How To Increase Telemarketing Sales

How to Increase Telemarketing Sales

How To Increase Telemarketing Sales

No matter how much the landscape of telemarketing has changed over the years, evolving from rotary phones and phone directory pages to automated call centers with predictive dialing, certain truths remain. Telemarketing is still one of the most important tools in the arsenal of any sales team, and telemarketing teams with the right tools and training can make all the difference in hitting your targets. As a home improvement contractor, it’s always worth your time to think about how to increase telemarketing sales.

Here, we’ll look over some important tips to improve telemarketing for small business needs in a new decade being shaped by new technologies and consumer trends.

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4 Useful Tips For Telemarketing

4 Useful Tips For How To Increase Telemarketing Sales

One of the biggest changes in the modern marketplace is the rise and spread of AI and automation, not just for large enterprises but also in tools for small business. Mass robocalls and predictive dialers are universal tools as more and more companies and organizations look for any and every means of connecting with the public.

Along with that trend has come an increasingly media-conscious, sales-conscious, and brand-conscious buying public that prefers to engage with businesses on their own terms and avoid spending time on companies that don’t mesh with their interests and values. Most of these consumers have heard phone spiels a thousand times before. The challenge that telemarketers face today is standing out in that environment.

1. Train Your Agents In The Sales Fundamentals

Before your team members can make the right use of advanced AI and analytics and work to stand out from other telesales operations, they have to understand that the fundamentals of sales still matter. That means they need to know:

  • How to engage with confidence
  • How to frame conversations positively and affirmatively
  • How to overcome objections
  • How to highlight what makes your business different

This skill set is the core of any successful sales call. It’s best if your team has at least a loosely planned script or outline to work from that guides them to the most important points you want covered. Improving the basics of your sales pitch is an important part of how to increase telesales.

2. Beyond The Fundamentals: Sounding Like More Than A Telemarketer

Once agents grasp the core skills of sales, they can work on standing out from the typical salesperson or average telemarketer. The qualities most prized by the modern consumer are empathy and authenticity, and the standout telemarketer responds to those expectations. They:

  • Say “please” and “thank you”
  • Get to the business point of the call quickly and efficiently (respecting the prospect’s time)
  • Ask an engaging question and leave room from the prospect to talk
  • Employ spontaneity and warmth whenever appropriate
  • Use regular conversational language instead of jargon or rote sales copy

Engaging a prospect without coming off as phony can be a difficult balance to strike. Remember there’s no likely circumstance where you’re going to convince a prospect that you’re their friend, and scripted responses to objections are still okay.

Overall, the key is to stay businesslike while conveying the impression that you sincerely want to connect with the prospect. This is even more important if your telemarketers are specifically concerned with lead generation, because they’re tasked with setting up a positive relationship in which you can then close sales by providing in-person consultation.

3. Planning: Leverage Advanced Software, AI & Analytics

Planning is the most important phase of launching a telemarketing campaign. You have to make sure your operation will be compliant with regional and national regulations for telemarketing, that you’ll have productive leads for your team to engage with, and that you’ll have the ability to track and analyze your sales team’s performance.

Fortunately, there are a wide variety of software suites available today that provide AI-driven tools for:

  • Staying on top of regulations, compliance, and industry best practices in your area
  • Running mass texting and social media campaigns to help generate leads
  • Scoring and prequalifying leads to ensure you’re focusing on the most intentional prospects
  • Connecting and coordinating teams working from multiple remote locales
  • Tracking your call center’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and how your agents deliver on them
  • Running self-serve, chatbot, and automated attendant tools so customers can reach out to you productively

These kinds of tools, used efficiently with your specific goals in mind, can make a major difference in providing a positive return on investment (ROI) for the time and expenditure involved in your marketing operation.

4. Prepare For Advanced Call-Blocking

One of the most difficult steps in modern telemarketing is simply getting people on the phone. Phone carriers may configure their operations to block calls based on specific algorithms, or customers can download third-party apps to block numbers identified as originating spam or nuisance calls. The STIR/SHAKEN Protocol is designed to block robocalls and solicitation from “spoofed” VoIP numbers, the target being criminal fraudsters but with an incidental impact on legitimate telemarketing as well.

The best way around this is to lay the groundwork for telesales with other kinds of marketing content. Email and SMS campaigns, social media marketing, and reputation management are all part of a package that should be integrated with your telemarketing campaign. Leads who have previously interacted with text or email marketing, or who have viewed your social media content online, are far likelier to pick up the phone and talk to you.

Make The Most Of Telemarketing For Small Business

For the contractor looking at how to increase telemarketing sales, the key takeaways are:

  • Train your sales team in the basics.
  • Go beyond the basics for a more engaged and personalized style.
  • Leverage advanced software to improve efficiency and hit targets reliably.
  • Think of telesales as one part of a total marketing package designed to engage prospects.

Covering off these steps will leave you well-placed to get the most out of telemarketing for small business.