Contrary to common belief, telesales calls are not only right for businesses that sell to individual consumers or for goods and services with low purchase thresholds. They are as effective in B2B markets and can have a positive impact on the sales cycle irrespective of its complexity. Keep in mind that telesales representatives are most effective in the initial phases of the sales cycle. Thereafter, the job to sell and close the deal should be handled by your in-house sales representatives.

Telesales services shorten the sales cycle

In the initial phase of the sales cycle, huge number of calls needs to be made to a large number of consumers. Some of these will end as leads while others may not. Telesales services are perfect for making high volumes of cold calls. Towards the end of the sales cycle, consumers will need specific information and details of the product or service being marketed. This is best handled by sales representatives who have the skill and knowledge to take the process to fruition. It is unpractical and unproductive to expect a telesales representative to close a sale and an in-house sales representative to make hundreds of introductory calls.

Many roles of telesales services

Telesales services help in creating leads by handling large volumes of introductory calls. This reduces the sales cycle significantly for the high end sales representative. An organization can build an in-house telesales service for this job - and use it as a farm team for budding sales representatives - or outsource to a third party service provider for quick ROI.

Developing a telesales team and having it call customers is not going to get results unless it is trained to add value to the sales cycle. Automated calls and unprofessional callers are dreaded by customers. You should train telesales representatives on customer dealing and business processes to avoid these pitfalls.

Telesales services can help businesses by:

Correcting erroneous data: Public databases have a lot of incorrect or insufficient data. While making calls, telesales services can correct the data so that your sales representatives do not waste time.

Adding proprietary data: Telesales services can also add proprietary data to prospect's records in the database. Things like the names of the company's decision makers, replacement due date of an equipment, etc. are useful in timing sales calls.

Building brand recognition: Even if telesales calls do not yield leads, they help in building brand recognition. Repeated calls to the same prospect will establish a sense of continuity and convince the prospect of the business' commitment to the market.

Timing a sales call: By collecting relevant details from prospects, telesales services set the stage for the sales representative's call. If the prospect informs the telesales representative that an equipment or part will need replacement in two months, the sales representative can call at that time and get into the complexities of the sale.

A business should not spend too much time and internal resources in the early phases of sales cycles. The greater its focus on the later phases, higher will be the productivity gained out of high-end closers. Use telesales services at the start to generate sales leads and build brand awareness.

Source: Daljeet Sidhu link