The importance of effective communication can be gauzed form Benjamin Disraeli’s quote:
“With words we govern men.”
In today’s business landscape, telemarketing is one of the most substantial modes of communication. Marketing goods or services over a phone call can be daunting, especially if you presumed it to be a piece of cake, only to find yourself in deep waters after taking the plunge.
There are innumerable facets of communication that must be incorporated to your telemarketing efforts. But the crux of the matter is simple: Get your message across right! Organizations in great numbers, all over the globe, are now outsourcing communication expertise for their outbound call answering services. The role of telemarketing for any business, therefore, cannot be undermined.
So, you may wish to sell your own product or service, or do it as an employee of an organization, or even work as an outsourced telemarketer, consolidating your arsenal with the following 5 strategies will take you and your business to great heights.
Table of Contents
1. Be a good listener:
There must be a reason why God gave us two ears and one mouth. Before getting the opportunity to entreat him with this query, let us assume that it is for the reason that we must strive to listen and think much more, almost twice as much, than talking. Even the great ones have said so! This applies to telemarketing as well. It is true that you have taken the call to sell your product or service, but presenting it without allowing your customer to speak especially when they had some opinion or query to make beats your purpose at the very beginning.
2. Create interest in the conversation:
To make your customer interested in your product or service, your conversation must be interesting. Now the word ‘interesting’ is relative in itself and may have different implications for different people. In general, the use of powerful words must replace filler words, expressions, and interjections. For example, say the word ‘certainly’ instead of saying ‘yeah’ or ‘yah’.
Also, after being a good listener, you must be relevant to remain interesting. If your customer is talking about jazz music and you are harping on the tune of blues, you are certain to lose a customer once and forever. If you do not know about something that the customer is asking, politely saying you do not know is much better than shoving your preconceived script in a different scene.
3. Speak slowly, speak clearly:
As a telemarketer, you have to be somewhat repetitious in explaining the product attributes, features, specifications, etc., to several potential customers in a day. This tends to considerably and subconsciously increase your speech rate. Some people, however, are ‘motor-mouths’ naturally. Always keep in mind that what you know by rote, is obscure for a potential customer. Making a customer inhibited or irritated to interrupt you and ask questions too often will never enable you to seal the deal. Even if you somehow win a customer, chances are that they will be entertaining the thought of something impossible. Thanks to your unclear and fast speech!
4. Link with the customer:
And by saying this, I strictly do not mean that you send a friend request to them on Facebook! Try to develop a rapport when you talk to them. Listen to their opinions, suggestions, issues, etc. patiently. Call them by their first name. This will have a great psychological impact on the customers who will not only feel valued, but also more interested in your proposition. Another strategy to develop a strong bond is to repeat some part of their speech to validate or compliment their views and opinions. Do not, however, dive too deep into these strategies otherwise you would end up making what was supposed to be affable into irritable.
5. Display an overall confidence:
All the four strategies mentioned prior to this strategy will be rendered useless if you lack an overall confidence. Even if you have something conspicuously extraordinary to offer, your customers will show little interest if you seem timid while conversing. Speak loudly and speak proudly. Be bold. Be brave. But take care also not to sound over confident and shallow.
A word of caution
Moderation is the way of life. And like all the good things in this world, these strategies must not be overused, otherwise within no time it would backfire and your call will hang up pretty soon after ringing for a long time. For instance, be slower and clearer in conversation, especially when you describe your products and /or services. But do not be so slow that the person on the other end is unable to understand whether you are conversing or yawning!
Conclusion
The business world is consistently becoming more and more competitive necessitating every aspect of it to fall at the right places. Telemarketing, with its immense value, needs to be impeccable as well since the products or services being offered might not be limited to your company. Several competitors might be in the ring already with perhaps more desirable attributes and value propositions. What would then be the differentiating factor is how each one of them sell themselves.
The five strategies discussed here, although conclusive but not exhaustive, will enhance your telemarketing skills. With consistent practice and perseverance, you will soon find yourself transformed into a professional telemarketer who carries the weight of their company’s brand taking it to new heights rather than getting crushed by its burden.
