Yesterday we talked about creating an in-house telemarketing campaign in order to drive new quotes (without paying a fortune for leads).
Today, I wanted to give you a few tips for when your staff start telemarketing. You will inevitably run into pushback if they haven’t telemarketed before and I don’t want that to keep you from being successful!
How To Keep Your Telemarketers Motivated & On Track:
Use a script – Scripts increase confidence. If someone hasn’t telemarketed before, knowing what to say is important. A short and simple script will keep them on track as they get comfortable making calls.
Discuss responses – Think about the possible responses and prepare your staff member for them. Remind them to be respectful and friendly no matter what someone says to them. (They are always representing you!)
Track the numbers – Keep a piece of paper and mark how many calls, how many answers, and how many quotes. These numbers will let you see how effective your strategy is and how many calls need to be made to get the number of quotes you want.
Teach them the value of “No” – One of the things you must learn early about sales calls is that they are all a numbers game. The more calls you make, the more quotes you get. You’ll never get 100% of the calls to agree to a quote, which means that every “No” answer gets you that much closer to a “Yes!” It might take 50 calls to get one quote! That’s why you have to keep dialing.
Take breaks – Call for 10 or 15 minutes straight and then take a 5 minute break. Don’t let negativity bring down the team. Keep it lighthearted and fun.
Offer up an incentive – Have a contest. Whoever gets the most quotes from telemarketing that week wins a gift card or gets an afternoon off. Something to motivate and keep everyone working toward a goal.
As always, practice makes perfect. The more opportunities you give them to practice their script and their calls, the better telemarketers they will become.
So what are you waiting for? Start organizing your telemarketing time for next week!