Why does my telemarketing not work?
First of all there is a difference between telemarketing and telesales.
- Telemarketing creates prospects, lets people know about what you have to offer them and provides the opportunity for both parties to find out more about each other.
- Telesales converts opportunities into business for your company.
For the purposes of this article I am talking about telemarketing
1 You have used telemarketing transactionally
Stop selling and start thinking about helping your prospects to buy and what that journey might look like. You are building relationships not just looking for the transaction.
You need to be intelligent with your lead generation strategy and telemarketing. You are looking to qualify a potential lead and for that lead to qualify your business too (it is a 2-way conversation). Your introduction and ongoing communication should look to take them on that sales journey if that is suitable for them, it all links in. What are the things you need to know or get to know about this company, how will you get the confidence of the person you are speaking with to share the knowledge you want?
You need to build a relationship with this prospect company as you believe what you have is of great value to them. Put that into practise in all your communications and yes even your telemarketing. Have bit of fun, ask some questions that will get you a bit further along with the relevance of your offering to that prospect company. Try and link together a series of logical questions, go back and do some more research and call again. What is the next step you need to take, what is the action you want them to take and how can you get them to do that.
2 Your expectations were unrealistic
If you think that the most effective and likely route to get you an appointment is a cold call then you have not heard the old law “people will give you anything except their time”. You might have some success (the numbers game) but you are missing out on so much other relationship building opportunity. You have to build the know, like and trust. The phone is a great part of your lead generation journey but you need to build consistent actions into your business that generate leads and convert to sales. Rome wasn’t built in a day and telemarketing isn’t your one way ticket to Rome it is a vital stop on the way but you need the route planned out.
3 You only called once
Building on from the last point of expectations, you are trying to build a pipeline of consistent leads and it needs consistent work to see what works best for your company. Is a prospect really going to go out dancing with you after one random call out of the blue or do we need to look at a patiently thought out plan of interaction.
4 You didn’t allow enough research or feedback
What is the outcome you want from the telemarketing call block (contact details, conduct research questions, appointments, invitation to an event). What is the instruction if things aren’t going well? Ask for feedback from the callers, find out where they met resistance, make sure callers are briefed on your company, competitors and the current environment of your world if it is relevant. And yes, you do need an initial script and some prepared questions to get the conversation going. Your callers will deal much better if they are well briefed or even better if they have brainstormed and considered the knowledge they need to have to deal with resistance and questions to keep things going.
Don’t just do the obvious there are lots of different angles you can use to qualify a prospect, get creative, have fun and try different things.
5 What list or database are you working from?
If it is your own list of prospects how old is it and when was the last time new contacts were added to it. You have to have new leads to follow up and convert, don’t keep chasing dead wood, it is never going convert. Don’t forget telemarketing is a great way to consistently pull qualified leads into your funnel.
Beware of bought in lists as you just don’t know what you are buying.
Think of who you want to target, you might consider geography/product sales/ industry. You can segment on a common denominator which works across multiple industries. For example is there a set of needs which respond to the same results and lead to your solution? Consider the solutions you provide and the problems they solve. eg services to improve workplace safety, improve employee retention, facilties management solutions, modular buildings, legal help and support and think how that could help you select a segment to target.
How to use telemarketing effectively
Your telemarketing resource is a great part of your lead generation strategy and should be a vital part of the journey. To be able to get to a point where you get to pitch your solution you need to take the time to get to understand where your market is at. A great telemarketing resource will be a great set of ears for you and you should invite them to feed back their findings to help you build that strategy so you build a profitable, repeatable, scaleable and ultimately automated system.
I have now worked for and consulted with many businesses from coaches, consultants, professional services (accountancy, HR) , specialist software, printers, trades from building to electrics and I am shocked at how little outbound lead generation is taking place. I have been so drawn to the pathetic state of company’s funnels/pipelines that I have pivoted my work to work on this area.
I have heard every story in the book as to why the phone doesn’t work, here are a few: we got no appointments, I drove 90 minutes to an appointment and the prospect wasn’t there, we got no response, you cant get people on the phone, no one answers the phone, I’m better in person face to face, the company we used didn’t get us any appointments, no one will make outbound calls.
When I dig a little further and ask about the list they used, the research they put in, the follow up, what their expectation was, the brief they gave the outsourcing company and what consistent outreach they do on a daily weekly and monthly basis and the story can be quite a sorry one indeed.
If you are interested in having different lead generation conversation then I would be delighted to speak to you.
