In contrast to widespread belief, telemarketing calls are not only right for B2C or businesses that target individual consumers or for goods and services that are not too expensive. Tele marketing is as productive in B2B markets or for businesses that cater to other businesses. They can improve the sales cycle even if it is complicated. Business owners should understand that telemarketing services promise higher returns if introduced in the initial phases of the sales cycle. Beyond that point, it should be taken over your in-house sales executives.
Telemarketing companies shorten the sales cycle
In the early phases of the sales cycle, a good number of calls need to be made to a long list of prospects. A few of these will develop into leads while others may not. Telemarketing services are ideal for managing a large number of cold calls. Towards the final stages of the sales cycle, prospects will need detailed information and particulars of the product or service that is up for sale. It is wise to bring in your in-house sales representatives who have the talent and knowledge to take the sales process to fruition. It is unwise to expect a telesales service to close a deal and a specialized sales professional to make hundreds of cold calls.
Various functions of telemarketing services
Telesales services qualify sales leads by dialing high volume of cold calls. By cutting out this activity from the sales representative’s responsibilities, the sales cycle is appreciably shortened. A company can put together an internal telemarketing service for the task – and use it as a training ground for potential sales persons – or contract out to an external telemarketing service for rapid ROI.
Building a telemarketing team and have it make cold calls is not going to bring in new clients unless the team is trained to contribute value to the sales cycle. Robo-calls or amateurish telemarketer can drive away prospects. It is critical that businesses train telemarketers the right way to go through a call and appropriate business processes to steer clear of any pitfalls.
Telemarketing services can help businesses by:
- Fixing erroneous data: Customer databases are normally fraught with a lot of incorrect entries or have insufficient details. As telesales services call prospects, they can fix the data
- Adding proprietary data: Telesales services can also append proprietary details to a customer’s record in the database. Things such as the contact details of the company’s top executives, servicing due date of equipment, etc. play an important part in making a sales call at the right moment
- Developing brand awareness: The aim of telemarketing calls is not only to generate leads but also to develop brand recognition. Recurring calls (but without harassment) to prospects creates a feeling of continuity and convinces the prospect of the business’ commitment to the market.
- Effectively timing a sales call: By getting all the relevant information from consumers, telemarketing services set the stage for the sales executive’s call. For example, if the prospect conveys that an equipment or part may need to be replaced in three month, the sales representative can call at the dive in when the time is ripe and take the conversation towards a sale.
A business should not invest a lot of time and internal resources in the initial phases of the sales cycle. The better its focus on the later phases, higher will be the yield of its sales executives. Make the best use of telemarketing services to generate sales leads and spread brand awareness.
