Times have been tough. The economy is not going to fix itself. Neither is your business.
In this 3rd article on follow-up, we explore how tele-selling can be the catalyst that gets things moving again
What is the best sales support for my business?
1. Lead generation or prospecting
Every business needs a lead bank. Without leads who do you sell to?
This first step of the sales process is simply gathering and compiling a list of prospects. A necessary step if you don’t have a list of your own, these leads still need qualifying.
2. Cold calls or qualifying leads
Both of these terms refer to taking the raw leads produced by lead generation, and calling them to find out if they have any use for your particular widget.
You don’t want your sales persons wasting time, sniffing around dead-end leads like a pack of baying hounds with no clue of where that fox is hiding out – or if there even is a fox.
That’s why we recommend tele-sellers to get those ducks in a row (or foxes as the case may be).
Armed with a pack of qualified leads your sales people can now zero right in for the kill and make their sales calls live or on camera.
3. Lead nurturing
Yes, leads need nurturing. You can’t just leave them in the bank. They won’t gain any interest there.
Any lead, whether from your website, email blast, or a previous telephone call should be followed up within 3 business days.
Longer than that, and you’ll be forgotten. Your prospect might even contact someone else.
Too busy / not enough staff to follow-up? Hire someone to do it for you, or subcontract it out.
4. Quote follow-up
Has every quote you’ve ever done been followed up? If not, you’re missing out, and a lot of hard work has been wasted.
Turn quotes into sales by keeping short accounts with current quotes, and catching up with your previous ones. If your salespeople are too busy, that’s another job for an able tele-seller.
5. Database cleansing
This little housekeeping job is left unattended to far too often. There are bigger fish to fry, so why bother?
Because, with a good database cleanse you will:
• Rid yourself of all outdated or incorrect information - rubbish data costs money.
• Fuel your sales team with the highest quality data
• Increase overall productivity
And you’re right. There are bigger fish to fry. Outsource this frog and enjoy your big fish!
6. Follow-up of email blasts
An attention-grabbing email with a strong call to action is a great way to educate your customers and make some sales. But don’t leave it there!
We’re after conversion rates. Real results happen when you follow up that email with a friendly, knowledgeable phone call.
You’ve got the solutions, if you need to sub this follow-up out to make sure they got the message, go for it!
7. Brand awareness calls
Are your prospects and clients aware of your brand? Brand awareness fosters trust. Telemarketing might not be the typical way to instill brand recognition, but here are two ways that it can help:
People – even business people – like dealing with people. It helps to talk to a live person about a given product or service.
Surveys, (email, website or telephone) accomplish three things.
1. You gain an understanding of how people hear about you.
2. Is your brand known out there? The answer is here!.
3. A good tele-seller is an ambassador for your brand.
8. Appointment booking
This could well be the meat of tele-selling.
Calls make appointments. Appointments give a quality quoting opportunity to the sales team. Quotes mean sales.
Simple? Yes, but make sure the calls get made, and you have a clear reporting system in place.
Well, you will have clued in by now that we at Zembr offer ALL of the above.
Team with us for results. That’s why we’re in business.
Use our tele-selling services by subscription, project, as a block of hours, or a defined number of calls.
You can even mix and match our different offerings. For instance, when a Zembrite does a data cleanse, ask them to segregate the important contact in each company, or do some lead prospecting at the same time.
Whatever you choose, we’re there for you as long or short as you like. No long-term contracts.
What’s the best package for you?
