Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Telemarketing: Your Business' Conduit for Optimum Growth

Telemarketing (also known as telesales in the UK and other parts of the world) is a form of direct marketing which involves the use of specialized phone marketing skills by salespeople for the purpose of impelling current and potential customers to purchase a service or a product. Telemarketing is a great way to make direct telephone transactions with customers or schedule in-person sales appointments with prospects.

Telemarketing can be carried out from an organization’s premises, from an outbound call center or from any other conducive location. In order to implement an efficient telemarketing project, a modern telephone system is required. Most of today’s telemarketing firms use phone technologies like auto-dialers and predictive dialers to facilitate phone marketing operations. Others use automated telemarketing which does not require live operators.

The initial calls made by telemarketers should be aimed at determining the demands and needs of customers or prospects. The next outbound calls can be made for the purpose of setting face-to-face or webinar appointments. After these things are accomplished, the succeeding calls can be done for retaining customers or satisfaction surveys.

Telemarketing success can be achieved by systematically identifying prospective clients who may have a legitimate need for a service or product. Businesses can also tap into customer databases which may contain purchase histories or profiles. They can also derive information from market research data or survey reports. Companies may use telephone directories, online business directories or outsource lead generation services. For large enterprises, marketing consultancy can help in obtaining significant information for prospecting purposes.

Below are some recommendations in order for businesses to yield the benefits of telemarketing :

• Telemarketers should exercise professional conduct in cold-calling customers or prospects. They should have the necessary skills to turn each phone call into a buying opportunity. It is important for them to contact prospects at a timely manner. They must observe courtesy when requesting permission from customers to talk about product specifics.

• Telemarketing calls should be used strictly for introducing products and strengthening advertising message or to support other marketing agendas. Telemarketing is designed to generate new business and maintain current ones. It should never be used to manipulate, intimidate, harass or trick people into shady deals.

• Companies and service providers should develop call guides to help sales agents to be effective callers. Scripts must be continuously enhanced to suit a campaign's objectives and telemarketers must familiarize themselves with what to say as opposed to reading the script during a call.

• Telemarketers should have a broad knowledge about the service or product they are marketing to make sure that all customer queries or concerns are answered or addressed properly.

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