Today’s Telemarketing – it’s not what you think
Everybody’s had the experience. You’re sitting down to dinner with your family, or just finally relaxing with some Netflix after a long day at work. The phone rings, and it’s a telemarketing call from an outbound call centre and somebody is trying to sell you insurance. You slam the phone down and sigh deeply.
Nobody likes telemarketers. Thanks to years of intrusive and pushy telemarketing calls they have received the stigma of being a nuisance to society. But what if we were to tell you that there is a modern version of telemarketing that doesn’t seek to interrupt your day? Instead it looks to open a genuine conversation between a business and a potential client.
Keep reading to find out how a new iteration of outbound telemarketing has shed the stigma of the call centre cold call!
Good outbound telemarketing doesn’t feel like the traditional telemarketing call.
There is a clear difference between a good telemarketing call and a bad one: the former makes you feel like you’re being sold something, while the latter feels like a well-constructed sales conversation. Instead of inundating the prospect with information about your deals or products, you listen, engage and openly converse with them, learning more about their lives and what they may be looking for. The initial sense of discomfort that the telemarketing prospect might feel when being on the receiving end of a telemarketing call isn’t there. Even if they’re not interested in your company, product or service, they won’t feel disrespected and interrupted by an intrusive call.
It’s not just about making a sale — it’s about addressing the customer’s needs.
By targeting groups of people who are likely to need your product or service, you can eliminate the need for cold calling random prospects. Nobody likes it when they receive a call from a phone company pitching lower phone costs when you’re not remotely interested in changing your phone service. A company using modern telemarketing can, in a polite and respectful way, show a prospect how their services could improve their situation. Regardless of whether your company can offer them something, the prospect should still feel like they are talking with someone who is genuinely interested in what they have to say, not someone who is just looking to peddle some goods to as many people as possible.
Telemarketing should be an integral part of any company’s sales process.
Marketing staff nowadays are generally zeroed-in on online advertising — Facebook ads, viral content campaigns, SEO. But companies should still be reaching out to prospects personally so that potential customers can become connected to the company, rather than just being on the end of a massive advertising campaign.
If the idea of cold calling potential clients freezes you up a bit, it’s important to realise that most people are not turned off by sales conversations but are turned off by pushy telemarketing calls. When cold calling is done in the right way, prospects rarely realise that they are even speaking with someone who is selling a product. This is done by first making sure they are in a demographic that would even be interested in your product. Then, when making the telemarketing call, it’s important to provide a short introduction and ask them relevant questions. Be concise and considerate, and let them know that you understand their situation.
Even if a customer is not experiencing the sort of problems that your product or service can solve, you can at least show them that you’re empathetic of their situation — not just that you’re trying to sell them something. That makes all the difference.
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Last updated on: March 17, 2023
