Are you looking for business growth or want to start your career in telemarketing?
You receive those ‘credit card chahie’ calls almost every day! Telemarketing is actually much more than that! Telemarketing can help you and businesses like yours reach out to a large number of people in a short period of time. This has resulted in a growing demand for skilled telemarketers, who can effectively communicate with customers and deliver the desired results.
According to industry reports, approximately 40% of businesses depend on telemarketing for their sales and marketing efforts.
In this blog, we’ll see What telemarketing exactly is. The various types and how you can decide which one is the best for you? Is telemarketing right for your business/career? And what are the deadly telemarketing mistakes that you need to avoid?
So what exactly is telemarketing?
It is a form of marketing that involves making phone calls to potential customers in order to sell products or services. It’s a direct and personal way to connect with potential customers, understand their needs, and provide them with tailored solutions.
Types of telemarketing
Here are the different types of telemarketing and how to decide which one is right for you!
Inbound Telemarketing:
Inbound telemarketing is one prospect who is interested in buying your product or service calls you and asks for details! And it’s your job to explain your product or service and how it’s going to help them. Next, you have to answer their doubts and questions and help them make a decision.
If you are somebody who loves Interacting with people and is good at answering questions and providing solutions then Inbound telemarketing is a good fit for you. Inbound telemarketing requires excellent communication skills, the ability to think on your feet, and the patience to deal with different types of customers.
As a business, inbound telemarketing is ideal if you have a strong online presence and are generating a good number of leads.
Inbound telemarketing allows you to connect with interested customers in real time and answer their questions which makes it an effective way to convert leads into sales.
Outbound telemarketing:
Outbound telemarketing is when you call random strangers and ask them if they are interested in buying your product or service. They may or may not be interested in the product. Your job is to start a conversation and generate interest.
Outbound telemarketing requires different skills compared to Inbound telemarketing. If you are someone who is comfortable making cold calls, you can handle rejections well and you can persistently follow up with potential customers then outbound telemarketing is the right fit for you.
Since outbound telemarketing involves proactively calling potential customers to promote your product or service it is ideal for businesses that are looking to expand their customer base and promote a new product. It can be more challenging than inbound because here you reach out to people who may, or may not be interested in your product or service. But here you get plenty of leads almost for free, so if you are good at persuading people, outbound, calling can act like your gold mine.
Also Read: 4 Effective Strategies to Win at Inbound and Outbound Sales
Appointment setting:
This type of telemarketing is for businesses and people who need a face-to-face or zoom meeting before the deal is closed! Appointment setting allows you to connect with potential customers and set up a meeting where you can discuss your product or service in more detail.
But in order to set up the meeting, first you need to make a call and book an appointment to make sure he’s available to meet with you.
Insurance services and the real estate industry here will be the right fit for you!
If you have the ability to manage your time effectively, and persistence to follow up with prospects timely. And if you can handle rejections well then appointment setting it is!
Lead generation:
Lead generation involves calling potential customers to collect their contact information and generate interest in your product or service. if you are someone who is good at listening, can communicate effectively, and have a relevant database, lead generation allows you to identify potential customers from that data who might be interested in your product to service. Once your filter out the people who are interested, it’s easy to convert them into paying customers.
Is telemarketing the right choice for you?
As an individual looking to start a career in telemarketing, consider your skills and personality traits. Do you have excellent communication skills, the ability to think on your feet, and the patience to deal with different types of customers? Are you comfortable making cold calls, handling rejections, and persistently following up with interested prospects? If so, telemarketing may be the right career choice for you. Because with these skills telemarketing is the one field where you can grow rapidly. Both financially, and as a career option!
There are countless advantages of telemarketing for a business owner as wellIf you are a business owner and are generating leads based on referrals and personal contacts Then you’re always dependent on the next big deal for your business’s survival. That way you can never really run your business smoothly or grow! If you’re stuck in such a situation, telemarketing can become your reliable, consistent source of new leads and business opportunities.
You started your own business as a path to freedom, but it has become a struggle for survival! It’s about time that you get back to the path of dreaming of making a difference! And telemarketing can be the bridge that takes you across this struggle for survival!
Some key industries where telemarketing plays a critical role
- Automobile
- Education
- Real Estate
- Finance
- Healthcare
If you are from one of these industries, and you’re facing the problems that we discussed above. If you’re interested in solving those problems and growing your business, then telemarketing is definitely worth a shot!
What are deadly telemarketing mistakes to avoid?
Lack of market research and prospecting:
One of the biggest mistakes you can make is not conducting proper market research and failing to qualify prospects before making the call. Sales reps often struggle to understand their prospect’s needs. As a result, they give a generic sales pitch, which doesn’t give the prospect the solution to his problems. Businesses should invest time in conducting thorough market research and tailor their pitch according to the specific needs and pain points of each prospect.
