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Tips For Creating a Respectful & Successful Telemarketing Approach

by Kathy Rizzo • October 22, 2009

Even in the B2B world, telemarketing can be viewed as intrusive and self-serving. However, for those marketing and sales professionals who take the time to deliver a respectful, thoughtful approach, telemarketing will initiate meaningful conversations with decision-makers, which will eventually impact your bottom-line. Following are nine tips to help you create a successful and respectful telemarketing approach:

1. Talk less, listen more. The best cold callers are not necessarily the best talkers—they are the best listeners. By asking open-ended questions such as: “How is that working for you?” or “Can you tell me more?” sets the stage for the prospect to open up. Additionally, making simple statements such as “that’s interesting” or even just stating a single word such as “fascinating” followed by a pause, encourages the prospect to continue talking and sharing information. Overall, a good talk/listen ratio is 30/70.
2. Set an agenda to guide your conversation. Verbatim script cannot start a real conversation. However, jumping into a call without clear direction will also fail. Thus, it’s important to create a conversation guide including key messages to convey, as well as pertinent open-ended questions to engage the prospect in a back and forth discussion. Additionally, the guide should list which pieces of information are critical to learn from the conversation.
3. Be relevant to the prospect. Telemarketing should not be a “shotgun” approach; rather it should be tailored to a specific audience. As you prepare your conversation guide, ask yourself two questions: “What is the reason for this call?” and ” Is it relevant to your target prospect?” To ensure relevance, consider the following exercise:

1. Identify – Identify a list of the business issues, pains and challenges your solution addresses for specific vertical markets, types of organizations and/or job functions.
2. Refine – Of those, select the top two that will resonate the most with your target audience.
3. Specify – Prepare messages to articulate how your solution can address the business issues and challenges that you’ve identified. Be as specific as possible in illustrating your value and relevancy. For instance, have a list of similar reference customers and/or be prepared to provide an example of quantifiable results you’ve achieved.

Adapt to your prospect’s personality. Now that you’ve identified the key problems for your target market, understand that different people may see the same problem in vastly different ways. The key to constructing a value proposition is to adjust your conversation according to the prospect’s personality. For instance, some are skeptics who will demand technical documentation for your case studies. Some are unique, and will be interested by your customization options. Others still want to avoid being an early adapter, so tell them about your customer base. Some will see no reason to change at all, but if you keep in touch when times are good, they’ll come to you when a problem does arise.

Engage the gatekeepers. A common mistake in telemarketing is trying to dodge or fool the gatekeeper. Instead, you should engage the gatekeeper. He or she is responsible for limiting distractions and meaningless interruptions that may disrupt their boss’s productivity. Therefore, show the gatekeeper that your content and message are worthwhile. If you treat the gatekeeper as a decision-maker, you are more likely to advance to the next level.

Don’t skip voice mail. Contrary to popular belief, the benefit of leaving voice mails is not the returned call. While a small percentage of your voice mails will be returned, a voice message more importantly acts as a 30-40 second advertisement to your prospects. A memorable voice mail will “warm up” your cold calls. The true benefit of voice mails is that a prospect is more likely to know your organization and why you are calling when you are able to reach him or her, which in turn can lead to a more productive and successful dialogue.

Maximize productive times and days. Telemarketing early in the morning maximizes your ability to reach high-level decision makers directly, and for many people, mornings are the time of day that they’re most energized. When calling multiple time zones, plan your day to hit each time zone at the optimal time. Statistically, for our organization, Wednesday and Thursday are the most productive days of the week for generating “leads” from cold calling, as prospects tend to be more readily available to talk. Knowing your most productive windows will help you to maximize your efficiencies by saving administrative work for slower times and increasing your dials during the peaks.

Use E-mail. Some people are simply too busy to answer the phone or return a call. However, that does not necessarily mean there is no interest or need. If you have attempted your target prospect via phone and have not been able to connect, then try this approach: Leave a detailed benefit-oriented voice mail referencing that you will follow-up via email as well. Immediately after leaving the voice mail, send a personalized email reiterating why you would like to connect, as well as a brief description of the benefits you offer (make sure it’s relevant!). On average, five percent of our conversations are initiated using this tactic. Word of caution: Depending on your organization’s privacy regulations, even one-to-one personalized emails may need to be restricted until email preference is obtained. Check your policies before you move forward.

Don’t give up too soon. New B2B telemarketing statistics illustrate that, on average, it requires more than five attempts to initiate a conversation with a decision-maker or influencer. Furthermore, the average number of telemarketing attempts before the daily production rate drops (point of diminishing returns) has increased to over seven attempts. Thus, if you are giving up after attempting your prospects only three or four times, you are not maximizing the potential from your telemarketing lists. If you have budget or time constraints and just can’t make enough attempts to reach the contacts in your target database, then spend some time further defining your “sweet spot” and narrow your focus, to optimize results.

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