Telemarketing is an effective way to generate product or service sales for an organisation, whether done internally or externally. The role of telemarketers is to sell a business’s offerings to previously qualified prospects.
However, there is more to telemarketing than simply conducting sales calls over the phone. In this post, we’ll take a look at some of the different telemarketing examples used by businesses to conduct effective sales campaigns and explore how hiring a third-party telemarketing team can benefit your business.
What is telemarketing?
Telemarketing is a marketing method whereby representatives of an organisation conduct phone calls carrying out market research, marketing, or sales campaigns. The key goal of telemarketing is to generate product or service sales over the phone, based on a database of prospective customers. There are several different methods one can use when conducting telemarketing, some examples of which we will unpack below.
Telemarketing examples
Telemarketing is always conducted over the phone, however, the way in which campaigns are conducted can differ significantly. Some examples of telemarketing techniques include the following.
Outbound
Outbound telemarketing is the most challenging telemarketing example given the fact that little or no previous contact is made with the prospect. Cold calling is a classic outbound telemarketing technique used to drum up interest and possible sales of a product or service.
To conduct outbound telemarketing, a telemarketer needs to possess excellent interpersonal skills so that they engage the prospect early on in the conversation. They also need to have resilience given that the prospect may not be interested in what the telemarketer has to offer.
Typically, outbound telemarketing calls are more challenging to convert into closed sales deals, however the marketing technique is very effective in spreading awareness about products and services.
Inbound
Inbound telemarketing is when customers and prospects call the telemarketers, instead of the telemarketers calling them. An inbound telemarketing call may be the result of a customer seeing a given product or service advertised and calling the company to gain more information.
Typically, inbound telemarketing calls have higher closed deal conversion rates than outbound telemarketing examples, however a sale is never guaranteed. Telemarketers working with inbound telemarketing should possess excellent interpersonal skills and demonstrate empathy towards the customer so that they can provide them with the product that will be most beneficial for them.
Appointment setting
Appointment setting is when a call is made to discuss the product or service and the need of the prospect in more detail at a later stage. These phone calls are not made to make an immediate sale or close a deal. Instead, long-term relationships are the goal of the appointment-setting example of telemarketing.
This type of telemarketing is usually targeted towards people who may need a product or service that is tailored towards their specific needs. A meeting may be needed with several parties so that the client can fully divulge their requirements, allowing the business to put together a comprehensive package solution with the aim of closing a deal.
This telemarketing example is usually preferred by prospects as it does not require an immediate response over the phone.
Lead generation
Lead generation is a telemarketing example that is a very important part of any marketing strategy when a business launches a new product or service. The phone calls made during a lead generation campaign help telemarketers to differentiate the strength of certain leads before they attempt to make a sale.
There are also beneficial aspects of lead generation for those conducting the telemarketing campaign as the company usually learns a lot about their prospective customer’s needs and requirements.
The technique allows telemarketers to qualify certain leads by asking them relevant questions that determine whether or not a sale can be made to a specific party, based on how a product or service will benefit a lead. If a telemarketer feels that a good business relationship can be built with a lead, this is known as a “hot lead”.
Sales
Finally, sales is another example of telemarketing. When it comes to sales, telemarketers need to demonstrate strong persuasive skills, without making the client feel like they are being manipulated or coerced into agreeing to purchase a product or service.
Sales telemarketing usually entails telemarketers upselling to prospects, meaning that they will try to convince a prospect that additional products are necessary in addition to the primary product they have agreed to purchase.
One of the many challenges telemarketers need to overcome when generating sales through phone calls is the fact that many prospects can refuse to purchase a product when upselling happens. Resilience is, therefore, also a key characteristic for telemarketers to possess.
