The benefits of using telemarketing

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THE BENEFITS OF USING TELEMARKETING

Telemarketing can offer companies a number of benefits over other forms of direct marketing. Telemarketing is the only direct way to reach a prospective customer or client and immediately gauge that individual’s interest in a particular product or service. By speaking directly with prospects a company is able to asses that individual’s needs and ask the appropriate questions to ensure their product or service would be relevant. This type of communication also allows a company to effectively explain any technical or complex messages to the prospect and answer any questions directly that individual may have.

There are two audiences telemarketing will engage, businesses and consumers, and the approach should be tailored to suit each. Certain areas must be considered when contacting both consumers and businesses. One important aspect to consider is the time in which calls are made. The optimum time to reach consumer decision makers tends to be between the hours of 5pm – 9pm whereas businesses should be called between the hours of 9am-5pm.

Contacting consumers by telephone offer numerous benefits to companies if handled correctly. Companies can quickly ascertain whether a particular product or service would be relevant for a consumer. Depending on the product or service on offer, various factors may prohibit a company working with a consumer such as household income, age, lifestyle, or sex. By phoning consumers directly a company can easily eliminate anyone falling outside of their target audience and engage consumers directly about their product or service. Whereas with other forms of direct marketing, such as inserts, direct mailers, or newspaper advertisements there is a limited amount a company can do to ensure they are being seen by the right people.

In business, telemarketing plays a wider role as professionals are more accustomed to receiving business calls as part of their working day. Most businesses use some form of telemarketing already as it would be highly unusual for a sale to be made without some from of telephone contact with a prospect. Businesses will use telemarketing for a variety of reasons. Whether a company deals in business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing or business-to-business (B2B) marketing, telemarketing is used for a variety of reasons including:

Building a Highly Targeted Database: This is the key to any successful direct marketing campaign. Telemarketing enables companies to qualify their prospective database by ensuring the companies they are targeting have the appropriate turnover, employee size, geographical location, and decision maker contacts.
Generating Sales Leads and Appointments: This is the fastest way to generate sales leads and secure new business appointments. Companies may choose to outsource this activity meaning professional and experienced individuals will generate leads and meetings so the sales team can focus their energies on bringing in new business. Many sales people dislike cold calling and may not be skilled at this form of communication.
Conduct Follow-up Calls to Direct-mail Campaigns: Direct Mail campaigns tend to have a low response rate of 1 to 2%. By using telemarketing to follow-up those mailers companies can increase this rate dramatically as it does rely wholly on prospects taking action.
Renew Relationships with Lapsed Clients or Customers: Companies often have a significant number of lapsed clients or customers that could potentially bring in additional business. By focusing solely on contacting new customers these lapsed clients and customers may be neglected. Telemarketing is an effective means of keeping an open line of communication with these individuals.
Conducting Market Research to Find Out How a Company is Viewed in the Market Place and the Activities of Competitors: Telemarketing can be a powerful tool to learn how a company is perceived in the market place as well as find out what competitors are doing. This will allow a company to change areas of their business that may be viewed negatively and ensure they are offering services or rates that are viewed to be competitive.

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