Weak Sales? You Might Need An Image Makeover In Telemarketing

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AppId is over the quota

How can a business stay profitable in today's market? The answer can be fairly is simple. All they have to do is to get the best business data. Well, this is something that is easily said than done. After all, information gathering is one of the most difficult tasks that a company can undertake. It is human nature to resist attempts of people you do not know of if they are asking you for information. This is a job that will require the careful skills of telemarketers. Come to think of it, they are the best for this type of work. The information they can gather is very valuable for many firms. That is, of course, if the telemarketing firm that you are working with is actually capable of doing their job. If you are not satisfied with the way your telemarketer is currently doing their job, then maybe it is time for you to change your telemarketing tool.

A company's image depends on its ability to present itself in the market. Making a good impression is very important for those that want to attract and keep customers in the long run. You can promote an image of being a professional company through the help of such companies. Print media, the television, and even the radio can be used to promote your company. Of course, when it comes to sheer effectiveness, nothing comes close to what telemarketing services are capable of delivering. It is a business investment that should not be overlooked, as this method can bring more than what companies can imagine. This can help your company reach newer heights of success. This may sound to be overly optimistic, but history and experience clearly shows that there are some things that only telemarketing services can do. Of course, it is assumed here that the telemarketing company that you hired can actually do their work.

Replacing a poor performing telemarketing company may sound easy, but if the truth is to be known, this is a task that can create plenty of complications. It is not easy to choose a replacement. Yes, you may say that there are a lot of telemarketers that have all sprang forth around the world. The problem here is that there are not that many of these firms that can actually do their job. In fact, there is the real possibility that some of these firms are actually scams. You will want to avoid such a company. This may call for a little more effort on your part, but at least you can be assured that what you are doing is right. This is your business we are talking about here, and this is something that you should protect at all cost.

In the end, the person with the final say is certainly you. Only you can decide whether working with a telemarketing firm can actually help you and your company improves its image, as well as the efficiency in serving your customers. Who knows, this might be the very thing that you will need.

Belinda Summers works as a professional consultant. She helps businesses increase their revenue by lead generation and appointment setting services through Telemarketing. To know more about this visit: http://www.callboxinc.com/

Get Software Leads and Business Appointments With Software Telemarketing

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AppId is over the quota

The amount of profit that is made is what determines whether a company expands in the long run, or if it should compress. Expansion, of course, is a good thing as it means the company is doing well and making a healthy amount of profit to keep it functioning. As for compression, it means that the company may have to cut back on costs and even do with reducing the number of staff they have working for them. In other words, compression is not something good for a company as it means that the company is performing in a relatively poor manner. Many software firms also face this type of problem and are in need of effective sales and marketing solutions. One such possible solution could just come in the form of software telemarketing.

Software telemarketing is a good idea and choice to make for software firms that are in a bind when it comes to available resources. Outsourced services are offered at reasonable prices and can be what some companies who have limitations on other things rely on. For a software company, software telemarketing may become the most effective solution, one that comes at a good price for the service that is offered. These telemarketing firms offer services such as lead generation, becoming a contact center to address customer needs and take client calls, or even for doing software appointment setting. But for a software firm that is need dire need of doing better on the side of sales, lead generation and appointment setting will do quite nicely. After all, software leads are a very important to any software firm that wants to find prospect companies that would be looking to do business with them. These software leads can be designated as ERP leads and such; ERP leads can pertain to leads that aid in finding prospects for ERP sales.

Software telemarketing also has something called software appointment setting, a great marketing strategy to make use of if you are running the type of software firm that relies heavily on having business appointments with clients in order to introduce your products and services. After all, establishing a nice business relationship at the start is always a good thing to have. However, getting passed all the barriers is not an easy task, especially if you or your sales representatives just walk into offices and talk to the secretary. Software telemarketing and skilled telemarketers allows that gap to be bridged as telemarketers are known for being good with getting passed all these barriers and getting to the client. Basically, what software appointment setting does is aid you in getting and scheduling business appointments for software sales with your prospects, as the name may seem already self explanatory.

