You may already be familiar
with the words cold calling,
telesales and telemarketing.
Your idea of a telephone sales
professional may be very
positive: someone who calls
people on the telephone in
unlikely hours to sell
something. Let me give you a
bigger and more realistic
picture of what the telesales
world is really like and what
telesales professionals really
do and see for yourself how
wonderful it is. Who knows, you
might one day carve for yourself
a career in telemarketing, and a
successful one at that.
Over the years, as the word
'telemarketing' became popular,
it has evolved into two major
areas: business to consumer -
which refers to any business
that sells mainly to the end
consumer; and business to
business - which refers to any
business that deals primarily
with other businesses. Business
to consumer telemarketing seeks
to convert people into buyers in
a targeted and aggressive manner
while business to business
telemarketing tries to turn
prospects into loyal customers,
which usually involves a longer
process.
Both categories have two
distinct functions: inbound and
outbound.
Outbound calls usually involve
sales and surveys, while inbound
is generally considered as
customer service. If your job
entails customer service, you
are called a customer service
representative (CSR). If you
mainly handle sales, you are
called a telemarketing sales
representative (TSR).
Telemarketing calls are usually
combined with direct mail and
e-mail to increase its
effectiveness. Most of the time,
making follow up calls is
necessary until the deal is
closed.
Various strategies are employed
to get new businesses. Some
companies use hard selling,
where aggressive selling is
done, for prospective customers.
But for repeat customers, soft
selling usually works.
The steps below illustrate how
the sales call would go:
Opening. The telesales
professional gives his opening
statement that lets the prospect
know the company that wants to
do business with him and what
the product or service is that
is being offered.
Presenting. After getting the
needed information through a
series of questions, a solution
is being offered with all the
features and benefits of the
product/service.
Handling objections. Objections
or rejections can come up in any
stage of the sales call.
Telesales professionals are
expected to turn around
objections with rebuttals.
Closing. This is the culminating
part of your cold calling
efforts and you are expected to
ask for the sale.
Using a 'script' is a common
practice for telesales
professionals to be more
effective in selling. A
carefully written sales
presentation that also deals
with the different selling
scenarios that may arise is best
used as a guide instead of a
verbatim script to make your
delivery natural and
conversational.
Source: Heinrich
Churchill
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