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Taking the consultative approach to telemarketing and telesales can seem like you are going all round the houses but in actual fact it can be a great way to ask the right questions, listen, understand needs, all with the aim of meeting those needs in a way that is perceived as better or different than you competitors. Read more…
Coming from a call centre management background I have always had to work with call recordings for ongoing evaluation and development purposes.
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It was always such a chore to undertake these evaluations at a rate of X amount of calls per person per week and alway felt no matter how the process was used it was always perceived to be a “big brother” approach to training and development with the emphasis on catching people doing something wrong. Read more…
Sometimes you can stopped in your tracks when someone you call asks “What are you selling?” and you need to decide quite quickly how to respond to this.
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Do you respond with … Read more…
I had an interesting discussion last week with someone who was asking me why they got a quicker response from me if they tweeted me rather than email or phone me.
I figured I am not the only person in the world who reads text messages whilst they are on the phone or in meetings or conference calls and demos. Even in the car if they are quick to read at traffic lights!
Yes it is a bad habit, and rude to sit reading messages and texting or responding when in a meeting with other people.
Glancing at incoming text messages whilst making a telemarketing call is not disruptive though as it is very easy to do. There are lots of times in the day where I am waiting in a queue for a call to be answered, on hold waiting for someone etc. It might even be that I am on a conference call or web demo and looking around during an irrelevant bit 
Possibly I have popped out to tesco to get something for lunch or stock up on tea bags and I’m in the queue waiting to be served! The opportunities for reading text messages and push notifications are endless.
Emails are much more structured in terms of time management. I am sure everyone does things differently but the routine I have fallen into over the years is to have set times of the day to action them rather than keep looking at them every 5 minutes. Personally I find otherwise that I get sidetracked and end up dealing with an email there and then and the rest of my daily plan gets compromised.
Phone calls due to the nature of what I do with telemarketing are a bit more tricky as if I am on the phone then the call will get routed to a colleague to answer on my behalf. I am sure this is the same for lots of business people who spend a lot of time on the phone even if they don’t work in telemarketing! Telephone messages are passed on via a note pad and physically put on my desk or perhaps I get the message by email (in which case it goes into a time managed activity).
So you can see why the best and most instant messages I get to see are either text messages or twitter mentions and direct messages. The same goes for skype and other instant messaging I have on my phone.
I always have my phone with me. Along with my bank card and house keys.
Perhaps we can see how business communications are changing and where twitter plays a part in rapid conversations throughout the working day.
I am a big fan of my whiteboard. I use it as a live sales and telemarketing board. In a collections environment I always used it to display performance to target and it’s a habit that has stayed with me for telemarketing and sales performance too.
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Some people may think it is a bit old fashioned what with all these apps, cloud based systems, gadgets etc but here are my reasons why the Whiteboard has a key part to play in any office environment: Read more…
One of the questions I get asked by sole practitioners, consultants, and sole traders in the professional services sector is how can they do cold calling without appearing too desperate for work.
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There is a fear that getting on the phone yourself as a business owner smacks of desperation.
There may be a teeny weeny bit of truth in that but honestly it really is only a little bit in my opinion and the benefits far outweigh this tiny negative.
But here are some tips to keep your sanity and motivation if you are a small business owner doing cold calling yourself for lead generation: Read more…
Here is an amazing telemarketing offer you cannot refuse if you want to build up a quality email marketing list!
* 150 Call Attempts to a targeted prospect list
* Introduce your company for brand awareness in a professional manner
* Obtain decision maker contact details and email opt in permission by phone for you to use for ongoing marketing purposes
* 1000 prospect records profiled by location, business type, and industry. This includes contact name, telephone number, valid TPS/CTPS check, addresses, industry codes, employee numbers and turnover where available. This is yours to keep for ongoing marketing purposes and is not subject to a one-time use or rental use condition.
This is less than half our usual price for data and cold calling and works out less than paying someone national minimum wage to do this, or even paying for TPS/CTPS checks at usual standard rate.
All you have to do is Like our Facebook Page or Connect with us on Google+ and submit your requirements via the contact form below.
Please read our Terms and Conditions below the contact form before submitting your request.
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So you have carefully and painstakingly written your blog article and selected a nice image.
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You have most likely put in tags, assigned to categories, and made it seo friendly. Then you have probably also thought about promoting it such as where and when to schedule it for, where to promote it, thought up some great eye catching headlines, possibly even primed a few people to be on standby to comment and share your article with their tribes…
… your article lands in front of a complete stranger who is interested and engaged enough to comment immediately with the intention of sharing further with their tribe. Bullseye! This is exactly what you want and then…
Arghhh!! Read more…
Last nights episode of The Apprentice was all about biscuits and what I found particularly interesting was the discussions about the product and the target audience.
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Melody became a bit of a broken record going on about “target audience” but as annoying as she may have been to the project lead and the other team members I think she had a very good point to make and very early on too.
Right from the start the teams knew their biscuits would be luxury products at £1.99 price so that should have generated discussions about target audiences in that price bracket. The losing team attributed their loss to a naff biscuit which was probably the main lesson to be learned from the show but I have to say that the other messages about target audiences were very good and very relevant.
I often come across business that have a product or service already in place and then it comes to marketing and selling. At this point the businesses have to then think about what audiences best fit their product or service. This then leads to possibly tweaking a product or service or marketing it in such a way as to maximise appeal through USP’s or perceived benefits.
The Apprentice reversed this by giving the teams the opportunity to think about target audiences and products at the same time. This involved ideas such as “emergency biscuit” (love it!) and biscuit as the new popcorn. Brilliant original thinking. Helen’s team (the winning team) listened to their focus group, clearly defined their target audience, created and branded their product in line with that feedback, and pitched with their target audience in mind.They won by a landslide of around £1.6m orders.
The other team despite Melody’s constant reminders of defined target audience decided their biscuit would be a mass market product. This had a knock on effect with the approach they then took with packaging, and their pitch to the supermarkets. Ultimately they ended up with something confused. A snap and share product where one half was plain and the other chocolate (meaning that someone ended up without any chocolate and a bland half of a biscuit) but also for girls sharing a biscuit during a night in. Their pitch changed as they went along and they didn’t get any orders at all.
So, the moral of the story as I see it are that we all need a great biscuit but just as important we need to know who wants it!
Zoe got fired as Lord Sugar believed she should have made sure the product was great. Fair point. But, even if the product had been good with the approach they took considering target audiences I still think they would have lost.
I see a lot of “me too” businesses out there currently finding it hard to promote their services in a way that articulates value and benefits and hold on to their price.
A lot of our work is with Accountants and Professional Services and there is a huge risk in these industries (accountancy in particular) to be a Zoe biscuit. What are your thoughts?
It’s not often that I can offer this but I can for next week – week commencing 20th June 2011.
You can just book one day if you wish for an experienced telemarketer to come and work on site at your offices. They are employed by Maxxy so no HR or Recruitment hassle, no “on-costs” with employers NI, holiday, sickness, insurance etc.
All they need is a desk with a computer and access to the internet and a phone. We provide the cloud based CRM system for them to work from and can even source prospect data lists for them to call from that are checked against TPS/CTPS.
So if you fancy boosting your sales income and like the idea of booking someone to work on your site for a day give me a call on 01480 878 082 or email me at info@maxxy.co.uk
maxinemaxxy - @sallyclarke It should work but usually takes around 28 days to kick in :) 3 hours ago 
