Why Telemarketing Fails
Telemarketing gets a bad press. And deservedly so.
Often costly, frequently delivering dreadful results: it’s surprising that we have a telemarketing industry at all. Yet despite years of evidence, companies continue to spend thousands on this activity.
When it comes to telemarketing there appears to be a ‘Lottery Mentality’. Organisations suspend logic in the hope that one day they will get lucky.
This article identifies why most telemarketing fails and what can be done to improve results.
Telemarketing’s most costly errors
In 2005 we published a paper: Cold Calling is Obsolete. It is a sad fact that very little has moved on in five years. Success ratios, if anything, have declined. A good telemarketer will make around 80 calls per day, speak to perhaps 10 people and may make one poorly qualified appointment. These ratios make tele-prospecting for sales professionals uneconomic: no wonder the activity is outsourced.
Planning to fail
The major reason why telemarketing campaigns fail is because it is almost impossible to get through to the ‘right’ person. Receptionists and PAs are trained to filter telemarketing calls. Even when a telemarketer does get to speak to someone in authority they are unlikely to receive a positive reception. The result is a day full of rejection and frustration, leading to the second source of failure: high staff turnover.
If a telemarketing company can keep staff for an average of 9-12 months they are doing well. Most retain staff for an average 3-6 months. Inexperienced staff are unlikely to engage senior decision makers in sensible, relevant business discussions.
Finally telemarketing is rude and might even be illegal. Normal human communications do not involve wandering around the streets trying to engage perfect strangers in conversation. No wonder telemarketing is so unpopular. To prevent cold calls organisations have registered with the Commercial Telephone Preference System (CTPS) which means if you call them you could be liable for a fine.
Getting telemarketing right
Telemarketing is very effective when executed properly. It can be as simple as a two minute conversation leading to a genuine business meeting. To achieve this three things have to be in place before the call is made:
- Call the right number.
- Catch the decision maker at the right time.
- Have the right conversation.
It may sound trite but the fact is most telemarketers call the wrong number because they do not have the direct dial number of the decision maker. Calling the decision maker directly means that conversation is initiated at the right level. Cutting out receptionists also improves success ratios.
It is pointless to call someone only to learn that they have just ordered what you are selling. Getting to the decision maker when they are entering the buying cycle improves the chances of success significantly.
Trying to sell complex services and products over the ‘phone can lead to confusion. This is especially true when the telemarketer is inexperienced. Get the decision maker on the ‘same page’ before you make the call. It makes for sensible business discussions and improves the chances of success.
Summary
Getting telemarketing right means preparation: targeting the right person at the right time and having the right conversations. Outsourcing to a traditional telemarketing agency will not deliver this level of preparation and the result will be failure.
Do not be fooled into accepting ‘industry standard success metrics’. Setting your targets so low that you are bound to hit them is a particularly destructive form of failure. Over the next two weeks we will be showing you how to get the intelligence you need to prepare a successful telemarketing campaign.
In the meantime you may wish to review Cold Calling is Obsolete, which details why telemarketing on its own will never deliver success. To get a copy Click Here
Posted: April 14th, 2010 / 2 Comments /
2 Comments to Why Telemarketing Fails
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Interesting article, you may be right in many respects. Industry standard ratios, well-trained staff filtering calls, high turnover etc are all difficult problems with which we all deal.
My initial reaction is your first two solutions to getting ‘telemarketing right,’ is that direct dials and knowing the prospects buying schedule/plans are generally not public information.
I’m interested to find out how you propose to gather that information from within the company without cold calling.
The third solution ‘having the right conversation’ is spot on. This is very important, but again I’m confused. How do you “Get the decision maker on the ’same page’ before you make the call.” I guess that’s what you hoping to tell me.
All the best,
Geoffrey P
Geoffrey P on
April 15th, 2010
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2 years ago we used a telemarketing company to set appointments for us and we had mixed results. The agency was paid per meeting, not per call so some “great appointments” according to the agency were anything but. At £600 per meeting that was a waste of money and a complete waste of my time.
I now do my own telemarketing again with mixed results. It’s incredibly hard to actually speak to Execs with any clout these days so I’ve found that a good strategy is to leave VM’s using these tips – http://www.sellingtobigcompanies.com/file_redirect.jsp?siteObjectID=106702&fname=9Tips-GetProspectsCalling1.pdf
Linkedin is a great tool when used for nurture email campaigns. Nurture campaigns are effective especially when combined with web tracking software (so you can see the search terms that people used to find your site, the pages that people visited and for how long). Leave it 24 hours and then call and you have much more positive conversations. Luke-warm calling if you will.
Cold calling is really tough but done well can actually be quite good fun and rewarding. Here’s some great tips:
http://www.wendyweiss.com/
http://www.wendyweiss.com/sales_tutorial_reports.html
Andy G on
April 15th, 2010