Failing to understand the prospect’s needs:
Before you start pitching find out what your prospect really wants, it creates a sense of disconnect. They just think of you as a salesman trying to forcefully sell your products/ services.
This is why first you need to thoroughly understand what the prospect is looking for.
And then provide the solution to his needs instead of simply selling him your product as if it’s ‘aalo and tamatar’!
Not using the right tools:
Most telemarketers think that they are technically challenged so instead of using the right tools, they start calling using an Excel sheet or a notebook.
And as a business, you never just lose one deal. You lose a customer, all future revenues from that customer, and any referral business that this customer can give you! Plus, when you miss follow-ups your prospects think you’re not serious about sales. So they will never trust you or recommend people.
But when you choose the right systems, such as a TeleCRM which can very simply streamline your entire sales workflow. From the moment you get a new lead to the point where he is a happy customer giving you referrals.
You can easily track the progress of each lead and ensure that no lead falls through the cracks.
Without a proper system, feedback is collected in multiple places, and identifying what’s happening with any lead becomes a nightmare. But with a CRM you can have the lead’s history, past data, and insights in one place. With this, you can notice patterns like “Our biggest deals are with digital marketing companies”. This helps you to identify areas of improvement and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Not Reviewing Calls:
As a telemarketer, if you don’t review your sales calls you will continue making the same mistakes like not listening to the prospect etc. You won’t know what other mistakes you are making, or how to improve
By reviewing the calls
- You analyze – “Did I correctly understand and address the prospect’s pain point”?
- You can identify any mistakes or missed opportunities during the call.
- Most importantly you can identify patterns and common objections that arise during the calls!
You can use all this information to refine your sales pitch and make it more effective
Lack of Personalization:
If you treat your prospects, like just another name on your calling list, then forget buying, they won’t even listen to you. Whereas if you talk about them and their problems they will pay attention.
If you are on a busy road and somebody says hi, will you listen? But what if he calls out your name?
That’s the effect personalization can have on your telemarketing.
If you take the time to learn about your prospects, their needs, and preferences, it resonates with them. They will know that you really care about them. This way they are more likely to consider buying your product or service.
Pro tips for personalizing your calls:
Use the customer’s name, add a reference to your previous conversation or purchases, and tailor your pitch accordingly.
Not following up:
If the lead is positive and asks for a callback. It means you did a good job. Now, if you miss the follow-up, you will lose the deal. Your prospect will feel neglected and go to your competitors!
You did all the hard what is generating interest but miss one follow up you lose the deal.
On the other hand, if you follow up on time, it shows the customers that you care about them. You show them that you do what you say, so they can trust you.
Following up also gives you the chance to continue building the relationship. You don’t just have to ‘follow-up’. You can use the follow-ups to deliver value. You can
- Provide them with additional information
- Address their questions & concerns
- Offering additional products or services they may be interested in.
It’s impossible to remember and effectively manage all your follow up an excel sheet or notebook.
A CRM can be the right tool for managing your follow-ups. With a CRM,
- You can select date and time to schedule a follow-up.
- You get a reminder when it’s time for a call.
- You can keep track of all the past calls and follow-ups in one place
Not analyzing performance:
If you don’t analyze what is going on, you will not know what to improve or how. You’ll keep making the same mistakes. Your growth and success will take a backseat. By analyzing your performance you can identify what’s working and what’s not.
As a business owner, you can’t always monitor your employees, and if you don’t analyze their performance, you will always be doubtful. You’ll depend on what your managers tell you. That is dangerous because doubt is not a recipe for business growth!
But with the help of a CRM, you can track key metrics like call duration, call outcome, conversion rate, etc. You can find out which team members are missing deals, and how to help them improve! You can also figure out which team members are doing well so that you can reward them.
It will improve the efficiency of your sales process and increase the productivity of your sales team.
Conclusion
If you just try to forcefully sell your product or service with telemarketing, it’s an outdated or intrusive technique. But if you try to genuinely connect with interested prospects and deliver value, then telemarketing can be your strongest pillar of business growth.
With telemarketing, you can reach and directly connect with a lot of prospects. You can understand their problems and try to provide them with the right solution. This way you can easily build trust and generate sales.
So now, are you too ready to harness the power of telemarketing for your business?
If yes, then getting started is easy! Here are 3 simple steps to take.
- Define your target audience, and find the right database
- Craft a compelling script
- Start using the right tools
It will take a few iterations. But once you execute a successful telemarketing campaign it’ll become your reliable source for consistently generating new business opportunities, sales, and revenue.
So what are you waiting for?
Get started with telemarketing today!
Also Read: टेलीमार्केटिंग का अर्थ | Telemarketing meaning in Hindi
