Monday, October 25, 2010

Appointment Setting - A Means to Achieve Business Growth

Appointment setting is one of the many factors that contribute to the success of businesses. This is an important and crucial process specially when looking to establish a connection with clients. This however is not an easy task, so you need to take some careful thought to achieve success.

Outsourcing this kind of service is becoming popular these days, this is more beneficial because it is cost-effective compared to hiring in house appointment setters. The agents who will call are also well trained so you don't have to spend so much of your time training your own people.

What you only have to do here is to provide the outsourced company all the qualifications and contacts to start up your campaign.

When you want to hire another company to set up an appointment for you, there should be an assurance that agents have the knowledge and understanding of the products being offered. They should also be able to communicate all the information well to the customers.

The success of an appointment setting campaign does not only lie on being able to set a meeting with all your potential clients. It also requires constant learning through practice, there are always new ways and means to achieve better results. It is not the only factor that contributes to business growth but setting appointments is a crucial process.

It is definitely a must in any business marketing arsenal. If you have a good process in setting up appointments you'll better launch your business to the road of success.


Thursday, October 14, 2010

Thirsty For Leads? Make Way For Teleprospecting Magic

Salespeople everywhere constantly find themselves caught in difficult situations. Being declined in person or over the phone is nothing new to them. This is the reason why many businesses have been hiring teleprospecting companies to help their sales teams carry a huge burden. Several companies that want to remain competitive have taken the leap because of teleprospecting's effectiveness in qualifying leads. But will it work for your business?

Business-to-business teleprospecting is a great means to generate and qualify leads. It helps businesses avoid the lengthy and tedious process of finding prospects using other methods. Instead of utilizing a large database of potential clients that may or may not yield results, teleprospecting identifies those who are genuinely interested and increases the rate of conversion.

There are many good and talented teleprospectors who are very well trained to perform lead generation tasks. They have ample experiences speaking with top-level decision makers and are extremely knowledgeable in identifying pain points that will help make a prospect consider purchasing certain products or services. It is a cost efficient decision to let a teleprospecting company select legitimate prospects rather than have inside salespeople waste their attention on inappropriate leads.

Just how much help can you get from teleprospecting?

• Teleprospecting agencies only hire well-qualified marketing staff to provide high-quality leads.
• It allows your sales professionals focus on prospects who are most likely to buy.
• It pinpoints customers from your CRM and other marketing initiatives that may have been overlooked.
• Your chosen teleprospecting company stays in touch with your inside sales team to provide continuous update on leads that require close attention.
• It speeds up your business development helping you maintain your competitive edge.

If your business is struggling to grow, it is probably high-time for you to make the ultimate decision and let teleprospecting do lead generation wonders for your company.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

How To Achieve Outbound Telemarketing Success

Outbound telemarketing process is the professional use of the telephone to generate sales and advertise a company's product or service. Virtually all types of businesses today either have their own telephone marketing teams or outsource outbound cold-calling services to third party telemarketing firms.

Outbound cold-calling is a job that requires professional teleselling skills, patience and persistence. Below are some of the ways to achieve outbound telemarketing success:

1. Always maintain a prospective attitude. Be positive and optimistic each calling day. The job requires you to befriend the telephone, so spend as much time with it as you can to increase your opportunities for finding new business. Be confident (but not overly) in all your calls.
2. Before you are able to speak with the decision maker, you must first get past the receptionist or the gatekeeper. Gatekeepers, as most salespeople say, are necessary evils in the world of business. They may pose challenges to your cold-calling job, but they are not the enemies. Being polite and friendly when talking to them usually works, and if you ask them for help in directing you to the right person, they usually do.
3. Make sure to speak and close sales with and only with decision makers no matter what size the business is. Conduct your product discussions and negotiations with only them and not anyone else in order to avoid wasting time. For SMEs, it is common that the person who decides is the owner.
4. Be careful what you tell your prospects or customers. Do not mislead them or confuse them with pricing and offers. If you promise to give them discounts or freebies, make sure you are true to your word. Misleading statements or misrepresentation is a no-no in the telemarketing industry because it negatively impacts the way customers or prospects perceive the company you are calling for.
5. Telemarketing or cold-calling is your job, and you should always be prospecting. In each call, your main purpose is to make the customers or prospects see the value in your offer. The more people you speak with, the better your chances are at making a sale or scheduling an appointment. Perform timely follow-up calls so as not to waste business opportunities.

Telemarketing is not for everyone. If you really have the knack for telephone sales and you possess the skills it requires, then you have a great chance of succeeding. Do not involve yourself in it half-heartedly or just because the pay is good. Like any other job, you can perform better if you like and love what you do.