult is it for a dodgy Telemarketing company to ask their friend to supply a reference from their small business?  So the first hint on finding the best Telemarketing people is to be wary about a CV and to be wary about a reference.  Remember, you’re buying someone’s telephone skills not a piece of paper – so make your judgement when they talk to you on the telephone and not based upon pieces of paper they give you.

Firstly, you need to think clearly about your objectives and what you are trying to achieve by hiring the best Telemarketing people.  Unless you are conducting market research, then surely your objective is to meet up with prospective buyers of your product or service?  This may sound obvious, but let’s see how the bluffers can fool you.

Your objective is not to make the telemarketing people wealthy or help them to employ as many people as possible.  Your objective is to provide you with a good Return on Investment by hiring the best Telemarketing people.  So if a bluffer talks about how many people they have in their team, why would you care?  If the best Telemarketing person can outperform a whole team of juniors, then be wary when someone talks about the size of their telemarketing team.  Quality is the first factor that differentiates the best telemarketing from the rest, not quantity.

Of course we all need some kind of markers to identify success, when we try to measure the best Telemarketing.  But be wary of the bluffer who starts spouting endless metrics.  If the best Telemarketing person made you one appointment that resulted in a deal worth a significant value, would you trade that for 50 appointments that resulted in no business?  If the best Telemarketing person spent hours researching that one call that was worth a significant value, would you trade that for 1000 calls that brought you no business?  So when the bluffer talks about how many calls they will make instead of discussing your objectives, let this sound an alarm bell in your head.

The final point on How to Choose the Best Telemarketing person has to boil down to charisma and charm at the end of the day.  As an expert in my field, I receive a number of phone calls each week from ‘would-be’ telemarketers seeking help and guidance.  Some are good and I try to steer in them in the right direction.  Recently I received a call from the most boring person I’ve spoken to in years, who whined on about not being able to get work – being depressing on the phone does not win business.  The best telemarketing person is someone who can grab your attention without being aggressive.  You need someone who makes you want to talk more because they’re asking you all the right questions.  To choose the best telemarketing person – always ask yourself, “would I buy from this person”?   There’s an old saying that “People Buy People”.  It doesn’t matter if your selling aircraft parts or accountancy services, people buy from people they like.

Of course if you really want to know How to Choose the Best Telemarketing person, simply call me on 0870 042 1263 – If I’m fully booked, I’ll find you the next best person to help you.

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