Telesales often receives bad press and publicity mainly from customers and members of the public who themselves had many a bad experience, but employed correctly many companies realize the benefits telesales has and the success it can bring with quality-driven sales leads.

Even before a call is placed there are a number of vital requirements that will determine the success of any telesales campaign. The first and perhaps most crucial is ensuring that all telesales representatives are professionally trained and fully qualified. Engaging the captive audience and empathetically understanding customers needs, wants and desires will go a long way in securing those much sought after quality sales leads. Voicing expression, interaction and tone as opposed to the perception of reading a process driven script is also good practice although usually a challenging one to maintain. Telesales personnel should also have at least a basic understanding of the company and products and services that are offered especially any recent developments in the portfolio or company itself that might impact on the sales side of the business.

Having the exact right personnel or telesales company will all be in vain if the quality of the database is inadequate. An out of date database will usually be a major stumbling block that not only shows incompetence but also produces inefficiencies by contacting customers with the wrong details.
The quality of the contacts in the database will also have a direct impact on the amount of quality driven sales leads.

Many call recipients often get left frustrated by the timing of telesales calls. Indeed it is this that usually bears the brunt of the negative connotations associated with telesales sales calls. This may have to do with overseas telesales operations, which again adds weight to domestic telesales services and companies. There may not be many convenient times to call so sometimes being too pushy or forceful will usually end up not getting anywhere. Instead an increasingly used tactic and strategy is asking for a new convenient time to call back. Being polite, courteous as well as generally being interested and enthusiastic goes a long way in relaxing the customer, creating a friendly atmosphere in which they are more likely to complete a sale of transaction or service.

Source: Harry Pearce link