10 Telemarketing Tips to Control the Conversation in Your Favor
b'All telemarketers, whether they like it or not, have entered a high-stakes game. In every exchange or interaction by phone, someone is going to come out victorious. The question really comes down to who winds up controlling the energy and the conversation. A great telemarketer tends to jump on the phone and dance in front of prospects while effortlessly navigating barriers and obstacles. While this is absolutely more natural for some than others, a few key telemarketing tips can make all the difference.\\nBelow are 10 telemarketing tips to help you take control of your conversations and win:\\n\\n \\tHave a clear goal for the call. This sounds waaay too simple, but quite honestly it is one of the most crucial of all telemarketing tips. Often, ill-conceived campaigns try to accomplish too many things or do not have a clear definition of success. While a tele-qualified lead campaign will measure success by the ability to verify information and/or the interest level of the prospect, a sales-oriented campaign will be pushing to set a sales appointment. An audience acquisition campaign will be looking to drive traffic to a specific event. All three campaigns have different measures of success. Before you ever start your campaign, you need to have a very clear idea of what measurable return on investment (ROI) looks like.\\n \\tDon\\u2019t sell to the gatekeeper\\u2014E-V-E-R. Repeat after me: \\u201cThe gatekeeper does not care how great you, your products or your services are, and is not the decision-maker.\\u201d While you absolutely should be polite and respectful when speaking with a gatekeeper, remember that at the end of the day it does not benefit the sale to pitch to the gatekeeper. You can banter, you can dance, you can talk about the weather, you can even use a familiar tone, but the gatekeeper is going to decide two things: whether you were kind and respectful if their boss or colleague inquires, and whether or not they will connect you directly to the prospect or put you through to voicemail.\\n \\tWhen you are looking to grab your prospect\\u2019s attention, DO NOT set the primary focus of the call as a sales call. Sales is a tricky business. The odds that anyone you call for the first time will give you time to do a proper sales pitch are slim to none. At the end of the day in sales, your goal should never be about a cold, hard sell anyway. Instead, you should always be looking to match prospects with a product or service that clearly benefits them. A great telemarketing tactic is to use a phrase like, \\u201cI\\u2019m looking for a strategic partner and wondering if you might be a fit.\\u201d Remember that your first sale on any telemarketing call is to convince the prospect that they have a reason to listen.\\n \\tShow excitement. Often overlooked among viable telemarketing tips, excitement and passion in the voice of the caller amount to the telemarketing \\u201cX factor.\\u201d Have you ever wondered why some telemarketers can magically pass through gatekeepers and book their appointments with ease? Quite often these individuals are \\u201cbringing it all to the table\\u201d through their voice. While a caller cannot see you smile, they certainly can hear it in your voice. People can also tell the difference between those who are genuinely passionate about a product or service and those who are not.\\n \\tWatch your pace. This is a crazy-common mistake made by beginning telemarketers. In an effort to follow #4 of our telemarketing tips (\\u201cShow excitement!\\u201d), callers will start to speak too fast and raise their voices. The ability to control your speed shows poise, professionalism and confidence. Speaking slowly and clearly also gives a prospect time to digest what you are saying.\\n \\tListen for any sign of emotion and address it. Hey, let\\u2019s face it, we are only human. Human beings can follow every sales and marketing playbook on the planet and lose a huge deal because of the prospect\\u2019s feelings or moods. If you happen to hear a prospect laugh, compliment them; if you hear them sigh,'