On this page I want to give you a quick and easy guide to the keys to Success for Telemarketers. The key to success for you, will depend on whether you are a Telemarketer, a Telemarketing manager or a Business Owner or Sales Professional.
Regardless of your interest in telemarketing, there are a few key traits you must have (or be willing to develop) to win in Telemarketing.
- You must enjoy speaking to people. Telemarketing involves spending many hours speaking with clients. You must enjoy people. You must like people and be open to them. A telemarketer who is closed off will find it hard to be great at it.
- A great Telemarketer is committed to their outcome. They have clear goals for each telemarketing shift and for each call. They will also have long term goals that their work will help the to achieve.
- You must overcome any call reluctance or fear of the phone. I have written a great section on this…. click here to read.
- The greatest key to success is a willingness to keep learning. There is in fact a lot to learn…. 12 years on and I am still learning new ways to read, connect with, interpret and present to clients. A desire to keep improving your skills will serve you well.
- Enoy a challenge and don’t expect it to be perfect. Sometimes calls are challenging. Learn to enjoy and relish the challenges as each one improves you in some way. Telemarketing and Sales are not perfect sciences. Clients do not always do what we want them to and we don’t always get our end of the call right either. So, the key to success……Be gentle with yourself. Accept that telemarketing is not perfect, that no-one is perfect. Relax and find ways to enjoy your work!
Below I have broken the page up into three sections. The idea is that I want to talk to each person with an interest in telemarketing in a way that suits their role. I really want you to understand the keys to success for you specifically.
Let’s start with people working as a Telemarketer, probably in a Call Centre.
Keys to Success for Telemarketers
- Find a job that suits you. Make sure the hours and location suit you. Try to find a job where you enjoy working with and for the other staff and where you are happy with your rate of pay. If you feel comfortable, appreciated and respected you are well on your way to success. For more on Telemarketing employment and jobs click here….
- Follow your script or call guide. Remember your focus should be on listening to and connecting with your customer, it should be on your tone, speed, volume and delivery…. not on your words.
- Be proud of what you sell. If you are selling an appointment, an idea, a product or a service…. find out all you can about it. Make sure you are clear on it’s benefits to your clients. Then you can call your customers with complete belief!
- Enjoy your work. Smile a lot. make a real effort to connect with your clients as people. Build rapport, listen to them, ask them relevant questions and your results will be fabulous.
Now I want to quickly speak to Call center managers and Supervisors. I have personally loved every year that I spent a s a telemarketing manager. We have a chance to provide an opportunity to our staff and our customers!!
Keys to Success for Telemarketing Managers
- Recruit well. By recruiting the right people in the first place, you will save many hours and a lot of money.
- Provide outstanding initial training to your new staff. This will prepare them well and give them a solid foundation of knowledge to build upon.
- Teach. Every shift you should be doing ongoing training with your staff. Telemarketing staff have a lot to learn and a lot to remember throughout their time with you. Find interesting ways to train each and every day, paying particular attention to role-play…. role-play builds amazing confidence in your staff! Click here for Telemarketing Training page….
- Motivate. Keep your staff motivated by providing a comfortable and fun working environment. Always be a positive influence in your call center. Lead by example and recognise great work. It’s easy to motivate call center staff……..and it’s fun too…
- Connect with your staff. Be a friendly manager, not a friend. Your staff have friends…. they need you to be a leader, a mentor, a trainer and sometimes a coach. If you need leadership training, ask for it.
and finally, I want to offer the Keys to Success to Sales Professionals, Consultants and Small Business Owners who are making their own telemarketing calls to increase their sales.
In this environment, you are often calling on your own which means you need some of the above skills…. and a few more…
Keys to Success for Sales Professionals, Small Business Owners and Consultants
- Time Management. Setting aside either a certain period of time each day or a required result each day is a must do. I recommend calling in 50 minute blocks and then taking a 5 minute break. So, you may set aside 2 hours, or maybe you will keep calling until you make 4 appointments or 2 sales…. you decide what works best for you.
- Organisation. Make sure you utilise your calling time each day by being completely organised prior to picking up the phone. Organisation is also required to keep good notes on each client for follow up contacts.
- Write a script or a call guide. This will give you complete clarity on what you will say prior to each call, leaving you free to focus on getting your message across with your tone, speed, volume and pacing. For a Telemarketing Script Sample click here……
- Make sure you understand both a basic sales Process and how people are influenced. Use this knowledge to work your sales call. Don’t jump ahead of yourself in your enthusiasm to make money. Work at your clients pace and you will reap the rewards. For more on the Sales Skills you need for Telemarketing Success click here….. and to find out how people are influenced click here…..
- Follow up. Be reliable and be a person of your word. If you say you will call at a certain time, make sure to do it. Remember a bad experience is talked about 10 times more than a good experience… So make your customers experience of you and your company a good one!
The keys to success are within your grasp. You will find pages and pages of honest telemarketing advice, presented in a real way and from my own experience on this site. I hope you get a lot this site and from your Telemarketing journey!