With lead generation services to get you software leads such as ERP leads, or even CRM sales leads, you should be able to make finding prospects much easier. And with software appointment setting, meeting with your clients to introduce your products and services, and hopefully get a sale or business deal going should also turn into such a trying task. Software telemarketing truly is an effective marketing strategy to make use of.

Claire Hansen works as a marketing communications program manager. She is inviting you to visit http://www.erpsoftwareleads.com/ to learn more about lead generation and appointment setting for the software industry.

The 7 White Lies Prospects Tell Telephone Prospectors

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AppId is over the quota

One of the secrets for being more effective and successful in telephone sales is to know the types of objections you are likely to encounter. When you do, you are never caught off guard because you are better prepared to deal with them.

For instance, here are the top 7 objections telephone reps typically encounter in the initial phase of a call; usually during or right after the opening statement. You can call them 'white lies' because the prospect tosses them out because they want to get rid of you not because they're honest truths.

White Lie #1: I'm in a meeting

When you hear this objection don't you think, "Oh ya... then why did you answer the phone?" This is a wonderful mistruth because it tends to make the caller feel slightly guilty that he/she interrupted. It tends to work too. Reps utter some sort of an vague apology and say they'll call back. Meanwhile, the lie worked in getting your call deflected.

White Lie #2: Call me back

This is a very clever deception because the prospect leaves you with the feeling of 'hope.' We kid ourselves into believing that she REALLY DOES want us to call back and so we fall for it. Sometimes we even suggest a time and a date to which they agree. The only problem is the prospect is rarely there... thanks to call display and voice mail.

White Lie #3: Send me/e-mail me some Information

This is such a brush off. Sort of a cousin to the 'call me back' lie, this objection creates a degree of hope. I have watched reps gleefully stuff an envelope or spend 15 minutes composing a wonderful e-mail with 9 attachments, all the while confidently believing the prospect is waiting with baited breath. Don't hold your breath on this one either. The grotesque majority don't want your e-mail, letter or fax. They asked for it to get rid of you. Don't fall for it.

White Lie #4: I'm busy

This is not really a lie but the net result is still the same. Guiltily the telephone rep feels like he's an intrusion and gets knocked off his game. Quickly the valiant rep tries to recover by asking when would be a better time. The prospect says, "There is no better time, you'll have to just try later." The call comes to a grinding halt.

White Lie #5: Don't Need/Want Anything Right Now

Delivered politely, this little bit of misdirection works like a charm almost every time. The poor sales rep doesn't want to appear pushy and aggressive so he or she backs off immediately. If there's no need then there's no opportunity, right? The call ends nicely with a promise by the rep to call back 'in a few weeks.' Meanwhile the prospect has dodged a sales bullet and goes on merrily with his day.

White Lie #6: Send me a Quote /Proposal

This is probably the nastiest of the white lies. It's nefarious because the prospect might well be wasting a lot of your time and effort getting you to do work that he or she will never seriously consider. Proposals or quotes suggest that the client is serious about buying. Diligently and eagerly the rep takes the time to churn out a quote or proposal and makes countless follow up calls. Meanwhile, other, legitimate prospects are ignored or put aside.

White Lie #7: Satisfied with Current Vendor

Like its friend, "Don't Need Anything Right Now" this coverup is usually based on a truth. It works because it deflates the eager drive of the unsuspecting sales rep. We take the prospect at his word and dejectedly hang up. The prospect may indeed be happy with his vendor but a whopping good offer or an exciting new product may turn his head.

3 Steps to Managing Little White Lies

The trick to dealing with these lies/objections is not to cave in. Use these three steps to get past the lie and get the client talking.

Step #1: Empathize. No matter what the prospects throws at you simply pause and say, "I understand." It buys you some time to think and catches the prospect off guard a bit.

Step #2: Ignore it. It's probably a lie (although in some cases it could well be the truth) anyway so trying to respond to it won't solve the problem.

Step #3: Ask a compelling question. Start with this trigger phrase, "Jim, one quick question before I let you go..." Believe it or not, most prospects have a conscience. They know they mislead you and many of them feel slightly guilty. They will usually feel compelled to answer the question.

