7 Telemarketing Tips For The Self Employed
If you are self employed in any field then adding Telemarketing to your repertoire will serve you well!!
It really doesn't matter what business you are Self Employed in; Retail, Home-based, Service or Products...there is a Telemarketing solution for you.
Telemarketing is worth considering for just one reason...it works! Reaching people by phone is quick, cost-effective, easy and has been shown to get results time after time. By pro-actively searching for your next customers you put yourself ahead of the rest.
We know that the majority of small business fails in the first 5 years of trading. The only reason for this is that most self employed people start working for themselves because they are an expert in their industry and at what they do. But that doesn't make them an expert in marketing their business.
Unfortunately, too many people go into business believing that their clients will find them. Good business is far more pro-active than that. Being self employed is great when you are making money....so find ways to get more business.
The good news is that I have 7 Tips here that will get you pointed in the right direction for Telemarketing Success.
1. Work out what part of your sales process should be done by phone. Do you have a product or service that could be sold over the phone, or should you use telemarketing to generate qualified leads for your business. Maybe for you, it would be best to use Telemarketing to book appointments with potential clients.
Telemarketing is not necessarily a sales process unto itself. In fact it is best used in conjunction with other sales methods like a mail out, customer survey or face to face appointment.
2. Write yourself a script or at least comprehensive guidelines for the call you will make. This process really needs its own article, but the basics are; build rapport quickly, don't try to sell too early, ask lots of open ended questions to gather personalised information, make your call all about the customer and what's in it for them, listen to the client and use a closed question to guide the customer to say "yes."
3. Make a list of every objection you know your clients could give you. Now write a script for each of those. If you are prepared for whatever happens during the call it will go a lot smoother. Objection handling scripts should be short, logical and should lead the client right back into your main call script.
4. Make sure you have good quality phone numbers to call. This may mean that you buy a list from a list broker or that you employ another source of lead generation to gather contacts. If you do purchase a list, make sure you have "scrubbed" or "washed" the list according to the "Do Not Call" laws in your territory.
5. Get organised. Do not even pick up the phone until you have everything you will need pre-prepared. Too many people tell themselves they are Telemarketing for an hour, when really they spend most of the hour shuffling paper, looking things up online or doing other time wasting activities.
6. Set aside time each day. I recommend calling for about 50 minutes, then taking 5 - 10 minutes as a break. Then feel free to start again. Setting time aside for Telemarketing will help you to not put it off. Some people suffer from Call reluctance, but if you have a big enough goal and you are disciplined this won't be a problem for you.
7. Build Rapport!! This is the single most important aspect of Telemarketing. Over the phone your client cannot see your smile, your friendly eyes and body language. This means that you need to communicate your message with your voice. Use your tone to connect with your client. People only ever buy off people they like, so make sure that you are instantly likeable. This may mean that you need to match your client. Matching is being like them, talking like they do with similar tone, speed and volume.
Follow these tips and you will be well on your way to increasing your clients and therefore your profits.
Cathy Halliday is a Telemarketing Expert having run Top Telemarketing Call Centre's for over 12 years. She is the owner of www.top-telemarkeing-tips.com a site devoted to providing Telemarketing advice to Call Centre Managers, Telemarketers, Sales Consultants and the Self Employed.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com
