Whether you’re new to telemarketing, have outsourced telemarketing previously, have an internal team of Telemarketers or you class yourself as a prospecting pro! The chances are, you’re wondering whether there is a way you can generate more sales appointments, more qualified sales leads and, in turn, increase your growth. In this article, we’re looking at what you can do to create a killer telemarketing pitch (you can also use these tips for your sales pitch) that is going to enable you to win over and wow new clients.
We should state here, The Lead Gen Specialists class ourselves as a non-scripted agency, and we are, but we still write scripts… an oxymoron if ever there was one!
Let us explain.
It is virtually impossible to write a telemarketing script that is going to resonate with every Decision Maker, in every business within your target prospect list. It’s also unfeasible to script a conversation. There are too many variables when it comes to having a peer-to-peer conversation with a prospect. So… if it’s impossible to do, why are we creating telemarketing scripts?
Telemarketing: Benefits not Features
Prospects aren’t interested in the features of your product or service. They want to know “what’s in it for me?”. Remembering this allows you to create a telemarketing script that resonates with your target audience, and converts prospects into new opportunities, sales and ultimately… new clients!
Let’s look at outsourced telemarketing services as an example of benefits, not features. The fact that we have a team of Telemarketers that can operate a phone, have access to a CRM, can deliver a message and work in the office 5 days a week, is a list of features; and whilst these features are highly important to us, it is not what is going to make people outsource their telemarketing to us. The reason that people outsource telemarketing services to a professional B2B telemarketing agency is because they are:
- Skilled, influential TelemarketersA highly skilled team of B2B telemarketing professionals that can engage with Senior Decision Makers in peer-to-peer discussions. Their ability to engage a Senior Decision Maker in a conversation, ascertain key information and deliver a complex sales message that resonates, and convert prospects into new sales leads takes the pressure off your internal sales team and leaves them to focus on getting more deals ‘over the line’ so to speak.
- A Dedicated ResourceDedicated telemarketing resource enables your business to engage with key Decision Makers in your target sectors, rather than ad hoc internal resource that is time constricted, and not necessarily skilled in prospecting.
- Cost-effectiveIt’s often more cost-effective to outsource your telemarketing resource rather than recruiting internally. The telemarketing agency has conducted the due diligence, they’ve spent time training, understanding how to get past gatekeepers and convert prospects that are interested in a commercial discussion.
These are just a few benefits that companies are experiencing when outsourcing their telemarketing activity.
It’s probably worth noting here, that yes, we are a telemarketing agency and yes, this was a great place to demonstrate a few key benefits of outsourcing telemarketing, but this article relates to every single business, not just ours! In order to get prospects interested in your products or services over the phone, you need to understand and give benefits of what you’re offering, and not just discuss the features.
Take a cleaning company for example. The fact that you use bleach that kills 99.9% of germs is great. When positioning this over the phone, over email, or in any of your marketing collateral for that matter, you need to focus on the benefits. “Our team utilise the best cleaning products in the market that ensure all surfaces are hygienic and germ free. What our clients have found since switching to us is a decrease in staff sickness and absenteeism by 14%”. Not only are you now discussing the benefits, you’re now adding value to your proposition and justifying why the prospect should be meeting with you, not your competitors.
Keep Technical Jargon to a Minimum in your Telemarketing
Telemarketers should be prospecting professionals, not technical specialists.
Depending on your message and target Decision Makers, this comment is going to vary. What we need to consider here is, what key messages are going to resonate with Decision Makers when telemarketing, and again, what are the benefits!
It’s important to remember, Decision Makers are not sitting there waiting for your call, and the likelihood is, bamboozling them with technical jargon isn’t going to help you win your case. If anything, you’re actually going to put barriers in place for them to consider you as a viable option for their business needs. Your messages need to be clear, concise and benefit filled.
What we’re not saying here is keep technical buzz works out of your telemarketing conversations. If your target demographic are used to hearing certain key buzz words, or technical words (in particular if your offering is of a technical nature) then absolutely include them in your conversations.
Objection Handling as a Pro-Active Telemarketer
Professional Telemarketers understand that objections, fall in to one of two categories: True objections, and false objections. By understanding what the likely objections are, you can then craft articulate responses that both overcome objections, but more importantly turn these objections into yeses.
Before crafting responses, we first need to understand what is a true objection, and what is false. Some examples of true objections:
- “We don’t by your products or services” – Great, the quicker you can qualify this, the better! When sourcing data for your campaign, you’re likely to use a few metrics to determine the types of businesses that you want to sell to; size, geography, business type, likely Decision Maker etc. Take cleaning again, for example, you call into a business and they’re in a serviced office, therefore they do not have a requirement for your services. As a manufacturer, you manufacture widgets, the company doesn’t buy widgets, they have no requirement. Until you’ve made that initial telemarketing call into raw data, there is no way that you can know this.
- “We’re in a contract” – This can be a bit of a tricky one, is it a true objection, or is a false objection? If it’s true, then yes, it’s a true objection, they do not have an interest in reviewing the incumbent solution against your products or services at this time (unless the renewal is looming). What we can do is ascertain whether this is true or not. Rather than asking the prospect when they will next be reviewing their contractual situation, ask when they last reviewed. In doing so, the likelihood is that the prospect will provide you with an accurate date, it’s much harder to lie when you have to think backwards!
So, Why Write a Script for Non-Scripted Telemarketing?
As mentioned earlier in this article, it’s virtually impossible to write a script for telemarketing. The number of variables would mean that your script would be too long, impractical and impossible for the Telemarketer to follow.
In order to create a killer pitch for telemarketing, don’t create a pitch at all. Instead, structure a conversation with a mixture of benefits combined with questions to allow you to remain in control of the conversation. What we’re about to say next may sound controversial for some, but contrary to popular belief, you can ask a closed question at the start of a conversation. What’s an example of a closed question? A question that must have a binary response, either yes or no. Why should you ask a closed questions? Because you remain in control of the conversation.
It’s also important to remember that you are having a two-way conversation. Ensure that you talk with them, listen to their concerns, allay their fears and build that rapport! The quickest way to lose a prospect’s attention is by talking at them rather than ‘to’ them.
However, if you’re not confident enough to ‘wing it’ so-to-speak, a structured call guide that focuses the flow of the conversation on key benefits of your proposition, and the “what’s in it for me?” factor will help you navigate the road to success. Call guides are often used as an alternative to scripts and focus more on an outline of what to say, and keeps the Telemarketer on the right track, as opposed a strict ‘yes’ or ‘no’ format. It allows the Telemarketer to tell a story from beginning to end to a prospect and helps them stay in control of the call.
If you wish to create a structured call guide, we’d recommend using bullet points. Keep it short and sweet. Bullet point the benefits, maybe offer some language pointers here and there, and perhaps list a few examples of some closed questions you could ask. But most importantly, don’t let your call guide kill the spontaneity of the conversation.
If you would like to find out more information about how our outsources telemarketing solutions could help businesses like yours to generate high-quality sales leads and appointments, contact us today.
Call 03332 400 054 or email enquiries@leadgenspecialists.co.uk
