TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction
2. Why Outsource A Telemarketing Call Center
3. Using Offshore Telemarketing Services
4. Choosing A Telemarketing Service Company
5. Call Center Pricing
6. Telemarketing Call Center Glossary
7. Frequently Asked Questions
I. INTRODUCTION
Telemarketing is the industry term that identifies any type of marketing or customer contact made by a telemarketer via telephone
Typically, calls are made for sales, marketing or customer service are outbound telemarketing. Calls received for customer support, order processing or answering services are inbound. This buyer’s guide focuses on outbound telemarketing. To learn more about inbound call centers, click here.
Telemarketing is an excellent tool for a business to reach targeted markets quickly and efficiently. Direct marketing benefits include:
- Customers are reached directly through telemarketing, with the results of the contact known immediately.
- Solicite new business by using an effective telemarketing lead lists targeting the demographics appropriate to your service or product.
- Solicited regular customers through telemarketing, thereby allowing businesses to retain repeat customers.
- A telemarketing staff can grow according to your needs. A business can start with one part-time telemarketer, increasing telemarketing staff along with business sales growth.
- Telemarketing provides immediate feedback from a prospect or customer, allowing immediate response to customer's needs .
- Business contacts through telemarketing to a new or existing customer is direct and personal.
- Immediate income - a sale of service or product can be paid directly over the phone with a credit card - there is no waiting for mail-in payments.
The backbone of the telemarketing industry is the telemarketer. Although automated telemarketing systems can perform some of the telemarketing services a business may need (such as giving out recorded information or recording an address for mailing), the in-person voice provided by an individual telemarketer allows communication with customers and prospects from call centers globaly every day.
Successful telemarketer share these qualities:
- Speaks clearly and intelligibly.
- Speaks in a smooth and fluid manner, without halting or stumbling over the words.
- Is friendly and polite .
- Smiles while talking (a smile can be heard over the phone - it's true, try it).
- Knows the specifics of his or her company's product or service.
- Can handle questions easily.
- Communicates, connecting with the customer or prospect .
- Listens well.
When telemarketing involves the sale of a service or prodect, it is considered telesales. A telemarketer must learn how to be persuasive, while remaining friendly. A good telesales/telemarketer is an asset to any company, as the call center is where the sales (and profits) are made.
Effective telemarketers can receive high incomes (between salary and bonuses pegged to successful rate of sales). Telemarketing has become one of the country's largest industries, providing millions of people world wide with employment. Outbound services employ telemarketers to make cold-calls (not solicited by the prospect) in order to find interested prospects for their servuce or product. Because the prospect is not expecting the call, this type of telemarketing can be considered somewhat more difficult and requires an experienced telemarketer to "close".
A business can hire an outside telemarketing firm to generate leads for the company's sales staff. Businesses use telemarketing because it is an interactive marketing medium and allows the telemarketer to answer the prospects questions, address their concerns, and overcome their objections.
Three main factors make telemarketing successful:
- Telemarketing provides a form of advertising that gets an immediate response.
- When the phone rings, a business or residential customer answers it and must respond to the telemarketer's query.
- Telemarketing provides you with a captive audience the minute the phone is answered.
While many business and residential customers will tell you that they don't like receiving telemarketing calls, they will also agree that many of the products and services they use were bought from telemarketers contacting them. From the moment the phone is answered, the telemarketer has 100% attention for a few moments. This is all that is required to convince the potential customer they want the service or product.
Telemarketing call centers are able to provide a number of telemarketing services designed to meet a specirfic client's needs. Listed below are examples of some of the many services provided by telemarketing call centers :
Appointment Setting
Lead Generation/Qualification
Phone Sales
Seminar Registration
List Cleaning/Database Update
Surveys
Market Research
Direct Mail Follow-up
Trade Show Follow-up
Telefundraising
Announce A Sale, Grand Opening, Or Special Event
Political GOTV & Grass Roots Campaigns
Recruit Prospecting
Up-selling/Cross-selling
Outbound telemarketing utilizes call centers are used by a business to increase sales and create a larger customer base. With any type of out-bound calling, the telemarketer generates the call to the prospective customer from the telemarketing call center. It is a very successful and effective way for a business to find new customers. Telemarketing lists are provided by telemarketing call center services to help a business find the right prospects to contact.
Telesales is a type of outbound telemarketing utilized to help a business sell its product or service. While telemarketing is the broad term which describes an entire industry that uses the telephone as its main tool, telesales specifically concentrates on selling from a call center.
Telemarketers are employed by vast numbers of telemarketing businesses to handle their business over the phone. The telesales representative specializes in selling a product or service. To do well in this field, a telesales representative must have these skills:
- Strong telemarketing communication skills.
- Complete understanding of the product or service to be sold.
- Excellent listening skills to understand what it takes to convince the prospect they need the product or service.
- Persuasive, yet friendly telemarketing skills.
- Excellect work habits. Keep calling and not give up.
- Excellent organizational skills to keep track of hot telemarketing prospects.
- Strong closing skills.
Telemarketing has replaced or used in conjunction with Direct Mail Services - a standard form of business advertising for many years. More recently, the use of the telephone for telemarketing outbound call centers to sell a service or product has had very successful results. Sometimes telemarketing call centers can be used in tandem with direct mailing. Various factors need to be considered when deciding whether to replace direct mail advertising with telemarketing call centers.
Telemarketing outbound call centers usually cost more than marketing with direct mail services. But many companies find that the advantages of using telemarketing call centers may outweigh the additional costs.
Click here to go to Part 2 Why Outsource A Telemarketing Call Center