Outbound telesales is a sales
technique employed by companies
in order to try and promote
their products or their
services. By direct calling over
the telephone, the telesellers
engage consumers directly in
order to get their sales pitch
across as quickly and
efficiently as possible. Good
techniques will allow the caller
to finish before the receiver
has had any time to object.
Most aspect of sales can be done
over the telephone from that
initial call, and that is what
makes telesales a viable
proposition for companies. It is
possible to run and entire
business from a telephone. Not
only does the initial sales lead
get chased up by a promotion
call, but follow up surveys such
as customer satisfaction can
also be done, and this helps the
company engage the customer
again and find out more about
what they may want in the
future.
Some people do take unkindly to
being disturbed by a Telesales
call. Receiving one can produce
feelings of anger and
frustration, but it is important
to realize that it is just
people doing a job, trying to
make a living by selling
products. It is no different
from sitting through a
commercial in between your
favorite TV shows. Telesales
grabs the attention of a caller,
by using a friendly and calm
demeanor, for they want to keep
the receiver as calm as
possible.
Therefore, calling at times of
the day when a consumer will
feel more put out should not
happen. Those early morning
calls should be a no-go,
similarly calls made during the
evening hours when people are
sitting down to dinner are not
prime telesales call times.
Teleseller works because
consumer's often find it hard to
be impolite over the phone and
put up a stern objection to what
the caller is saying. It is rude
to interrupt someone who is
talking, even ruder to hang up
mid-conversation, and this is
how the Teleseller reaches out
to you. Hearing a friendly voice
will usually means that the
consumer listens to an entire
spiel before getting a chance to
say no.
Telesales is an art and what is
said by the Teleseller is, of
course, the all important
element of the call. The
dialogue will be well scripted
in order to get the sales point
across quickly, as well as
affording the teleseller the
best opportunity to get the
desired response from the
consumer. Being paid by
commissions for a sale, time is
of the essence and responding to
any questions in an efficient
manner will help the teleseller
net their catch. Having listened
to an entire sales pitch, it is
more than likely that something
will have caught the consumer's
attention.
A consumer can be a hot lead
because of purchases they have
made in the past, or because
some company has been tracking
their spending habits. Store
cards all record such
information and that is how they
know what promotional offers to
send out. Companies pay for hot
leads in order to try and push
the chances of making their own
sales.
The main point of a telesales
call is of course to get a
return for having made that
call. How much time is spent on
the sales pitch, how much a lead
costs, what percentage of leads
turn into sales, are all
elements which a Telesales
business has to consider. There
will be no sales if there are no
contacts. Outbound Telesales is
a good way for companies to
survive and make money, and can
often prove to be cheaper than
advertising or employing
on-the-road salespeople.
Source: Terry Stanfield
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