If you are seeking an increase in sales, telemarketing may be a choice. Telemarketing is a direct marketing approach where you reach potential clients over the phone for the purposes of selling.
Occasionally, these calls are also made using machines and thus are transformed into what we call robocalls.
These are 4 kinds of telemarketing you might need to know.
1. Outbound Calls
Imagine this: you are a miner in the Wild West, panning in rivers and streams to find gold. In fact, that is what outbound calls are. You are contacting potential clients who do not even know that your company exists. It is a hit or miss, a cold call, but when it hits, it is like striking gold.
Outbound calls are all about contact initiation. You are the one to initiate and give the first step in presenting your company and the products or services it offers to possible customers.
You will call people who are not familiar with your company, then you must make the best first impression.
2. Inbound Calls
Now, let’s reverse the roles. Think of yourself as a shopkeeper and a client comes into your store. They already have what they are looking for, and they have come to you hoping to find it. This is the core of inbound calls.
Inbound calls are warm calls. These are prospects who have already demonstrated an interest in your company. Perhaps, they have visited your website, subscribed for a newsletter, or left their phone number in your booth at an exhibition. You have their contact info and now you are putting a follow-up.
Inbound calls are all about relationship nurturing. You’re not telling your name, you’re continuing on what is there already. It’s a friendlier audience, yet it is still touchy. You have to know what they need, answer their doubts and convert the lead to a purchase.
3. Lead Generation
Lead generation is a kind of fishing. You toss your line into the water (the market) hoping to catch a big one (a potential customer). But you’re casting not blindly, though. That is a bait (marketing techniques) you are using meant to lure the fish you are seeking.
In telemarketing, the task of lead generation is to find people, who can be converted into customers. It is all about seeking out the people, who could be interested in what you’re offering, and obtaining their contact details. It could include outbound calls, inbound calls, or even a mix of the two.
The purpose is to create a list of leads you can communicate with, fostering these relationships until they become buyers.
4. Sales Calls
Last but not least are sales calls. This is the land where all the sweat on your brow finally becomes crust. It is like the outcome of a great movie when all the storylines are resolved.
Sales calls are your telemarketing efforts coming to the peak. You have found prospective customers, contacted them, developed the relationship, and now ready to close. It is all about convincing the customer that your product or service is the solution they have been seeking.