Telemarketing calls are very often viewed with annoyance and treated as spam calls to say the least. With estimated US revenue of $15 Billion per year, the industry plays a key role in garnering customers for various companies by generating new buyers or persuading existing customers to make subsequent purchases. Hence, telemarketing calls provide immense opportunity for businesses to effectively market their product and push up sales and revenues.
Defining telemarketing
Telemarketing is a form of direct marketing wherein salespersons use phone calls to establish relationship with prospective customers, informing them about new products and services and persuading them to make purchases. With the help of customer service agents and automated phone call systems in place, telemarketing companies indulge in making an optimum number of calls to customers aiming at closing a sales deal or fixing an appointment to take the discussion forward. While hiring telemarketing services it is important for businesses to be clear about the kind of image they want to propagate among the customers.
Customer acquisition and lead generation
Call center representatives are primarily responsible for generating leads and acquiring customers for businesses while relieving your company sales agents from these activities to concentrate on tasks that are more important. Because of advancement in technologies telemarketing calls can now be made either from offices or even from homes by agents who are efficiently trained by call centers. Outsourcing these processes proves to be very cost efficient for companies, as they do not have to worry about recruiting and maintaining an entire army of agents to take care of their telemarketing needs. Telemarketing companies manage the entire operation under their own aegis with their own batch of trained professionals. The services that they offer include surveys and research, data collection, appointment setting, hiring and recruitment, cross selling or follow up mails and so on.
Acquiring the right telemarketing services
Setting up an in house telemarketing facility can turn out to be an overwhelmingly costly affair for a business but hiring the wrong telemarketing company or services can end in an equally miserable failure. Telemarketing companies offer varying levels of services and it is indispensable for companies to clearly chalk out and put across their telemarketing needs before hiring the services.
Businesses should ensure, in the first place, that the telemarketing company being hired has a very good understanding of the industry they would be dealing with as every industry demands a specific set of targeting tactics. Secondly, the success rate of the telemarketing agency in various areas should be properly assessed. Again, pay proper attention to the way a given telemarketer manages to comply with regional and international rules and regulations, such as, keeping the Do Not Call lists at bay. It is mandatory for companies to avoid such dangerous waters.
Telemarketing companies should also have a very good record of customer services with low call abandonment rates. A proper study of the performance statistics of call centers can help assess the effectiveness of their campaigns and drives.
Making telemarketing calls is not for the faint hearted. Receiving cold responses from potential clients can be intimidating for representatives. The fear gets so ingrained that some agents may try to while away precious time going through the customer lists rather than making actual calls to clients. Reputed telemarketing companies with experienced representatives see to it that their callers are beyond any such calls jitters, making result oriented calls to important clients and generating leads in the most effective manner.
Hence, a number of things have to be kept in mind while zeroing in on a telemarketing company and choosing the services. A right choice can give a real boost to business by expanding clientele and generating appropriate leads.