Telemarketing Techniques for Small Businesses

Planning The first important task prior to starting any telemarketing campaign, is planning. You need to be clear about what you want to achieve from your campaign. You also need to be clear who your prospect or customer is, what you need to know from them and what questions you should be asking in order to find out what their needs and wants are. You need to know your products inside and out and not just their features but their benefits. And it is very important that you consider what objection your customer may come up with and that you try to thing of ways of pre-empting them. Qualify You need to qualify your prospect on different levels. Qualify for authority – are they the decision maker? Qualify for interest – there is no point wasting your time with a prospect that simply has no interest. Questions When you are thinking about what questions you would ask your prospect you need to remember there are many different types of questions so know what they are, what they are good for and when to use them effectively. You need to be using Open, Probing, Hypothetical, Closed, Alternative and Rhetorical questions to their most effective. Listening Learn how to listen effectively. Listening is a technique in itself and you need to make a conscious decision to listen. Remember you have 2 ears and one mouth for a reason so use them in that order. Impatience is audible so whilst you have to retain control of the conversation, don’t do it at the expense of appearing rude to someone who may not be a customer now but may become one in the future. Mirror People are attracted to people who are like themselves. So, with this in mind, if your prospect speaks quietly then you should speak quietly and vice versa. Never mind the gaps People do not like pauses in conversations, it makes us feel uncomfortable but you are in control so rather than you rushing in and filling that gap, let your prospect fill it. They will give away far more information than they intended to! It’s a numbers game Telemarketing is a numbers game. It is important to identify buying signals but as soon as you ascertain that a prospect is not interested, move on. There is no point wasting your time with people who are simply not interested. End the conversation politely and move on. Every “No” brings you closer to that “Yes”. Most of all – Be Yourself! Be natural. Don’t be tempted to put on a special “telephone voice” you won’t be comfortable with it and your prospect will see right through it. Behave as you would if you were speaking to someone face to face. Often the most successful telemarketers are those who are natural on the telephone.

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