Evaluating Telemarketing and Telesales Companies
In today’s day and age of digitalised communication, it is interesting to see that
many businesses still prefer the personal, telephone contact for closing deals.
There are several ways in which telemarketing and telesales can be an effective
tool for increasing sales and customer response rates. But first let us learn about
the difference between telemarketing and telesales.
Telesales
Under telesales, prospects are approached directly with the intention of making a
sale. It is a service that sells products and services to customers directly over
the phone. Telesales calls are completely cold calls, which means, numbers are called
straight from a directory. The calls may also be based on marketing information
such as emails, social media contact, telemarketing calls and so on.
Telemarketing
This is a broader approach that involves increasing brand awareness, closing of deals,
seeing of information or soliciting feedback on the marketing program. It is a service
that is used for generating interest, creating opportunities and providing information.
It is also used for making appointments with decision makers, obtaining feedback
from customers and producing leads. Sales calls made to existing customers or clients
usually fall under the telemarketing bracket.
Telemarketing and telesales are effective methods for marketing. They continue to
be a common means for communicating with existing customers in the B2C (Business
to Consumer) market. These two methods are also adopted by B2B (Business to business)
companies.
It is very important for businesses to know the difference between the two to determine
which service they need to invest in. You can also combine these services and make
it work for your business. While one service can help you generate a pool of potential
leads, another service can help you turn those leads into sales. While the telemarketing
team will set up appointments for your business, the telesales team will help close
the deal.
In order to produce dramatic results, it will become necessary that the telesales
and telemarketing teams are working together, planning, co-ordinating as well as
tailoring their approach. This is one of the main reasons why businesses need to
hire the best telesales
and telemarketing companies. Only a team of experts can understand the business
requirements and deliver desired results.
Evaluation of Service Provider
So if you have finally decided to hire a service provider for telemarketing or telesales
services, there are various factors on the basis of which you can evaluate the agency
and make a final choice. It is very important to evaluate service providers because
the company you choose will make or mar the impact of your marketing campaign. You
will need a service provider whom you can trust with your brand.
It is essential that you have chosen a reputed telemarketing company because your prospects are going to associate
the telemarketers with your company. They will assume that the telemarketers are
a part of your company. If they don’t talk nicely, it will affect your company’s
reputation. So handling that type of power to an outside agency will require a great
amount of trust.
Here are some of the factors that can be considered in order to evaluate a service
provider:
Whether you are hiring a telemarketing company or a telesales agency, it is important
to get some references. Would you buy a microwave without talking to friends, colleagues
or family members? Wouldn’t you want to look for recommendations or do some research?
The same is applicable when hiring a telemarketing agency. If you can’t find a direct
referral, when you are interviewing potential service providers, then it is better
to ask for references and get in touch with those references. Ask them if they were
satisfied with the services offered to them by the telemarketing agency.
Second way to evaluate a service provider is through asking questions. Don’t shy
away from asking them tough questions because you need to be extra sure before hiring.
You will not only be paying money to them for their services but your reputation
will also be at stake. So don’t hesitate in asking questions. You can ask them about
the engagements that went bad for them, why they went bad, what they did to fix
it and so on. A good telemarketing agency won’t shy away in answering these questions. They will
be more than willing to satisfy your queries before coming on board.
Defining clear goals is a necessity. As a business owner, you must ensure a good
return on your investment. In order to evaluate the ROI, you will have to know what
you got out of the service. So defining of goals is necessary. It will be easy to
see how much the telemarketing
agency is charging for the services but how are you planning to measure
success? What metrics you will be using for the same? It is recommended to have
a strong timeline for the performance reviews and progress reports.
Once you have evaluated the service provider, you also need to learn about the metrics
that can be used for measuring the success of your telemarketing campaign. You need
to know if the campaign is producing results or not and how to identify the issues,
if any. Whether you are handling telemarketing internally or outsourcing it to a
third party, you must know how to measure performance and solve underlying problems
that may impact the end results.
First metric is the database that needs to be relevant. It is necessary to ensure
that you are ringing the right prospects or the right companies in case of B2B telemarketing.
You need to know how many decision makers telemarketers have identified or confirmed
and whether or not they are getting through to the relevant decision makers.
Another metric is to see if telemarketers are getting the expected results when they
are speaking to the right person and whether or not they are making the right number
of calls.
These metrics can be used for identifying potential problem areas and then only the
full picture will be clear to you.
