Telemarketing, the art of making sales calls to potential customers, has been a staple of sales and marketing strategies for decades. However, with the rise of digital marketing and the increasing popularity of online communication channels, many have wondered: is telemarketing dead?
In this blog post, we’ll explore how telemarketing is used in today’s sales and marketing strategies and how it differs from its past applications.
We believe that to say telemarketing or whatever the term is used such as cold calling or telephones sales, it’s not it’s telemarketing and to say it’s dead is lazy!!
**The Evolution of Telemarketing**
Telemarketing has undergone significant changes over the years. In the past, telemarketing was often associated with aggressive, high-pressure sales tactics, which led to a negative perception of the practice.
Everyone has seen the movie The Wolf of Wall Street and perhaps back in the day that was how our director Dean would have been. He’s from that era 25 or more years ago when telemarketing was a big thing! He would have been Leonardo, he’d tell you that but he’s not that pretty or rich!
Perhaps he was that good but with morales, nice guys never win and all that.
He once told us a story of a time working for a well known over 60’s insurance provider and having to leave that job as he felt he was forcing grannies to get their credit card to buy a product and upsell them just to meet his targets, that didn’t sit right with him morally so he left after 3 months.
However, with the advancement of technology and changing consumer behaviours, telemarketing has evolved to become a more targeted, personalised, and respectful approach.
**The Shift to Consultative Selling**
Consultative selling, focuses on building relationships and providing value to potential customers. This approach involves researching the customer’s needs, identifying pain points, and offering solutions. Consultative selling is more about having a conversation than making a hard sell.
It’s like how inbound telemarketing has always been where because it’s inbound you are more customer focused and so you ask lots of questions and try and identify the need because they came to us.
But when telemarketing it is still a cold call so you’ve got to sort of hoodwink them early on into a position where you can treat them as if they were inbound. It feels better for the customer and is much more customer centric, some believe.
Others have chosen just to stop telemarketing and cold calling as they believe its #dead but that’s just not true, it’s just more complicated. Just because something doesn’t work for you doesn’t mean it’s bad.
**The Role of Telemarketing in Today’s Sales and Marketing Strategies**
Firstly we believe telemarketing still has a place in a joined up marketing strategy. Yes digital is available and there is so much choice but it doesn’t mean it’s not one of the choices.
Telemarketing is no longer just about making cold calls to sell products or services. It’s now an essential component of a comprehensive sales and marketing strategy. Here are some ways telemarketing is used today:
1. **Lead Generation**: Telemarketing is used to generate leads, qualify prospects, and identify potential customers. Cold telemarketing so to speak
2. **Account Development**: Telemarketing helps build relationships with existing customers, identifying new business opportunities, and upselling or cross-selling products or services. Warm telemarketing so to speak
3. **Market Research**: Telemarketing provides valuable insights into customer needs, preferences, and pain points, helping businesses refine their products and services. Warm telemarketing so to speak
4. **Customer Retention**: Telemarketing is used to maintain customer relationships, address concerns, and ensure customer satisfaction. Warm telemarketing so to speak
5. **Marketing follow up** Telemarketing is used to follow up marketing campaigns such as to newsletter subscribers or followers on social channels for example. Warm telemarketing so to speak.
**The Benefits of Telemarketing in Today’s Sales and Marketing Strategies**
Telemarketing offers several benefits in today’s sales and marketing strategies:
1. **Personalisation**: Telemarketing allows for personalised interactions, enabling businesses to tailor their approach to individual customers.
2. **Accountability**: Telemarketing provides a measurable way to track the effectiveness of sales and marketing efforts.
3. **The 3 R’s**: Marketing has always been about the 3 R’s Rich Person, Right Message and Right Time. It along with Linkedin are two channels where you can cut right through to the key decision maker with the right message and all you need then is the right time. With most other channels you will have a high miss rate on all three but with telemarketing you will have high accuracy on two of those R’s.
4. **Relationship Building**: Telemarketing helps build trust and establish relationships with customers, leading to increased loyalty and retention.
**The Future of Telemarketing**
As technology continues to evolve, telemarketing will likely adapt to incorporate new tools and strategies. Some potential developments include:
1. **Artificial Intelligence (AI)**: AI-powered telemarketing tools will help automate and optimise telemarketing efforts. AI Sales already exists although you can’t beat a human interaction
2. **Virtual and Augmented Reality**: Telemarketing may incorporate virtual and augmented reality to enhance the customer experience.
3. **Social Media Integration**: Telemarketing will likely integrate with social media platforms to leverage customer data and preferences.
We believe that the price point of telemarketing has been challenged given its battle in the place of marketing options and that will be an issue. It will have to compete with low cost and most likely poor AI Sales and with digital channels which can be cheaper.
We have chosen to offer 2 models therefore.
- We do inhouse telemarketing at a cost of £220 per day with English speaking telemarketers with more than 10 years experience that offer consultative selling and or hard closing capable of a lead a day perhaps. *Minimum of 5 days a month*
- We also offer an offshore telemarketing option at £110 per day with telemarketers with an American accent calling in English hours, trained by us that typically generate 1 or 2 leads a day. *Minimum of 7 days a month*
**Conclusion**
Is telemarketing dead? Absolutely not. Telemarketing has evolved to become a valuable component of today’s sales and marketing strategies.