The trick is to ask a question that gets them thinking about a pain or a gain; a motivator; something that is compelling and out of the ordinary. For instance:

-A financial adviser might say, "Are you absolutely, 100% satisfied with your portfolio's performance this year?"
-A safety poster rep might ask, "Roughly how many man hours have you lost to industrial accidents over the last six months?"
-A sales trainer might inquire, "Are all your reps meeting and exceeding their sales quota for the year?"
- A TENS reps might ask a chiropractor, "Has the economic turn down had an impact on the revenues of your practice?"

Questions like these tend to give pause. While they won't always hook the prospect's interest, some will. If the question works, you can ask more because now the prospect is engaged; mission accomplished.
This is where preparation and planning comes into play. You KNOW with absolute and utter certainty that you're going to encounter these seven little lies throughout your calling day. If that's true -and it is - then you need to have a strategy whereby you don't fall for the lie and make a game of it by countering with a compelling thought, issue, concern, problem, opportunity.

Know the little white lies and have your counter question prepared ahead of time.

Jim Domanski is president of Teleconcepts Consulting and works with companies and individuals who struggle to use the telephone more effectively. Author of four highly regarded books on tele-selling, Jim also writes two e-newsletters for tele-sales reps and tele-sales managers. He has also provides training and consulting to audiences, universities, and clients through the US, Canada and Europe. Visit his website at http://www.telesalesmaster.com/, sign up for his newsletter (Tele-Sales Vitamins) and download articles and download his Special Report: "The Top 10 Voice Mail Blunders and What You Can do About Them."

Following Up Sales Leads Instantly

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AppId is over the quota

Many businesses get new business leads through every day and some do not have the time to follow them all up. Sometimes leads that are followed up do not respond to an e-mail, or the client does not answer the phone; at this point many companies will just leave the lead.

In sales terms, the longer a sales lead goes unresponded to, the colder it becomes. This could be for a number of reasons:

The client has gone onto another website and found what they needThey have been contacted by another company and 'sold to' from that competitorThey have changed their mind and gone a different route

The term 'strike while the iron is hot' is an important one in the sales world and following up sales leads needs to be done within minutes, while the client still has the interest/topic in mind. The longer it is left, the client may then shift priority and put the query they enquiried about onto the back burner.

Chasing Sales Leads

All enquiries cost money, some from the advertising that they originated from, or from the marketing that happened to bring them in. Businesses that get lots of leads sometimes struggle in following them all up, older leads that have not responded to a follow up call/e-mail may get forgotten due to the more recent leads that have come in.

Organised businesses do record all sales leads on a database and then follow them up methodically based on a call back system. However sometimes this can also create problems in that the time spent loading leads up and call back attempts may mean that sales leads slip through the net.

Non sales people do struggle with follow up sales leads sometimes and often give up chasing clients after 1-2 attempts at calling; however research has shown that it takes an average of 7 attempts to get hold of a prospect.

Consider Outsourcing Sales Lead Followup

For businesses that only get in 2-3 business enquiries a day, outsourcing may not be best option, as a little organisation and tenacity is all that is needed to ensure that leads are followed up promptly and as few as possible fall through the net.

Businesses that get 10-20 sales enquiries through a day (or more with marketing events or exhibitions) may need to consider outsourcing the follow up to a telemarketing agency to handle and provide feedback on. This way all leads are going to be logged and put into a proper call back system to ensure that each one is chased and none slip through. There are always going to be leads that are hard to follow up (due to people being busy or not answering their phones) or dud leads, but the wasted leads should be kept to a minimum.

The main thing to remember is that sales leads need to be followed up within a few minutes of them enquiring, following up a lead hours or days will only lead to sales leads going cold and customers going to competitors.

Marketing Quotes is a free price comparison service to UK businesses to help get free quotes and advise from local marketing companies.

Carry a Light Cross in Insurance Lead Generation With Outsourced Telemarketing

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AppId is over the quota

Every one is carrying a cross. Nobody lives in this world without burden nor with happiness alone. The same is true in business. All companies, even the giants, are laboriously carrying their own crosses, from the demands in production to the always changing status of the soft economy. There is no time in a year that a heavy load is absent. This constant struggle is made worse by a mild to severe blows from unexpected events, like skyrocketing prices of raw materials or fortuitous circumstances, e.g. fire.

