How Small Businesses Should Use Telemarketing

October 2 2021 - The idea of telemarketing for business has arguably dwindled in use and popularity, and for many, this has been an opportunity lost. The art of telemarketing has wrongly been prescribed as old-school and ‘almost retro’ styled marketing. Instead, the prevailing trend has been for new media, websites, and anything digital. This article will show that small businesses should still be using this tried and trusted telemarketing technique that has now been adapted and improved for the data age.

One of the biggest fears has been that cold calls don’t work, and that telemarketing, by extension, also doesn’t work in a data age. The converse is true: tech killed the cold call and the availability of high-quality data has revived telemarketing.

Build the Brand

Any telemarketing campaign must be about building the brand, and as such, there should be a clear script where the brand tag line and memorable features are worked into all calls. This means that whether or not a call develops into a sale or a further inquiry, you have initiated the contact and established the brand name in the minds of the clients and customers. The telemarketing calls that you make or have a professional company make for you are thus actually a form of advertising, and as such, the script and time spent on the call must be used to the fullest.

Gather Information

As much as a telemarketing call is about sharing information on company products and brand value, it must additionally be about listening and gathering as much information on the potential customer. All the gaps on the spreadsheet need to be filled in, and as such, callers must know the specific questions that each business needs to be asked to complete their details held on file. It is about cleaning your data, and gsa-marketing.co.uk explains why this is so important to do this before any actual marketing can take place.

It should be part of a bigger picture marketing plan

The telemarketing activities must form part of a bigger marketing plan. The ability to use available data and develop a persuasive marketing plan that includes telemarketing is essential. The telemarketing portion is then used to complement or reinforce the other aspects of the marketing campaign. As aforementioned, the mistake being made by the small business is to choose digital over traditional marketing, rather than choosing the aspects from both forms of marketing to suit their customers and clients.

Use telemarketing for customer care and service

Small businesses should be using telemarketing to create a personal relationship with previous and lapsed customers alike, rather than using the calls simply as a means to sell. They should be used to find out what customers think of the products they have already bought and alert them to any additions, improvements, and service options for the products and services they already have.

One of the main aspects to keep in mind is that telemarketing is not telesales, it may lead to some sales further down the line, but the telemarketing call must be primarily about developing the relationship with a potential client or customer. Telemarketing is not dead; it’s just changed and grown. It’ll be those businesses that know this and use telemarketing to reach out to customers that will yield the rewards.

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