Telemarketing might seem like an easy task – an agent, a script and a telephone.

The reality is very different though and every day there are horror stories about companies that have outsourced their outbound telemarketing activity and have had pitiful results. Whether the problem is with quality (appointments sent to the direct sales team are not qualified and a waste of time), or the data the outsource company are using is not targeted, leading to poor results all round – it can be very expensive rather than an activity that should be making you £££.

How experienced are the management team in telemarketing?

The knowledge of how to set up and run a successful telemarketing campaign can only be gained ultimately by having personal experience of using the telephone.

Make a point of asking your outsource company what experience their management team have of using the telephone themselves in their past careers.

If it is a smaller company, ask what experience the Managing Director has – as it is their vision and methodology that will cascade down to the management team handling your account.

The set up meeting

Before any telemarketing campaign goes live, there should be a detailed set up meeting between the outsource company and the client. This should cover details like:

• Your company product or service in detail

• USP’s of your product or service

• Case histories of past clients and the benefits they found

• The objective of the call - desired outcomes

• Other important information to collect on the call to add more value

• If its appointment setting – the qualifying features expected, what makes it a good appointment

• What data to use, how to target which companies to call

• What type of agent will be used on the campaign

• How will the computer database look

• How will the call guide look and sound

• Reporting and what statistics are needed

This topic will be continued in our Summer E-zine