2 Free Tips for Boosting Your Telemarketing Efforts
1. Gamify your calling
Telemarketing or also referred to as cold calling if cold, can be a tough and lonely space to be. Always facing rejection and all the rejection makes you feel like it’s dirty work.
Let’s flip this and look at it differently. If only 1 in 5 people are happy to have a conversation it means 4 will reject you. For some who are selling products or services tougher to sell that will be 1 in 10 or 1 in 15. So each no is like a step closer to a yes.
We can treat it that way so now a rejection or someone acting up to receiving your cold call is not a negative, it;s gold. You can dust it off and laugh it off. This will stop a negative call ever affecting your tone of voice or the quality of your work as it has many callers, even the most experienced if they let it.
Also trying to call for 3 hours at a time is impossible. As humans we lack focus ability after time. Research suggests that the human brain can sustain attention on a single task for approximately 45 to 50 minutes before performance begins to decline. Thus, taking short breaks every hour can help rejuvenate focus
So do your efforts in bursts of 30 – 45 minutes, go take a break, make a drink or whatever and then return to have another focused session.
This will help you to keep focused but also mentally strong.
Block out all distractions and commit to the session no excuses no matter what and you’ll succeed and see productivity improve whilst never feeling dirty or negative.
Try the same method even if you are not calling cold it works for any telemarketing calls.
2. Use of technology
CRM:
Hubspot :-
HubSpot’s Sales Hub provides scalable tools starting with free CRM features like contact management and email tracking. You can even call from its platform. It also has AI tools for creating content and email marketing etc.
You can start with the free plan and then upgrade to the Starter plan (£16/month) adds automation and productivity tracking. The Professional plan (£80/month) offers advanced automation and custom reporting, while the Enterprise plan (£120/month) includes predictive lead scoring and custom objects. These tools enhance cold calling with call tracking, recording, lead scoring, and seamless integration capabilities, making HubSpot versatile for sales management
Zoho: :-
Zoho CRM offers a comprehensive suite of telemarketing tools starting at £18 per user per month. Features include automated call logging, follow-up scheduling, and real-time analytics. Additionally, it provides a 15-day free trial to explore its capabilities, making it a versatile option for managing telemarketing activities
Pipedrive:-
Pipedrive is known for its automation capabilities, starting at £12 per user per month. It simplifies scheduling follow-ups and moving leads through sales funnels. Key features include call routing, call scripts, call recording, and comprehensive analytics to monitor outbound campaigns, enhancing telemarketing efficiency
All 3 of the above platforms offer robust telephony features that facilitate efficient telemarketing and sales activities directly from within their platforms. They can connect to your emails so that all emails in and out get logged automatically and have email tracking features which can be useful.
Data:
Lusha:-
Lusha is a powerful tool for providing contact data, including mobile numbers and direct lines, suitable for sales and marketing teams. Lusha’s pricing starts at approximately £30 per user per month for the basic plan. Features include:
- Data Accuracy: High-quality, verified contact information.
- Ease of Use: Simple integration with CRM systems like Salesforce and HubSpot.
- Data Coverage: Comprehensive database for B2B contacts, including emails and direct phone numbers.
These features make Lusha an excellent choice for teams needing accurate and reliable contact information at a reasonable cost.
Cognism:-
Cognism offers robust data solutions tailored to lead generation and sales prospecting, starting at around £70 per user per month. Its key features include:
- Data Quality: Accurate and compliant data, including mobile numbers and direct dials.
- Real-Time Insights: Access to real-time data and analytics to enhance sales strategies.
- CRM Integration: Seamless integration with major CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot.
Cognism is particularly beneficial for teams looking to enhance their outbound sales efforts with high-quality data and insights.
Apollo.io:-
Apollo.io is an integrated platform offering extensive contact data and sales engagement tools, starting at £20 per user per month. Key features include:
- Contact Data: Comprehensive database with verified emails and direct lines.
- Sales Automation: Tools for email sequencing, lead scoring, and task automation.
- CRM Sync: Integration with popular CRMs for streamlined data management.
Apollo.io is ideal for businesses looking to combine contact data acquisition with sales engagement capabilities at an affordable price.
ZoomInfo:-
ZoomInfo is a premium platform offering extensive B2B contact data and advanced sales intelligence, with pricing starting around £12,000 per year. Key features include:
- Data Coverage: Extensive database with high accuracy, including mobile numbers and direct lines.
- Advanced Insights: Tools for lead enrichment, intent data, and predictive analytics.
- Automation and Integration: Built-in email and dialer automation, strong CRM integrations.
ZoomInfo is suitable for larger businesses with substantial budgets, offering comprehensive data and advanced tools for sales and marketing teams.
These platforms provide valuable data and tools for telemarketing and sales prospecting, catering to different budget levels and business needs. Each offers unique features and pricing structures to help businesses enhance their sales strategies effectively.
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