Telephone-based sales generation still plays an important role in an organization's direct marketing efforts. But some people and businesses fail to implement responsible outbound cold-calling practices. Moreover, the National Do Not Call Registry in the UK and the US threatens to bring telesales and cold-calling to a stop. Is this really the end for the telesales industry?

The Question of Importance
The telephone has been utilized as a tool for acquiring new business ever since it was invented. It has been primarily used for setting up appointments as well as selling all sorts of merchandise from property to gadgetry. It has been a powerful tool in increasing leads and sales.

In the past years however, telephone marketing has earned a bad name for itself. Scammers and fraudulent business entities have used it to take money from the unaware. This has been the reason why just the mere mention of "telesales" aroused hatred in consumers the world over. These conmen though represent a small chunk of the telesales sector.

Outbound cold-calling could be an excellent option for companies that are seeking for a revenue-increasing but cost-effective way to acquire new business. It is way easier and faster than doing face-to-face sales and it enables businesses to reach out to more prospect or potential customers in one day than they can with direct mail or print advertisement.

Do It Right
If done properly, telesales can still be the best choice to market a product or service. The outcome is easily measured by the number of leads, appointments or sales generated. It takes out the burden of guessing and it could provide a significant ROI.

Businesses that are contemplating on launching a telesales campaign must have a well-thought of phone-based marketing strategy. It would not hurt to analyze all its aspects and follow certain rules and regulations to achieve success. These rules include:

Following state and federal telesales laws. This means checking call lists against the Do Not Call Registry or Telephone Preference Service
If the prospects do not want to proceed with the call, show professional courtesy and thank them for taking the call. Avoid over zealousness to prevent leaving a negative impression about the company being represented.

There is no such thing as a perfect script or call guide. As the name implies, these are just "guides" for enabling salespeople to know where they are in a call. These scripts should aid agents to sound conversant, not robotic.

Use a well-targeted call list. This provides a greater chance of getting more qualified leads.

Overcome the Fear
As most salespeople would say, telesales is not for the week of hearts. Many people say that teleselling is not a legitimate job because it sounds so easy, but being hung up on or being declined a hundred times or more a day can be emotionally stressful.

Telesales firms should remunerate their agents accordingly and give them incentives for hard work and good performances. These will keep them inspired and focused to achieve the company's goals.

It may have earned a bad reputation, but telesales remains a lucrative method to generate new business. The responsibility is left to the telesales companies to make sure that they always practice effective and conscientious telephone-selling.

Source: Anne Geller link