Worded just right, a telemarketing script will secure your
company's place in business history as it propels to ever
greater heights of prosperity and market dominance. Business
leaders will bow their heads in submission as your telemarketing
script knocks over objection after objection like so many
bowling pins. Your coffers will swell as decision makers, gaping
in awe at your brilliant presentation of features and benefits,
queue up with pen in hand to sign on the doted line. Yeah, right.
In all honesty, most busy executives will forget what you said a
few minutes after you hang up the phone. Wait a week and they
will not only forget what you said, they will forget you too. In
this age of sensory overload, inroads are forged through
repeated contact and personalization - in other words,
relationships.
Imagine a total stranger knocking on your front door and saying,
"Hi, I'm Bob. I just moved into the neighborhood and want to be
your best buddy. I brought some beer. Let's hang out. Mind if I
raid your fridge?" This is the impression you give when you try
to accomplish too much in your first call. Is it any wonder
executives hide behind voicemail more and more?
MAPPING THE RELATIONSHIP BUILDING PROCESS
Success is a relative term in the sales process- changing
depending on the stage of the relationship. At first success
could mean securing an in-office presentation. Later on it could
mean closing the deal.
Regard success as the final rung in a ladder to the next stage
in a relationship and ask yourself where you need to start the
climb. For an in-person meeting, some of the rungs that need to
be scaled first could be getting permission to email information
or setting a telephone appointment.
Correctly mapping out the relationship stages requires you to
put yourself in your prospect's shoes. Just because you think it
should go from A to B to C doesn't mean your prospects feel the
same way. Use feedback from your sales agents but don't neglect
doing some of your own primary research. Sales people are often
wedded to sales systems they've been trained on and do not
adjust to changing realities. What may have worked selling into
one industry a year ago, may not work this year or for another
industry. What may have worked selling to the CEO, may not work
when selling to the CFO. What may have worked for one product,
may not work for another.
By breaking down your sales process this way, you will always
know what you can ask for without seeming outlandish. Push the
boundaries slightly by going for the top rung in the current
relationship stage, but regard a progression to any of the
intervening rungs as a successful outcome.
From time to time, when reaching for the top rung, you will get
it. By aiming higher, you give chance an opportunity to work in
your favor.
As you clearly map out the relationship building process, you
develop a better sense for how far telemarketing will be able to
carry the ball for you and if it is worth the investment. By
building the script around realistic expectations the
telemarketing agents will remain motivated and your sales agents
will not come to you complaining their leads were not ready to
sign contracts.
About the author:
Gene Gerwin is the founder of CCI Telemarketing, a provider of
B2B telemarketing services since 1993. Learn more at
http://www.cci-telemarketing.com
