These words, unfortunately, sum up what a lot of people feel about the cold calling and telemarketing process they labour so painfully under.
If people buy for two main reasons, namely avoiding pain or attaining pleasure, then how will people ever consider talking to you, much less buying from you, if the calling you do represents these negative stereotypes?
This can be changed largely by ensuring that when you start a call your attitude and approach is based on honesty (how good do you feel about willfully deceiving people?), and that you will ask questions to continually assure yourself and the person you’re speaking with that you both understand each other and are comfortable discussing a given topic or situation. Nothing of mutual value can happen between two parties without agreement.
Yes, it’s one of those titles where two words look identical but are so different in their meaning.
The prompt for this came from celebrated Time Management Coach, Clare Evans. Having received multiple calls from the same company, it was obvious that for Clare, their telemarketing staff weren’t interested in the former (conversation), and largely as a result of that, wouldn’t realise the latter (conversion) in any case.
With the emphasis on a focused approach to a finite number of contacts at 10 selected companies, and without the need to be tied into a long contract, phoneforbusiness launches the Top 10 Targets Telemarketing Program.
Recognising that not every company can afford to outsource ongoing or large scale cold calling efforts, phoneforbusiness has developed a simple and short-term program with the emphasis on determining outcomes for companies that know who they want to speak with but haven’t the time or the core skills to put such a campaign into practice in-house.
Finally, for those of you that hate the object on your desk that makes a noise, phoneforbusiness has created PhoneMentor
For the first time, a comprehensive breakdown of every aspect of successfully using the phone for business can be delivered direct to you, in short sections by email for just £1.00 per day over 50 days. Yes, that’s £50
Ideal if you don’t want to spend time and money out of the office and are still committed to growing your effectiveness and confidence on the phone. Just think what the alternative will cost. Painful, isn’t it?
Recession, recession, recession! Have you heard much about anything else in the news these past months? The point of today’s article is to outline why cold calling (and telemarketing in general) shouldn’t be discounted as a means of starting and developing new business relationships.
While many businesses are laying off staff, cutting costs in some of the most dangerous areas and generally forecasting downturns in profit, other businesses whose marketing activities remained an important, constant part of the business plan are weathering the economic storm and some are actually thriving.
It seems as many songs have been written with the telephone central to its lyric than there have been songs written about any other means of communication, even including letters. Why is this?
You don’t see songs about email and there’s only one that I know of about SMS.
Probably the most important communications made in any country in the world are to the emergency services. The telephone remains the only way to reach people with any immediacy. How many times do people say: “I’ll just email the emergency services”?. On mobiles, even the fastest fingers won’t reach for the keypad if time is of the essence.
It’s a fact: The majority of people don’t like using the telephone in business. This can apply equally to those receiving calls (decision makers, high ranking officers, heads of department), or those tasked with making calls. So why do some people make the situation more difficult than it has to be?
There’s no magic bullet of course. The point is not to make your call sound like a sales call. Easier said than done, I hear you say. Perhaps, but here are nine nasty “No-No’s” to avoid at all costs that will give you away as the slimy salesperson people love to hate and that’ll significantly hamper your chances of holding court with decision makers:
I know this is a telemarketing subject guaranteed to generate discussion whenever results suffer due to a lack of access to decision makers. It’s also why those who’ve had success in dealing with gatekeepers continue to share their experiences on the subject. Here’s my take.
A veteran of telephone-based business development since 1994, Shaun has taught others to use the telephone successfully in business and continues to refine and practice what he preaches.
