Outbound telemarketing. Just say these three words and prepare yourself to hear a litany of complaints - aggressive telemarketers, auto-dialers which put you on hold and rude employees. There is, however a clear line to be drawn between telemarketing, customer service and simple outbound customer communication.
Telemarketers have long held as common wisdom that an outbound call centre is much better able to convert prospects into paying customers than is the practice of "cold calling"; that is to say, calling numbers at random in the attempt to market a product or service. These are the things which people hate - not a customer service representative returning their call asking for more information.
You need to consider how your telemarketing company can go about changing the way which people look at outbound call centres. One of the best first steps you can take is to apply the same standards of customer service as do inbound call centres.
Think a minute about how an average inbound customer service telemarketing call works. The customer calls the telemarketing company with a question. The associate on the other end listens to this question or request; indicates to the customer that their request has been understood and then takes steps to address the request. Before hanging up, the telemarketer will ask if the customer's questions have been addressed; if not, then they continue to work with this customer until their needs have been met. An inbound call typically involves an exchange of information between customer and associate.
By contrast, an outbound telemarketing call will entail an associate reading from a prewritten script which has been written in the hopes of convincing the customer to buy, subscribe or otherwise try a service or product. There is no give-and-take here, undermining the basis of trust which can be built in a real conversation.
Many outbound telemarketing companies have recognised this problem and are trying to combat it by trying to make a connection with the customer, trying to retain existing customers more so than trying to gain new ones, especially by cold calling.
A lot of companies are entirely rethinking the way which their outbound telemarketing operations work, along with their other telemarketing efforts. It once was the case that companies were solely concerned with the sales made by their outbound telemarketers. More recently, the focus has shifted from acquisition to retention. Properly done, an outbound call can form a relationship with customers which will lead to many more sales in the future.
One thing which has driven this new approach is the fact that there are less people to call than was once the case. "Do not call" lists and unlisted numbers, such as mobile phones, have made it more difficult for telemarketers to find people to call. This means that each potential customer is that much more desirable to marketers.
The "do not call" laws, however, do not affect telemarketer's abilities to contact existing customers for the purpose of making new sales. This is why outbound telemarketing companies have taken this new, gentler approach with customers, especially existing ones.
Get your telemarketing campaign delivering results today - contact Team Telemarketing right now.
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