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NEWSLETTER
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Volume 28, 2004
Why your telemarketers can make or break you.
Think of it this way. Your telemarketing company is your cash register and the telemarketers are your sales personnel. They are not just order takers. They are your deal makers...or breakers.
That's why the personnel responsible for your incoming calls need to be trained in converting every type of inquiry into a sale. And they need to be in total sync with your offer. Be it a soft offer, a trial offer or free offer...your telemarketers must work every one of your callers into a source of revenue.
Of course not every call results in a sale. But, if handled correctly, every caller could become a customer at some time in the future. Just like a good floor salesman in a retail setting your telemarketers must also be knowledgeable enough and experienced enough to handle continuity programs and upsells.
Yes, keeping people coming back for more, and encouraging them to spend more money to get an even greater value, takes well-honed people skills. But it could mean the difference between losing money, breaking even, or turning response into ongoing revenue.
Your telemarketing company must also have the manpower to handle every level of call volume. When a flood of calls come in all at once, you can't afford to keep those people waiting or to sell those callers short. Every response you receive needs to be worked for every penny it's worth. That means your telemarketing team must be prepared to spend as much time as necessary in order to convert impulsive curiosity into actual orders.
But the people factor is only half of the criterion essential to evaluating a telemarketing "partner". Unlike the brick and mortar retail setting, your infomercial success depends on technology as much as it depends on salesmanship. Your telemarketing company must have the bandwidth to handle a high call volume during peak hours or a particular media push. They also need to have a high level of IT savvy in order to source your calls, generate useful reports and handle data transfers quickly and reliably.
So when you're putting your campaign together, and building your team, pay particular attention to the telemarketing component. Here is where the rubber meets the road and where many a great product has fallen far short of its true revenue generating potential.
Don't let it happen to you.
Definition of the Day:
Back-end sales: Product transactions occurring after the initial response and sale generated by the airing of your infomercial. Back-end sales can account for 20 to 90% of a campaign's total sales.
Tip of the Day:
Trial offers work very well to increase the response for high ticket products such as exercise equipment and air purifiers. Reason being, trials lower the risk of disappointment for hesitant consumers and encourage many more fence sitters to commit.
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