You (or a good agency) can achieve a better than 10% success rate for, say, following up on mailshots, and up to 50% or higher for booking appointments or arranging open days. Telesales calls to businesses are generally more successful than to individual consumers.
Telemarketing offers a way of reaching prospects and customers, without the impracticality of visiting them to meet face-to-face. It can hit high numbers of contacts and save both time and money.
However, telemarketing also has some inherent disadvantages. You cannot see the impact you are having on the other person, nor can you be certain if you have their interest or their full attention. Call recipients also find it easier to cut you off than if you were physically in front of them. Even so, the business world can still use telesales to great effect.
It is possible to make first time sales over the telephone, but success might depend on how well-known or easy-to-understand the offering is. However, telesales can work very well when it comes to making initial contact, keeping a customer informed, and encouraging repeat sales.
Questions to consider:
- What do you want to achieve from your campaign?
- How will your campaign benefit your customer?
- Are your objectives measurable?
- Are your objectives achievable?
- How, in detail, is your telemarketing agent going to help achieve the objectives?
- Is there a secondary objective to your agent’s call?
- How many dials and decision-making contacts (DMCs) will be required?
- What conversion rates are achievable?
- What quality objectives should you establish, in addition to the financials?
- What valuable customer insight can you collect during the call?
- How will this insight be used to help improve your customer’s experience in future campaigns?
Be clear what you want to achieve when you make contact. It might not always be an immediate sale but could just be an opportunity to provide a quote, send out a brochure or give a presentation.
Telemarketing can perform several useful roles including:
- identifying key personnel at target companies
- gaining appointments for salespeople
- following up on mailshots, exhibition attendance, or potential customers who have responded to advertisements
- researching the potential of a new product or a new sales area
- keeping in touch with existing customers: reminding them of special offers or anniversaries, or checking that they are satisfied
- direct sales of goods which can be sold on a trial, or sale or return, basis