I was invited recently to be the guest speaker at an excellent business networking group based in Paignton, Devon. The event was superbly organised by South West Innovation Centres which is an organisation dedicated to supporting businesses in the Region. I had travelled midweek to this beautiful part of the world for a series of meetings with new clients at our Torquay Office which Adrian had organised. The speaking engagement on the Friday was a great finish to a really enjoyable and productive few days. The content of my presentation was centred around many of the quite negative (and rightly so) perceptions of telemarketing generally held by a large number of business people. We looked at why those perceptions exist not only from the perspective of people being called, but also we explored many of the negative feelings people experience when faced with  picking up the telephone to call someone they don’t know, or  to follow up with someone they’ve perhaps met recently. Fear of rejection, not knowing what to say, feeling under pressure to become the salesperson and perform, dealing with objections were all mentioned. I then suggested that many of these perceived problems or mental blocks were the result of years of being exposed to old school sales methology which dictates that we should always be looking for the sale, to move things along, to close, close, close, to control the conversation etc. Is it any wonder then that if people are picking up the telephone with this as their objective that the experience is neither a pleasurable one for the person being called or the caller.

I encouraged people to simply be themselves and not feel any pressure to “perform” but simply to have a conversation with the person on the other end of the phone which is designed to do nothing other than to find out if there is any common ground. If there is, then to explore this in a conversational natural way (not a heavy handed pitching and scripted way) the result of which may well be that there is a genuine request made to receive further information on a product or service or its agreed that based on the conversation an initial face to face meeting would prove productive. No pressure either way, just two people having a conversation. No one trying to be someone else by becoming “the salesperson” complete with different voice, accent or personality just because they’ve picked the phone up to make a call- and from the other persons perspective no need now to have to put the defences up to block the salesperson on the other end of the phone who as a result of the style of their call is simply reinforcing all the negative stereotypes none of us in business like. I suggested that people will relate to the real you, not a cardboard cut out salesperson version of you. If the call is approached as simply a fact finding mission for both sides then clearly there can be no rejection involved as the purpose of the call is not to sell at all costs but simply to engage in a natural way and find out where we both stand. If there’s no common ground then no problem.-is that reasonable? At the end of the presentation many of the business owners present approached Adrian and I and said that they could really relate to the content especially the part about just being yourself and taking away the pressure to be “the salesperson” Others also said that if the calls they received were based on this kind of approach they’d be more than happy to talk with people. Telemarketing can be an incredibly effective part of your marketing mix but only if the calls are the exact opposite of what people are expecting. So the message is clear, to sell you need to stop selling, remove all pressure from both you and the person you are calling, start having conversations and above all just be you-after all why would you want to be anybody else.

To find out more about our trial telemarketing campaign packages call us now on 01206 266888 or 01803 321206