Phone: 888.356.0820 or 972.713.6622
We have compiled the most crucial steps to beginning your telemarketing business, as well as answered the most common questions businesses have regarding telemarketing. These steps will help guide your process and save you from mistakes, while entering the telemarketing industry.
Telemarketing refers to the process of selling products or services over the telephone. Telemarketing also involves the process of contacting, vetting, and approaching prospects to make them customers.
There are four major forms of telemarketing:
Inbound telemarketing is when the telemarketer receives an inbound inquiry from the prospect and follows up on the inquiry through a “warm” call. Since the prospect has already contacted the company, they should be expecting a call.
For instance, a potential customer signs up for a free trial on a company’s page. When the telemarketer calls them back to discuss their inquiry, this is considered inbound telemarketing.
Outbound telemarketing is when a telemarketer makes “cold” calls to prospects or existing customers. This indicates that the people receiving the calls are not expecting them.
Let’s take an air conditioning technician, for example, who calls numbers that live in the same zip code of his business to promote his summer deals. He makes outbound telemarketing efforts.
B2B telemarketing, also known as business to business telemarketing, is when a business promotes its products or services to another business. Usually, in this type of telemarketing, there is a greater emphasis on relationship building because there will be a smaller number of companies to promote products to.
B2B telemarketing is when, for example, a company that sells local honey, calls grocery stores to promote the purchase and the reselling of their honey.
If you haven’t already, check out the 5 golden rules of B2B telemarketing.
B2C telemarketing is a business selling to consumers. The business will research potential customers and gather prospects to call, who are more likely to want/need the product or service. The sales reps wouldn’t invest time in calling everyone, but they’d rather contact a smaller number of ideal candidates.
B2C telemarketing is involved when, for instance, an insurance company calls people who own two or more cars to promote their insurance bundles for automotive.
To set clear objectives on who to call for B2C telemarketing, read the article The Secrets to Planning a Successful B2C Telemarketing Campaign.
Nearly all advertising happens online. People see roughly 6,000 to 10,000 advertisements a day and if a business only advertises through a pop-up on the prospects’ computer screen or a 30- second clip on Instagram, it’s likely to get overlooked. What does stand out, however, is human interaction.
So, why should you still cold call? Telemarketing allows potential customers to talk to a person and answer any questions they have in real time. It stands out from the thousands of other advertisements that people SEE everyday. To TALK and LISTEN creates a more personable experience. This is what makes telemarketing so effective.
Although telemarketing is an effective form of advertising and selling, it’s also used in fraudulent ways. Since fraud is so heavy in telemarketing, Federal laws and state laws have been put into place to protect consumers. Due to this, your company must be informed about the rules and regulations of telemarketing.
In the USA, there are three federal laws, which telemarketing must comply with:
Check our Brief Guide to Outbound Telemarketing Laws for full details.
The Canadian telemarketing guidelines include three regulations for companies to follow:
The do-not-call registry is very much enforced both in the USA and Canada. Make sure your company either uses a third party to scrub the phone list or software that has the capabilities to scrub your list along with a dialer system like the Dolphin Dialer.
Another good resource to use to ensure you comply with the DNC regulations is the Telemarketing Sales Rule: DNC Scrubbing & Compliance article.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, the hours for legal telemarketing are between 8:00 AM and 9:00 PM. Keep in mind that the hours are in regard to the time zone in which the phone number belongs.
While there is no national telemarketing license required for the USA, some states have a state-specific license. To check whether your states or the states you’re calling have state-specific requirements, visit TelemarketingLicenses.com.
In Canada, all telemarketers must register with the National DNCL even if you only make exempt calls or send exempt faxes, you must still register. On the bright side, there is no registration fee!
A good telemarketer will be able to not only promote the product or service but also be able to listen to the potential customer and understand how the product can help their needs and wants. There are five types of sales personalities that a good telemarketer will use to listen, help, and communicate with the prospects.
The five personalities are:
The telemarketer should be able to ask questions and determine which approach to use that will best help get the prospect to purchase.
There are many traits required to be a telemarketer, but there are four essential traits to look for:
One thing to keep in mind is that even with the skills to sell over the phone, a telemarketer is only as good as their list. Providing your telemarketing team with a reliable and accurate telephone list will be a major factor in the success of your telemarketing team. Read our article ‘Telemarketing 101: You’re Only As Good As Your Telemarketing List’ to understand what to look for in a good phone list.
If your company is selling to another company, a good technique to include is identifying the ‘Decision Maker’. Oftentimes telemarketers get too focused on selling that they forget to find the individual in the company who can actually make the purchasing decision.
Another useful technique is asking questions like:
Asking open-ended questions gives the telemarketer good information to sell to their needs.
For further techniques and strategies, check out our articles:
Running and starting a telemarketing business can be overwhelming, so we have taken the liberty to compile a list of five practical and achievable tips to include in your telemarketing plan.
You very well might have a telemarketing script, but chances are it could use some pruning. The script could be outdated or overused, so look over your scripts and try to see them as your customers would. If you find that revising your script is challenging, refer to our articles on Cold Calling Scripts for Financial Advisor and Cold Calling Scripts for Banking.
