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
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