Inside sales has never been as important as it is today. The modern consumer doesn't want to be solicited at their door or business and prefers to shop around and gather information online or over the phone. Speed is also essential, or else a potential customer will end up going to a competitor that can get them their product or service in less time.
Telemarketing is essential for many businesses to sell their products or services. It's an opportunity to connect with people one-on-one and get to the source of their problems. But the modern consumer requires modern solutions, which is why many telemarketing teams have had to adapt in order to produce better results.
Common Telemarketing Challenges
One of the biggest challenges for telemarketers presents itself in the form of cold calling. Cold calling involves soliciting potential customers who have had no prior contact with the salesperson or the company. These types of calls can often be very challenging for both new and veteran salespeople.
This is why many telemarketing teams utilize cold calling software in an effort to streamline the process and make it easier on reps. VanillaSoft offers telemarketing software that includes cold calling features like queue-based routing that automatically presents reps with the next best lead to contact based on a number of factors determined by management.
There's also an auto dialing feature so that reps don't have to waste time entering numbers or risk making mistakes by dialing the wrong one. This means less downtime and more time spent creating leads and potentially making sales.
Other challenges telemarketing reps and their management face is coming up with scripts that sound natural and convincing. No one really likes being sold to, which is why it's important to approach potential customers in a way that they will be receptive to.
Telemarketing software also includes dynamically branching call scripts that auto-generate responses based on what the lead says. Reps are presented with an on-screen display of the things the person they called might say, and then once they click an option, they will receive an appropriate response.
This allows for more natural conversation that doesn't feel forced. Linear scripts can either make the lead feel like they are being ignored and just sold to, or leave the sales rep awkwardly hanging. Both aren't good scenarios for either party, and a lot of time gets wasted.
A reps job is also made easier with a number of other features, including:
- Call monitoring
- Call recording
- Live performance dashboards
- Automatic activity logging
- Appointment setting
- Lead and sales tracking
The best telemarketing teams need to be able to utilize this technology in order to get ahead of the game - or else they will tragically fall behind and lose out to their competition.
Telemarketing with Technological Solutions
Productive business is all about working smarter, not harder, which is why all successful companies are utilizing software solutions. Telemarketing is one of many areas that benefit from advanced software that can help them run more productively, efficiently, and with higher profitability.