In researching your telemarketing database, determine these three critical areas:
There are many ways in which your business can segment prospects, but here are 8 ways we suggest for segmenting your telemarketing list:
We have compiled a list of 7 tips to consider as you improve your telemarketing list:
Optimize the number of calls you make and use your time wisely. Apply proven cold calling techniques to make your telemarketing more effective and worth your time and the prospect’s time. Be prepared for any questions or objections they might have and if you do not know the answer, ensure them that you will find out the solution for them.
Another way to optimize the calls you make and increase sales is through pre-recorded messages. When an agent gets sent to voicemail they simply say “Hi [insert person’s name] then click one of the prerecorded messages. This type of software can increase productivity and help agents get through numbers quicker. The Cricket Click Dialer offers this tool and is conveniently located on your desktop for easy access.
Your business may be established in telemarketing but what differentiates intermediate telemarketers from advanced telemarketers are three things: tested and verified telemarketing strategies, nurturing the leads that the telemarketer has already acquired, and measuring the ROI of the telemarketing efforts.
The best way to know if your telemarketing strategy will be successful is to see if competitors have tested the same strategy. Since telemarketing has been around since the 80’s it has had plenty of time for trial and error on various strategies. By now, it can be relatively easy to pick a successful strategy used by others in the industry and make the strategy conform to the company’s needs.
Another way to check your strategy is by testing it with prospects, making notes, collecting data on the responsive rate, and then comparing the data to old strategies.
You can’t be successful if you aren’t able to create loyal customers. And you need to create sales-ready leads for that. Gaining new customers is highly important, but the majority of business income comes from repeat customers.
The sales process needs to be professional, organized, and personalized to suit the customer from the initial contact to the follow-up. If a customer has bought from your company once and is willing to do it again, show gratitude. If possible, offer them a discount or a gift.
ROI is a marketing term that stands for the return on investments. It can be measured by subtracting the current value of the telemarketing investments from the cost of telemarketing investment, which then gives you the net return. Divide the net return by the cost of the investment and you will have the ROI.
Keep track of the ROI as your company continues to invest in telemarketing to ensure you are increasing the return on your money.
There are many steps and details to consider when starting a telemarketing business. To see a brief overview, check the five most crucial steps in implementing telemarketing to your business.
In another article, we break down the best practices for telephone lists and the upkeep of your database. Here is what we included:
When looking for telemarketing software for your business, consider the following:
To put your campaign on the right track start at the beginning by setting objectives and parameters. Then, determine how you will measure success for the objectives and parameters. The measures don’t necessarily need to be metrics, they can be non-numerical goals based on activities accomplished.
However you measure the goals though, use them to keep track of the company’s success. Once you’ve done that, make a campaign budget and stick to it. The budget should help keep your company in check on how much spending is put into its telemarketing.
Lastly, write down the objective/parameters, measures of success, and budget to then create a timeline and put your plan into action! Learn all about running a successful telemarketing campaign with TelephoneLists.Biz!
“Telemarketing”. Investopedia, 2020, https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/telemarketing.asp. Accessed 8 Dec 2020.
“Telemarketing Definition – What Is Telemarketing”. Shopify, 2020, https://www.shopify.com/encyclopedia/telemarketing. Accessed 8 Dec 2020.
“How To Start Telemarketing In Your Business | Nibusinessinfo.Co.Uk”. Nibusinessinfo.Co.Uk, 2020, https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/how-start-telemarketing-your-business. Accessed 9 Dec 2020.
“The Telemarketing Sales Rule”. Consumer Information, 2020, https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0198-telemarketing-sales-rule. Accessed 10 Dec 2020.
“12 Worst Cold Calling Mistakes And How To Fix Them”. Business Residential Telemarketing Phone List | USA | Canada, 2021, https://www.telephonelists.biz/blog/12-worst-cold-calling-mistakes-and-how-to-fix-them/. Accessed 6 Dec 2020.
“What Is Cold Calling?”. Business Residential Telemarketing Phone List | USA | Canada, 2021, https://www.telephonelists.biz/blog/what-is-cold-calling/. Accessed 8 Dec 2020.
3 Major Telemarketing Business Challenges And Their Solutions”. Business Residential Telemarketing Phone List | USA | Canada, 2021, https://www.telephonelists.biz/blog/3-major-telemarketing-business-challenges-solutions/. Accessed 13 Dec 2020.
The Secrets To Planning A Successful B2C Telemarketing Campaign”. Business Residential Telemarketing Phone List | USA | Canada, 2021, https://www.telephonelists.biz/blog/the-secrets-to-planning-a-successful-b2c-telemarketing-campaign/. Accessed 7 Dec 2020.
“Want To Grow Your Business? Understand Telemarketing Rules And Regulations”. Business Residential Telemarketing Phone List | USA | Canada, 2021, https://www.telephonelists.biz/blog/want-to-grow-your-business-understand-telemarketing-rules-and-regulations/. Accessed 10 Dec 2020.