How to be the most knowledgable telemarketer

You would think the best approach to being a highly knowledgeable prospector or sales person would be to study diligently and immerse yourself in all the details about your service or product.

But you'd just be deceiving yourself. It's impossible to know all the answers to every question a prospect might throw at you. Most likely they have years of expertise in their field and you will always lack their level of knowledge...so don't even try to impress them, you'll just look silly.

But you can sound intelligent and prepared by remembering one key point: the person asking the questions ALWAYS controls the conversation.

It's simple, but difficult to do in practice. The key thing you need is not more knowledge, but the ability to answer with a question.

Some question versions which work well are: "That sounds like an important issue to you; can you tell me why?", or "I'll check into that, but can you tell me how you've handled it in the past?", or "That's a great question; how would you be using that feature?"

Always remember, you are the sales expert, not the product expert!

A secret prospecting opportunity

For a number of years I've followed prospecting results to see if there was a pattern to timing. You know what I mean...everyone says don't call Monday morning or Friday afternoon (bunk!), or don't call the day before a holiday. Is it really true, or is it just folklore so we can all squeeze in a long weekend?

Turns out it's not true. Regularly, we have some of our best results on Mondays and Fridays. More surprising is the consistently strong prospecting results we get between Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Sound strange? Maybe. But think about it...after Thanksgiving business travel and meetings slow down, budgets are set, new initiatives are waiting until January.

This all means your prospects are more available, which is exactly what you want when making a prospecting call. You don't want them to make a decision or even necessarily meet with you...you just want them to take your call and have an initial conversation to see if the topic is worth pursuing for a future in-person meeting.

So don't ignore Mondays and Friday, but especially don't ignore the two weeks after Thanksgiving. It will set you up for a very strong January!

A newbie no more

How to get a new telephone prospector up to speed and producing results quickly? A couple weeks ago we had a new staff member start, and I followed the process closely.

First, and most important, we interviewed and screened her very carefully. You might think a five-interview process over several weeks is a waste of time for such a "low level" position as a telemarketer...but it's not. Through trial and error (ok, lot's of errors!), every minute invested before the hiring decision significantly reduces the uncomfortable conversations and firings later on.

Second, we spent a lot of time with role-playing. Sounds simplistic, but practice does make perfect. We started with the basics...covering the script and key phrases...moved on to personal variations, then into objections and difficult personalities. Once she could deliver the key phrases nearly effortlessly, it was on to...

Third, be paired with an experienced staff member. This started with listening and watching, then doing. Then it finished off with some refinements and additional perspective from a second senior person...can't have the newbie stuck on only one point-of-view!

Fourth, and most important, expect results. By the second day our newbie had set her first appointment and was a newbie no longer! Three days later her call efficiency was as good as the veterans...and still she was setting solid appointments. Total time: 5 days from beginner to valued contributor.

The Critical List

In any prospecting program there are three major variables: the script, the person calling and the list.

The list is one you can control most and plan for in advance. And it is worth every hour you spend on it. For example, a purchased list can have a discard rate between 10 and 30 percent, depending on the target market...these are wasted dollars if you mail or call them.

So where to get a good list? We've found one of the most reliable sources to be association membership lists...often well worth the cost of membership.

Next come subscription lists, if you can meet the minimum purchase requirements and don't mind renting rather than buying.

Then, if you to decide to use a retail list source, our experience has shown InfoUSA/SalesGenie to be one of the more accurate. The best thing about a retail list provider is you can test small, random selections from whatever demographic you select.

But keep your eyes open for new developments...we visited a Seattle company last week and were shown a beta version of a list selection resource which provides the best of all the above. More to come.

Just the right script

How do you know if you are using the right script when making prospecting calls?

First, throw out the script! You have to be able to "tell" the story, no "read" it...remember that advice from grade school book report presentations?

Especially throw it out of someone else has written it for you.

Today one of our most successful agents was working from a script written and used by another of our most successful agents. But even after a couple hundred calls he sounded just awful...flat, no energy to it. Worst part...prospects were cutting him off and he knew it.

We spent about 30 minutes doing several role-playing exercises, digging in deep about how he felt about this company's products. It finally clicked. He took the key phrases we had identified and made them flow in his own words. It was strong and believable. I'm certain he'll set an appointment today with the "new" version!

Finding your compelling voice

This week one of our newer staff was struggling and after getting hung-up on a couple times, complained, "I wouldn't want to listen to me either!"

After congratulating him for his self-awareness, we took some time to dissect what was happening and why he wasn't connecting with the prospects. It turned out to be two simple things.

First, his voice was tense and thus higher pitched than normal. This removed all the authority from his voice and almost invited prospects to run over him in their rush to hang up the phone.

Second, the script sounded too much like begging for an appointment, rather than inviting for one. A couple word changes fixed that.

But most important was a shift in his attitude...he came to understand he didn't need these prospects to set an appointment with him. In fact, they needed to qualify in order to be worthy of getting an appointment from him! This change in power balance was immediately reflected in his voice and the script delivery; he sounded more calm and confident.

