Telemarketing Managers

As promised, this post is devoted to how to find a great Telemarketing Manager (or how to turn the person you have into a great Telemarketing Manager!)

When hiring a manger to run a call center, I suggest that you look for the following attributes:

  • Fun
  • Positive Outlook
  • Energetic
  • Sense of Humor
  • Organized
  • Intelligent
  • Basic Computer Skills
  • Strong Phone Skills

You may notice that I listed strong phone skills last. I have actually found that being a top telemarketer themselves is not that important. Managing a team of telemarketers requires an understanding of telemarketing, but more importantly, it requires an endlessly positive attitude, good people skills and fabulous organizational skills.

My advice is always, hire the person with the right personality for the job – then train the rest! You can train management skills, computer skills, even phone skills…. You can put procedures and systems in place to ensure the call center runs smoothly…. But you can’t make a miserable person happy! So hire the happy person. That energy and enthusiasm will always keep spirits high in a telemarketing room. And happy telemarketers get better results!

So, what to do if you have a manager who isn’t getting the results you need? Firstly, evaluate them. Are they positive, bubbly, helpful, friendly? If not, you may need to find someone new. If however, they do possess these attributes, then provide them with training. My book, Recruit, Train, Motivate was written for this very purpose. It will help you with every aspect of running a Top Telemarketing room. You can also consider training courses run in your area or even one on one coaching.

Happy Telemarketing!

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Telemarketing Management – how to get consistent results from your Telemarketing

I’m currently working with a direct sales business that relies on its telemarketing room to produce all of the sales appointments for their sales team.

Running a team of telemarketers is a very cost effective way to set appointments. On the downside though is the risk of having a bad night. If the telemarketing team has a bad night, then the whole business is affected – with no sales appointments, there are no sales!

So how do you ensure consistent results?

In truth, it is not a perfect world. Staff will come and go, some days they will be energetic and get good results and others they will be tired and lethargic.

The best advice I can give anyone is to have a great leader for your telemarketing team.

A good leader can keep the energy levels up through leading by example. A good leader can get on the phone herself and show the team how to do great calls as well as lifting the teams expectations and mood. A good leader can provide training to develop the telephone skills of your telemarketing team. A good leader, can measure the success of your telemarketing scripts, objection handling and your offer.

Simply by being a positive and warm person, a good leader can turn a group of telemarketers into a strong telemarketing team, a team that respects him and wants to get top results to be recognized by him. A good balance between fun and discipline is the secret to providing the right environment for telemarketers. An upbeat energy, a bit of fun by way of games or conversation, balanced with the knowledge that we have a job to do and to do well, is just the right formula.

See my next post for how to find the right person to lead your telemarketers, or how to train the person you have into the right person.

Happy Telemarketing!

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Where to find good Telemarketing Staff

I received an email from a reader of this site a few days ago. Her question was such a good one, that I thought I would share the information with everyone!

The question was….Where should I advertise to get good staff? She was paying commission only and had trouble in finding and keeping the right staff.

Your starting point should always be…. What time is the telemarketing shift and what type of person do you need making calls?

One of my clients has a shift that starts at 4.30pm and finishes at 8pm each weekday. It is a role where they simply need people who have basic telemarketing skills, but who can have a bit of fun with the clients. So for this role, I recommend advertising on the job pages of university and college websites. Students are always looking for good part time work and telemarketing fits the bill perfectly.

However, if you needed a professional telemarketer to call businesses, you may advertise in online job sites (find one that suits your industry) or even in local papers – particularly if you need your telemarketing staff to come into your office.

If you know what type of person you need to fill the role, then you have a great starting point for where to advertise to find that type of person.

It also makes sense to make sure that you use a well written advertisement and that your offer is a good one. So for instance, if you are advertising a commission only role, make sure the advertisement excites the reader and promises them big opportunity and earning potential.

Once you are getting calls in, then you will need to learn how to interview well and how to train your telemarketer to get top results. Recruit, Train, Motivate is a great resource on how to do all of this and more. Go to our store page to find out more about our book.

Happy Telemarketing!

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When you are not getting the Telemarketing results you want… An action Plan!

One of the biggest problems faced by any telemarketer, particularly if you are working alone or responsible for managing staff, is knowing how to turn a poor result around into a good result.

Sometimes we are just having a bad day, or a bad week. But what happens when that bad week turns into a bad month? It can really seem overwhelming to figure out what part of your call needs work? Is it you, the script, the offer, or is the problem something else all together.

When you find yourself in this situation the first thing to know is… you are not alone! In any type of Sales it is common to have periods of time where it just doesn’t feel right, or where you are not making the amount of sales you know you should be making.

This may be a good time to get some outside help in. An outside eye (and ears) can usually pick up on any issues very quickly, because they are not emotionally involved in the challenging situation.

If that option isn’t available to you, then maybe this quick checklist will help…

  • Do you have a script? If not, why not? Scripts give your call structure and ensure that when you find a process that works, you can keep using it exactly… call after call! For more on Telemarketing Scripts please spend some time reading the free information on our website.
  • Has your script been proven to work? If it has, then there’s a good chance it isn’t the script that is the issue. If it hasn’t then it may need some tweaking. Try changing any sections of the script where you feel that you are losing clients’ interest. Once you have made a change, measure it, analyse it….. are you getting better results? If not, try another tweak, one by one, until you get it right.
  • How are your energy levels? Have you let a bad day on the phones get you down? Do you sound defeated and deflated? If you do, then step away from the phone and find a way to refresh your energy levels! No-one wants to talk to boring, sad you…they will however, be pleased to talk to energetic, positive you…. So take a break, do something that you enjoy, then get back to it when you are feeling more enthusiastic and confident about the results you can get.
  • Is your offer a compelling one? Are your clients responding to your offer? Are they excited by it, or do they seem disinterested? Here’s a better question…. Are you excited about your offer? If you are not, your customers will not be either. Make sure your offer makes it very clear to your client…”What’s in it for them.” Most of your call should be focused on your client and what they will get out of doing business with you, not on you and what you want to sell.
  • Are you making enough calls? Sales always has been and always will be a numbers game. You need to work those numbers. Keep statistics on your calls so you can see exactly how many calls you need to make to get a sale. Now you have a solid success formula. If you want to make more sales, you now have 2 choices…. Work harder, meaning make more calls, or work smarter by honing your phone skills with some of our free sales skill tips from the website. Either way, your results will improve.

Hope this helps.

Happy Telemarketing!

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