Sometimes using telemarketing services to help boost sales may seem like an expensive and time-consuming task, however the benefits can be really rewarding. Immediately people have some negative filters applied when they think of telemarketing as they have thoughts of getting a call at 5pm when they are just about to have their dinner with someone calling their home, disturbing them and wanting to sell on a product they are not interested in. My advice to these people who do not want to be contacted in this way is to contact the Telephone Preference Agency and register their home number. By doing that all companies are legally obliged to ensure your telephone number is not included in their list to contact. If they fail to comply to this then there can be significant consequences and fines for the company if reported. Below are some tips on how to select a telemarketing service provider but also some of the advantages:
- Selection of Provider – Make sure that you search this wisely. One of the first considerations needs to be around the ethical nature the company does business. Are they conforming to the TPS guidelines? You can usually find out a lot about the company via the internet and their code of conduct. Make sure that there is evidence of compliance and statements from the company. In addition to this, you will find a lot of varying prices available from the company which could include cold sales (just random calls to a region or area) or warmer calls which may be upselling of existing clients. The pricing may be a full package of number of calls made or hours worked or it could be based on results the telemarking service is able to convert. Make sure that you work closely with the company on this and agree a good rate and shop around to other companies to compare the price they quote.
- Relationship to customer – If you are upselling a service or product to existing clients then consider if this is the best method to keep that relationship with them. You would need to ensure that the company are trained competently on your own company services and that you provide. Some customers may like the phone call approach so that they can speak to people however it may irritate some customers (and they use it as a forum to complain about other issues they are having). As such, you need to understand this balance.
- Briefing your own team – If you are using an external source to upsell or bring in leads then you need to ensure that your own organisation is fully bought into this and briefed and up to speed with the strategy so your team are not stepping over each other. In addition, they may have some good input and suggestions as to how approach this and make the most of the approach.
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