With a weak and ineffective insurance lead generation and insurance appointment setting, the weight is made graver. Instead of giving support to ease and to hasten the sales cycle, it adds to the problem. The inability to fill a sales pipeline with qualified leads, such as life insurance leads or auto insurance leads, is spoiling a company's mission of reaching its goals with less pain and modest speed. The overwhelming expenses resulting to meager results deeply cuts performance and the overall financial stability of a company. For small-and-medium businesses and neophytes, the situation is worse since all companies carry the same cross. As opposed to veterans, they are still fledglings, and are still still half-conscious of the whats and hows of their journey.

All of these appalling things have solutions and among them, one is guaranteed to be of great help, which is a partnership with an outbound call center. This alliance is through buying leads from an outsourced telemarketing program. Third party service providers use client profiling, cold-calling and appointment setting as their prime tools in qualifying a sales lead, e.g. health insurance leads. It allows clients to gain adequate resources-manpower, business contact list, technology, management-of the telemarketing firm.

It is always true that two is better than one. Having a reliable partner that will give support on a firm's carrying of the cross is enough to hurdle the challenges stored in B2B lead generation. Through partnership, firms will be able to save a material quantum of stamina and time that will be used in concentrating to core functions. The relief from generating sales leads gives great opportunity for a company to improve internal efficiency. Equally important is the fact that a large amount of money will be saved, which, in turn, is to be saved for later crucial expenses.

True enough, a lighter cross is born with buying leads through this outsourced service. But, this does not mean that a company has to be complacent in choosing a service provider. The truth is that a company must exercise due diligence in picking its partner. This is so because the rewards of lead generation will only be realized if done properly.

Kurt Walters works as a business intelligence consultant. He is inviting you to visit http://www.ledgerleads.com/ to learn more about lead generation and appointment setting for accounting, tax and financial services.

Why Prefer Telemarketing?

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AppId is over the quota

IT entrepreneurs dread the idea of having to face competition. Those who will imitate their business and will put a store right next to theirs is something that they can't stand as a fact. However, all is fair in business. When you are in the industry, expect competition to come. It really happens, but you can do something to stay on top. Yes, and the sooner you get the idea, the sooner you can focus and act to keep your business ahead. With the help of a good marketing strategy, you can become profitable in the market. You can use telemarketing, the old cold calling technique that has long been known to be an effective marketing tool. It can generate IT consulting leads for your firm. Through network consulting leads, you can find profitable markets and you can establish a presence there.

You should not undervalue the capacity of this technique. It can be your most powerful tool to make your marketing campaign successful. Although many people would say that this kind of technique is no longer effective in today's industry, the truth remains that this is still the most effective and efficient tool when it comes to marketing IT products and services. One cannot comprehend just how potent a well-placed telephone can be in strengthening the relationship of IT firms and their prospective customers. Take it or leave it, this strategy remains the best in delivering tons of network consulting services leads to your business. These business leads are what you need to make your firm stay afloat. Just imagine the benefits that you can get when you use telemarketing service to improve the performance of your business and strengthen the relationship with your customers.

Other IT firms that involved in management consultation can also attest to the usefulness of telemarketing services for IT. They use this in generating good IT management consulting leads. Leads such these are very helpful to them to get new business and opportunities. Telemarketing has really what it takes to turn around the fortunes of these businesses for the better. There are several companies that have made it through in spite of the hard times because they have decided to use telemarketing to aid their business operations. This is especially true for companies that in need of IT management services leads to operate perfectly.

Despite the negative public perception, telemarketing is still doing amazing jobs to different industries. The reason is that a lot of efforts have been exerted by phone marketing companies together with the government to lessen the number of unprofessional and unethical telemarketing companies. If things appear this way, then sooner we will be seeing this marketing by telephone as a reputable profession again. Not only this, it would now be an asset to companies that use it too.

So what do you think of this? Really, you should give telemarketing a try. It's an excellent investment that you would not regret having. It will bring you more profits and mouth watering results. After all, these are what you want in your business.

