subject: Telemarketing in a Nutshell [print this page] Telemarketing in a Nutshell Telemarketing in a Nutshell
If we look at the brief description of telemarketing, it is the marketing and selling of goods or services by the use of the telephone. Nowadays, it is not only used in order to sell something over the phone, it is also used in creating leads for companies or organizations, or providing information for companies or people like advertising a new product available in the market.
Telemarketing services can branch out to different categories but we can easily categorize them into two classifications. These services would either be inbound or outbound telemarketing services.
When we say inbound telemarketing, telemarketers would receive calls from customers that have an interest in purchasing a specific product or service that a business or an organization has to offer. This can cover a wide range of services that inbound telemarketers can give to their clients. Some examples of inbound telemarketing are taking orders for a variety of products on the market, ticket reservation for airline travel, or hotel reservation for tourists. Usually inbound call center agents require less training than that of outbound telemarketers since customers already have an interest in purchasing the products and services from a business even before the call was made.
For outbound telemarketing, telemarketers call probable customers from a list of leads in order to build good customer relations from either fresh or existing clients. For example, a company that provides internet service towards homes and businesses has a new and better service for their customers that would have better internet speeds than their previous services. The job of outbound telemarketers would then start to call customers from their database that may or may not have purchased a service before from their company. Now the telemarketer would then start to build the relationship by giving out the features and highlight the benefits of their new service towards their customers. Outbound telemarketers usually have more sales training than that of inbound telemarketers since more selling and persuading is involved. Also, product knowledge and familiarity must be observed throughout the entire span of the call.
Telemarketing firms can cope with completing their quotas each day with the advancement of technology. Today, things like the auto-dialer and the power of the internet can make things easier for a telemarketing call center agent.
Before companies and organizations seek the services of telemarketing firms, some factors need to be looked into to ensure the success of the goals for the company or organization. Some of these factors would include:
Develop a criteria wherein a complete marketing plan is involved
Establishing scripts for sales and other services that the telemarketing agent would follow
Sales outlines
Qualifications of the agents needed to answer the requirements of the business
Training of employees in back-office, front-office, and operation departments in the telemarketing firm for familiarity of the products and services and sales orientation
Commitment in achieving the daily quota
Aside from these factors that need to watch out for in a telemarketing firm, one thing companies and organizations need to look out for is the attitude towards the telemarketers work. Telemarketing call center agent should have a positive outlook towards their job description in order to produce the desired number of sales revenue for a set amount of time. If an agent would not have that positive drive for their line of work then that agent may be a liability towards the telemarketing firm and the organization that owns the products and services.
In hindsight, telemarketing is a proven way for effective inbound and outbound sales processing. It is also one of the more cost efficient processes to gather data and to complete the required amount of sales in order for an organization to gain profit.