Did the prospects respond positively? We'll see next week!

The perfect cost per appointment

How much should you pay per appointment from a telemarketing firm?

Unfortunately, the answer is..."it depends". Primarily it depends on one piece of information: the value of a customer to your business. Of course there are many ways to calculate that value...net profit, gross margin, etc...but what really matter is that you just pick one, know why you did and then stick with it.

Here's an easy-to-use method for calculating customer value in this article.

Once you know your typical customer value, decide how much of that you are willing to spend acquiring a new customer. This is usually a percentage of the customer value and varies widely between industries, depending on typical gross margin and market maturity. We've had clients pay anywhere between $150 and $1,200 per appointment and in every case the number represented a reasonable percentage of customer value.

Most important, realize the cost per appointment will typically increase as your appointment-setting program matures. Your telemarketing firm should be able to explain when this will happen and what can be done to keep the cost from jumping substantially.

Keeping the leads coming...

When you're implementing a telephone prospecting program it's important to understand the effect of time.

What happens after you've called everyone once and landed appointments with all those interested? Will you get similar results by simply going back through the list again? Of course not! You've already plucked the low-hanging fruit.

Now you have two choices: 1) wait 6 months until everyone has forgotten your first call and call again, hoping a competitor didn't get to them first. 2) develop a plan for nurturing those with limited or no interest from the first call, until their situation changes and they accept your invitation for a conversation.

Obviously, the second option takes more work (and your results won't be as amazing as the first time the list was called), but you'll be there when the prospect recognizes their need. And get them signed up before your competition!

Honesty above all

Arne-Per, our VP of Sales, just forwarded to me a blog entry by Seth Godin describing a horrific experience receiving a telemarketing call from a woman trying to insist she was really calling from a local organization, even though he knew better.

Really, it all comes down to honesty and having the courage to be truthful...and requiring your prospecting staff to do the same. The standing rule for our calling staff is, if someone asks you where you are calling from, don't hesitate to give them our firm's name and the direct line to the president (me!).

And the biggest surprise which has come from this? About twice a month, a prospect starts questioning one of our callers and pushing them for information about our telemarketing firm...because they want to know how to hire us!

We, too, are seeing signs the economy is stabilizing.

It's not a change or return to growth by any means, but we're seeing two signs businesses are at least realizing that life is continuing and they better do something about it.

First, it is getting easier for us to get leads and appointments for our clients. Of course, "easier" is a relative term...it's not like every person we call is excited to hear about the next new thing, but we're also not getting the total don't-talk-to-me shut down of the last two quarters.

Second, we're seeing an increased number of clients talking with us and signing up to ramp up their prospecting efforts through out call center. It's as if business owners are finally sticking their head up out of the foxhole and realizing if they don't grab some market share now, someone else will!

We're all getting used to the new reality. It's like my sister the rock-climber used to say, "Once you've had your first fall, you're never really quite as afraid of falling again."

Does telephone prospecting still work in the current economy?

Yes, but...

...only if your message directly addresses the current crisis on the desk of the CEO or senior manager you are talking with.

It's true in the hundreds of calls made each day from our call center we are speaking with many more dispirited and discouraged business owners. No, they aren't going to buy a new training program or invest in new capital equipment, unless...

Unless you tell them how you will 1) help them make money or, 2) save money.

For example, when we call CEOs of mid-sized businesses for our training company client, we never mention the word "training" (it's a quick ticket to speak with the most junior HR staffer!). Instead, we tell both the executive assistant and the CEO we want to talk with them about how to keep their best people, if that is a priority for them (and for it is for all!). That gets their attention and the 30 seconds we need.

In today's economy don't waste your prospects' time with any other message than how you will help them make money or cut expenses; they don't want to talk about anything else!

Fridays bad days for prospecting?!

Don't let any sales person tell you they can't prospect on Fridays because no one is available to speak with. Our results consistently prove otherwise.

For example, last week, the majority of all the appointments we set for our clients were from calls made on Friday...Friday the 13th nevertheless!

And you know the next best day? Monday.

Personally, I hope the myth of Friday and Monday being poor prospecting days continues. It leaves people more available to talk with those of us who are calling on those days.

The point is: in sales prospecting, often breaking the "rules" gets the best results, simply because everyone else is following the rules.

What's really happening out there.

With all the news stories of businesses in trouble (another $1 trillion for banks announced today!), you'd think business activity is grinding to a halt. Ok, yes things are slower than they were (maybe it's a return to "normal" growth, whatever that is), but a surprising number of companies are out there aggressively seeking new customers and being successful at it.

How do I know? Because we're making the calls for them.

Recently, we've been starting 2-3 new projects each month generating new customer leads for businesses intent on growing...despite the current economy. Yes, we are working harder to find those new leads for them...more calls and emails, more compelling scripts...but they are finding new prospects.

And guess whose market share they are taking. Maybe yours!

In upcoming posts I'll share with you more details about what we are seeing now in the sales prospecting environment and the techniques we're using to get the best results. Check back for more!