Written by As you may know, we provide telemarketing services to businesses across the UK. But if you want to give it a go yourself, then these tips from the experts should help you get your campaigns up and running.
#1 Start with your data
To run a telemarketing campaign, you need people to call, right? Of course you do. So, if you don’t have a database, step one is going to be creating that database. You can start with some online research into the companies that you’re interested in approaching – LinkedIn and Sales Navigator are a great place to start.
Then you need to build up your insights into those companies – you’ll need contact details, including names and numbers, for the decision makers you want to speak to.
It’s worth spending a decent amount of time on building this database, so you don’t have to keep stopping and adding new people – investing that time at the start can save you plenty of time in the long run. And if you want to skip this step – well, we have database building services, too, so you can get that underway and work on the next tips ready for your campaign.
#2 Plan your approach
Who will you be contacting? How can you segment your new database into themes – across industry or job role, perhaps? What type of outreach will be best for each segment? What are their pain points and needs?
Having a database is just the start – you don’t want to just start at the top of the list and work your way down without a plan. If you have a number of different industries in your list, focus on one at a time, work out what matters to them, and refine your approach to each one. Similarly, if you’re speaking to marketing managers and office managers, you’ll want different tactics for each.
Some people respond better to email outreach followed by a phone call, so plan whether or not you’ll be trying that method with any of your contacts.
#3 Tailor your messaging
If you’ve planned your approach, you’ll have an idea of the different pain points and concerns each of your audience segments have. And that means you’ll have an indication of how you might want to tailor your messaging to each of them.
Each segment will have different priorities, different needs, and different objections, so you need to have a clear plan for them all. Work out those pain points and see how your business might address them. Sketch out each segment and the scripts or frameworks for reaching out to each of them.
#4 Refine your messaging
Just because you’ve got a plan for the specific segments, doesn’t mean you’re done. You need to refine your messaging even further, because while a lot of businesses use “we do X, Y, and Z” as a basis for their introduction, that’s not the most effective way to start.
When you’re crafting your messaging, put yourself in your audience’s shoes and ask why they should care. If we called you and said, “Hi, we’re LeadRetriever and we’re experts in telemarketing,” would that be of interest? Maybe, but only if you were already thinking about telemarketing.
But if we called, knowing that you’re likely under pressure to deliver more sales, we’d say something more relevant to you. Something like, “Hi, how’re things? Are you delivering the pipeline your business needs to reach your goals, or is a lack of leads holding you back?” – that’s not actually the exact thing we might say (can’t give away all our secrets), but look at the key difference. The first example is all “we” whereas the second is focused on “you”, the audience.
#5 Manage your tone
Not everyone likes to get cold calls – in fact, more people would prefer not to receive them than welcome them.
So, it’s important that your messaging is combined with the right tone for your audience. That might be formal or informal, upbeat or calm, depending on your specific audience segment. The key is to remain polite and professional at all times.
It’s also helpful not to sound like you’re reading from a script and can’t deviate. People need human connection, so if you’re robotically reciting from your script, you’ll struggle to find that connection you need to build a relationship and engage with the person you’re calling.
#6 Thicken your skin
Easier said than done, but you’ll need to develop a thick skin to be a telemarketer. You’ll hear “no” more often than “yes” and that can be demoralising.
If you’re using the right sort of messaging – that which speaks to your audience’s needs – and you’re polite and respectful, you shouldn’t expect to get abuse, but you will get some frustration or simple hang-ups when you make your calls. That’s to be expected, and it’s part of the job.
Having a good team around you is a great way to help with this – you need to be able to interact with others positively, especially after a difficult call or a run of “no”s.
A useful exercise is to target yourself on how many calls end in a no. After all, the more you get, the more calls you’ve made. You could treat yourself after a set number of rejections, so you’re almost eager to hit that target. As you’re building up those calls, you’ll inevitably get some positives along the way, but even the rejections won’t affect you so much if you’re positively collecting them.
#7 Learn and handle objections
Another thing to do with those rejection calls is to collect all of the objections you hear and start to formulate responses to them. Some might be easier to refute than others, but if you get a new one that you don’t have an immediate answer to, you should make a note of it and build up a response when you have more time to think.
Your tone is important with objection handling, because you don’t want to sound desperate or defensive. Asking questions can be a good way to draw out more information, without sounding surly because you’ve received an objection. Ask why they feel that way, or what their strategy is, or if they can share how they’re succeeding using an alternative product or service.
#8 Befriend gatekeepers
One of the toughest challenges for a telemarketer is getting past the gatekeeper – the person who answers the phone but isn’t who you want to speak to.
Gatekeepers are often considered roadblocks, but there’s no need to build an us versus them situation – because you won’t win. Consider their priority – it’s not to avoid ever speaking to a salesperson, it’s to protect the time of the person whose phone they’re answering. So, if you’re trying to pitch to the person you’re calling, then yes, you have opposing priorities. But if you reframe your approach as helping, you’ll have a different tone with the gatekeeper.
That’s not to say you’ll always get through, but don’t feel like you can only speak to your ideal target. If you truly have a product or service with real value, then talk to the gatekeeper about it. Ask them questions, seek their opinion, and build a relationship with them. Don’t think of them as the enemy, think of them as another person you need to get on your side.
If all of this sounds like too much, we understand. Give us a whistle and we’d be happy to talk about your next campaign.