A guest post by Sam Forshaw
Many people view telemarketing as the route of all evil, whether this is in their work life or personal life. For me, telemarketing should be seen as the route to income, and a great way to market not only your product and company, but you as a person. Really, good telemarketing should be an integral part of almost everyone's business plan, and should be a part of yours.
After leaving University, I was offered a telemarketing role at Euler Hermes UK, the leading credit insurance company in the UK, and although I was only employed in this role for four or five months before being promoted, the skills I developed in this time are still being used to this day.
As a self employed Credit Insurance Broker, I am virtually 100% reliant on generating new business myself through telemarketing, and through business contacts built up over the years. Although now around 70% of my business comes through this business network, there is still one common denominator – it started with a cold call.
Telemarketing, therefore, should not always be viewed as a sales call, but also as a way of opening doors to new opportunities. Of course, the first thing to be thinking about is how can I, and my product help this person? You should also be thinking about how your product can help this persons clients or suppliers. By taking an empathetic view of someone's business and engaging with them, you are more likely to be successful than if you think “you are going to buy my product by the end of this call whether you like it or not”.
When people have the option to pick up the phone themselves, I think a mistake often made is to do this off the cuff and think “I have some spare time, I'll make some calls”. This, for me, is a mistake.
Telemarketing should be part of your day to day business plan, and should be afforded the time and attention you would give to any other part of your business. Block out some time, and make a concerted effort to make the most of this time.
My top tips for telemarketing:
1. Call the right person – The Decision Maker. If you don't know who this is, then ask, don't guess. There is no point in booking an appointment with the wrong person who cannot buy your product.
2. Make a plan of what you want to say when you get through to the Decision Maker. Although I would never use a script, I would always want a clear idea in my mind of what my message is. This can also help to control any nerves people may have about cold calling.
3. Make the gate keeper your ally, not your enemy. If you offend the gatekeeper, the chances are they will remember you, and you probably won't get through. Remember, just as you are, they are also just doing their job.
4. Keep accurate records of your conversations, when you called, why you called and what the outcome was. From this, you can develop your call list and build up an effective data base.
5. Dedicate specific time to telemarketing and focus on this. Avoid taking any calls yourself (no matter who it is), leave emails for later, switch off your mobile and clear your desk. All these are distractions that make it easy to avoid telemarketing, not excel at it.
6. Be prepared to adapt. If your pitch isn't working, then try something else. If you never get through when you call, then try a different time slot. Try keeping a tally of calls made, DM's contacted, and appointments made. See which pitch, at what time works best for you.
In short. Telemarketing is something which all businesses should embrace, and at all levels within that business. It is something which can generate huge volumes of income, but only if you approach this in the right way. Plan what you are going to do, how you want to do it, and most importantly, when you WILL do it. If this plan doesn't work, then adapt it until you hit on a plan that does work, rather than giving up and thinking “this won't work for me”.
Oh, and one more thing – SMILE! Talking about what you do and your company should make you happy, so project this when taking to people on the phone, and you will have much better results.
I am a Credit Insurance specialist for Exchange Insurance Services, an independent commercial insurance brokers in the North west, and have worked in credit insurance for almost ten years. I started out in telemarketing, before being promoted through to the sales team where I sold insurance policies both over the phone, and face to face. In all this time, telemarketing has always played an integral part of my new business, and has always been part of my business plan. You can find us at
www.exchangeis.net, and find me on twitter – @Sam_exchangeis, and also on
LinkedIn. My blog is at
www.cashflowkeepingbusinessesinbusiness.blogspot.com
One conversation I often have with business people is the usefulness of cold calling, canvassing, telemarketing call it what you will, as a new business strategy. 
