“For the hundredth time, I do not need your product! Stop calling me! ” he screams into his phone before he hangs up and muttered to himself, “Geez, I hate Telemarketing”. I probably receive more cold sales call, but I’m more annoyed by that guy than the sales call. People get upset when they receive unwanted call and being sold to. I understand. But unlike that guy, I happen to understand what Telemarketing is, and what it is not, and he is a fool.
What most people have problem with, is Telesales. It simply means ‘using telephone to do a sales pitch’. So if you have received a call from people who wants to sell you part-time classes, investment package, car insurance, green card to USA, credit card, it means you have been identified as a lead by a company, and the company tries to get you to buy something through a phone call.
Telemarketing on the other hand, is ‘doing Marketing work through a telephone’, it does not push sales message to the call recipients. If you are not selling, why bother making the call? The same reason why people do Marketing in the first place: to generate leads, which in return helping the Sales people to close the deal. If you can sell everything immediately through phone, I don’t see why Sales people want to wake up early, dress up, fight through the traffic jam, to meet a prospect whom may or may not buy from them. A typical Telemarketing service will include needs identification, prospect profiling, and appointment setting. Eventually you want to sell something, but in a more structured and targeted manner, instead of singing to a deaf man.
Both Telesales and Telemarketing are forms of Direct Marketing, and they are an excellent method to interact (attention: not just one-way communication) with a large number of prospects on a rather low cost. No transportation cost or time needed. All you need to have is a phone line, a spreadsheet, and a good attitude.
So when should you use Telesales, and when should you use Telemarketing? It depends on what you are selling really. I have never heard people buying a motor from a company that they have never heard through the phone. Neither have I heard a soap company sell a soap through a phone. In general, you would use Telemarketing in B2B lines or high-involvement product, whereas Telesales will be more useful when you have a timed promotion or low-involvement purchase.
A same company may engage in both Telemarketing and Telesales activities for different products or offer. I give you one example: An insurance company may do Telemarketing for life insurance package (a high-involvement product). The Telemarketing involved here may include asking for your age and marital status (profiling), asking whether you are already insured, or what are your doubts or challenges (needs identification), and eventually setting a time slot with a sales agent over coffee (appointment setting), who will then squeeze the money out of the you. Separately, when the insurance company is selling low-involvement, price-sensitive mass products such as car insurance, travel insurance, the company is better off with Telesales. This will involve a Telesales agent calling the prospect telling them that there is a promotion going on, buy now to take advantage of the discount (sell); buy now, if you don’t have a car, buy a car, then buy our insurance (sell); or if it is an existing customer, the Telesales will be a reminder or confirmation for the renewal.
Like anything else, Telesales or Telemarketing will only work if the cost of operating than Marketing Channel is lower than the Revenue it generates.
If you are asking how to do Telesales or Telemarketing successfully, the answer is the same: good message, good attitude, good system. If you have watched ‘Wolf in Wall Street’, you know what I am talking about.
What most people have problem with, is Telesales. It simply means ‘using telephone to do a sales pitch’. So if you have received a call from people who wants to sell you part-time classes, investment package, car insurance, green card to USA, credit card, it means you have been identified as a lead by a company, and the company tries to get you to buy something through a phone call.
Telemarketing on the other hand, is ‘doing Marketing work through a telephone’, it does not push sales message to the call recipients. If you are not selling, why bother making the call? The same reason why people do Marketing in the first place: to generate leads, which in return helping the Sales people to close the deal. If you can sell everything immediately through phone, I don’t see why Sales people want to wake up early, dress up, fight through the traffic jam, to meet a prospect whom may or may not buy from them. A typical Telemarketing service will include needs identification, prospect profiling, and appointment setting. Eventually you want to sell something, but in a more structured and targeted manner, instead of singing to a deaf man.
Both Telesales and Telemarketing are forms of Direct Marketing, and they are an excellent method to interact (attention: not just one-way communication) with a large number of prospects on a rather low cost. No transportation cost or time needed. All you need to have is a phone line, a spreadsheet, and a good attitude.
So when should you use Telesales, and when should you use Telemarketing? It depends on what you are selling really. I have never heard people buying a motor from a company that they have never heard through the phone. Neither have I heard a soap company sell a soap through a phone. In general, you would use Telemarketing in B2B lines or high-involvement product, whereas Telesales will be more useful when you have a timed promotion or low-involvement purchase.
A same company may engage in both Telemarketing and Telesales activities for different products or offer. I give you one example: An insurance company may do Telemarketing for life insurance package (a high-involvement product). The Telemarketing involved here may include asking for your age and marital status (profiling), asking whether you are already insured, or what are your doubts or challenges (needs identification), and eventually setting a time slot with a sales agent over coffee (appointment setting), who will then squeeze the money out of the you. Separately, when the insurance company is selling low-involvement, price-sensitive mass products such as car insurance, travel insurance, the company is better off with Telesales. This will involve a Telesales agent calling the prospect telling them that there is a promotion going on, buy now to take advantage of the discount (sell); buy now, if you don’t have a car, buy a car, then buy our insurance (sell); or if it is an existing customer, the Telesales will be a reminder or confirmation for the renewal.
Like anything else, Telesales or Telemarketing will only work if the cost of operating than Marketing Channel is lower than the Revenue it generates.
If you are asking how to do Telesales or Telemarketing successfully, the answer is the same: good message, good attitude, good system. If you have watched ‘Wolf in Wall Street’, you know what I am talking about.
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