Phillip Mckenzie is a successful lead generation and appointment setting consultant specializing in IT Telemarketing. To know more about IT Telemarketing, Phillip recommends you to visit http://www.it-sales-leads.com/

Is the Telemarketing Industry Going to Fall by the Wayside?

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AppId is over the quota

It's difficult to know exactly how long the telemarketing industry has existed for.

According the Wikipedia telemarketing page, DialAmerica were one of the first market entrants and commenced inbound and outbound calling way back in the 1950s.

The industry has grown steadily since and experienced a boom in recent times with the advent of new telemarketing technology, decreased telecommunication costs and the growth of cheaper overseas based call centres in countries like India and the Philippines.

A 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers report dramatically highlighted one of the biggest reasons for the increase in telemarketing activity. Telemarketing wages in countries like India are typically less than half that of western nations.

The industry has come under heavy fire recently from consumers in response to a reported increase in the volumes of calls received.

The backlash is quite apparent online.

In 2012, Google's web index boasted a whopping 2 million plus pieces of content matching the search query of 'hate telemarketing'.

Some companies are also reporting the number of people refusing calls is on the rise.

Many commentators are now predicting that the telemarketing industry will decline in future years, but just how likely is this?

Predicting the overall rise or fall of a marketing channel is no simple thing. But one thing remains highly likely, business will continue to invest in telemarketing as long as it's remaining profitable. So what impacts profitability and how might this change?

Below are some of the key challenge facing telemarketing programs today and some thoughts on how these challenges will need to be addressed in order to keep telemarketing viable.

List quality: Telemarketing and indeed any form of direct marketing is largely a success or failure based on the 'list' quality.

The list is primarily relevant to outbound calling and usually consists of current and past customers, prospective buyers and people who have never been in contact with the company.

Very broadly, lists are referred to as warm or cold. Warm lists are people that have previously purchased a product from a supplier. A cold list tends consist of people who have not purchased and do not have a prior connection with an organisation. These names are often obtained from a telephone directory or commercial list supplier. Warm lists tend to be highly profitable for organisations with a reasonable buffer against poor results. Cold lists tend to perform worse than a warm list and anecdotal evidence would suggest that cold lists have degraded in performance in recent years.

In order to prevent telemarketing programs from falling by the wayside, there will be a greater need to ensure customers have enough trust in companies to supply their telephone number and be willing to engage with the relevant company.

Companies will also need to develop innovative programs that generate their own high quality proprietary cold lists.

Agent quality: Agents are the telemarketing operators who either make an outbound call or receive inbound calls.

Agents need to be skilled in order to maximise results and many a telemarketing program has failed due to lack of skilled agents. Agent quality also becomes more of a challenge when utilising agents in foreign call centres who may not have experience in making sales in what's often a second language.

One of the key challenges to keep telemarketing vibrant will be in managing a careful balancing act between employing higher paid and performing native English speakers and overseas based agents in order to maximise results.

Labor costs: Good salespeople are hard to find and are often expensive.

One of the challenges going forward will be managing potentially escalating labor costs alongside the breakeven point of telemarketing programs. Rising labor costs may well see more marginal telemarketing programs being dropped from the annual marketing plans of many companies.

Legislative risk: In recent times there has been stricter legislation enacted in many nations to combat the rise in telemarketing programs and consumer concerns.

Many companies that rely heavily on telemarketing as a source of revenue may be impacted by unexpected changes to telemarketing and communication laws. Telemarketing may reduce in volume as a result of this although it's hard to categorically claim that it will 'fall by the wayside'.

Reputation risk: There's a long history of companies altering their marketing tactics in response to concerns around damaged reputation.

It's quite possible again that companies may elect to rid themselves of many telemarketing programs, however as long as companies are profiting from telemarketing, it's unlikely that it will disappear as a channel.

In summary, telemarketing is certainly facing some challenges, however we are more likely to see telemarketers becoming more sophisticated in their approach to the channel rather than the entire channel falling by the wayside.

Justin Fleysman is a marketing consultant with over 10 years experience in direct marketing for commercial, public sector and not-for-profit organisations.