Business Telemarketing Strategies
Outsourcing to Firms vs Sales and Marketing Employees
Basic telemarketing strategy comes in two forms –
the first involves having employees in sales and marketing contact customers. The
other, more widely used method is to outsource the actual calls to a marketing
firm.
Having employees call directly from the office can
have a much more customer-oriented feel, where the product or service being
offered is advertised by someone with direct tie-ins. However, the major
drawback lies in overusing manpower, time mismanagement, and in a company not
having the right personnel for direct sales. Outsourcing to a firm also has its
drawbacks in the actual sales process. For example, having an outside company
interface with customers potentially increases the chances for miscommunication
and damage to your brand and its image.
On the other hand, outsourcing also has its selling
points. Firms that are familiar with the calling and sales process already
understand the laws and regulations that apply to a telemarketing campaign and
also already have the adequate equipment and manpower established to handle lead generations.
This can save in long run of having to train or hire
specifically for telemarketing services, especially in cases where the advertising is
for a seasonal promotion or a trial product.
In addition, telemarketing firms have much more
experience in the field, and have expertise in creating and filtering customer
lists, drafting scripts, and managing campaigns with tracked results. Telemarketing
firms have a much more established process of testing and monitoring new
programs and offers within small groups.
Also, firms have effective ways of taking your
service across time zones and even taking your campaign global, where the firms
themselves often have international branches that can communicate in multiple
languages.
Typically, a telemarketing firm will be based out of
a warehouse-type call center with stations divided by cubicles or tables with
their employees processing and placing calls throughout the day. These
employees will oftentimes be the first point of contact between your business
and your potential buyers, so it is important for you to pick a firm that you
feel that you can trust to represent your brand effectively. Good firms should
have high satisfaction rates from their own employees. Doing a bit of research
on these firms yourself can also help in the long run firms with employees with
long work histories tend to have employees that are more experienced
salespeople who can motivate buyers and represent your product better. Many of
these firms pay commission to their sales staff, so the firms with high
employee retention rates also have higher sales.