Ten Tips for Successful Telemarketing Campaigns

Be clear about your audience – The clearer you can be about your target audience and their needs; the more your campaign is likely to impress them. Technology can help you filter data (e.g. via location, industry, company size, turnover, number of employees, job titles) and enable you to tailor your message to your target audience.

Assemble all the information you need – Try and get all the information about your audience before the campaign begins. You might need to use several communications to gain their attention e.g. posted communications, emails and calls. So ensure you have all the relevant details to facilitate these and always clean your data ahead of a campaign. This is usually a small price to pay to target the right person in the organisation. No one likes to deal with an organisation who spells their name or job title incorrectly and you don’t want to be paying telemarketers just to contact the wrong people.

Double-check your message – Test how clear your message will be to your audience and how well it resonates with their situation and needs. Consider running a test campaign to a small sample of the audience and then tweak the message if necessary to secure a higher take-up. Alternatively, try out the message or offer on some existing customers in a similar position/sector and get their feedback.

To outsource or not to outsource – If you are looking to outsource your telemarketing, be careful how much you invest in your supplier before they prove themselves. Consider how determined they are for the campaign to work and suggest operating initially on a trial basis. Whilst results are never instant, the trial should guide you on the working relationship and how it might develop. Also ask to speak to their clients and get examples of their track record.

Financing the campaign – Paying a telemarketing agency a flat hourly rate can encourage complacency and disappointing results. Consider a reduced hourly rate but one which is topped up with commission and based on specific successes or the achievement of key performance indicators.

Be clear about success – Be sure to define what these key performance indicators are. You probably want meetings set up with the right kind of decision maker – who has a need and has assigned the right length of time for the session. Articulate the types of meetings you want the campaign to produce; otherwise you’ll receive many opportunities to drop off brochures in the customer’s reception or ‘cup of coffee sessions’ that rarely generate business in the short-term.

Quality or Quantity – Targeting your telemarketing company to make a large volume of calls isn’t always the best way to win business. Ideally, you should set your sights on one qualified appointment per hour rather than 30 calls that result in 30 people saying no in the same timeframe.

What will your company sound like – Compare the demographics and profile of your target market and who will be making the calls as they will need to empathise with the customer to impress them. This will be easier if the telemarketer is able to relate via their own age, experience, personality, etc. so always meet and speak with the people conducting the telemarketing on your behalf then ask whether you’d buy from them. Remember they represent your company.

Get your infrastructure in place – Don’t forget to have your website ready for all the new visitors and have necessary staff and infrastructure in place to manage the increased demand the campaign will generate.

Momentum – Results always improve over time and a sales pipeline will to grow if you maintain the momentum of your telemarketing campaign. Do try and avoid a stop start approach, this will only bring you bouts of business feast and famine.

http://rcrpartnership.com/rcr-blog/articles

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