How To Use Telemarketing To Grow Your Small Business

Mention telemarketing to many small business owners and managers and you are likely to see uncertainty, doubt and confusion. Many of them confuse telemarketing with telesales. The latter is tainted by the cold-calling, pressure tactics used by some companies to sell everything from timeshare holidays to kitchens and garden furniture.

The only similarity between telemarketing and telesales is that they both use the telephone as a communication medium.

Here are many reasons why you should be using telemarketing in your small business marketing mix

1. Appointment setting – the overriding role of marketing is to gain opportunities for your sales people. The best opportunities stem from face to face meetings. Telemarketing is proven to deliver high quality appointments with specifically targeted, pre-qualified decision makers. In preparing your appointments a good telemarketer will have had numerous contacts with your prospects’ decision makers. They will have built up a rapport and set expectations so that your appointments are geared for maximum results before you get to meet the client
2. Lead generation – telemarketing for lead generation is a less in-depth process than appointment setting. The objective is normally to contact a prospect, gauge potential level of interest and to provide you with a profiled database of leads. You may follow up the contacts yourself or you may choose to commission a telemarketer to set appointments with the best prospects.
3. Database building and cleansing – most companies acquire extensive lists of contacts and prospects. Telemarketing is an excellent way of reviewing, updating and building your contact database.
4. Follow up – if I had to pick one key to successful small business marketing it would have to be a comprehensive, robust follow-up process. In the normal course of business just about every one of your staff will make contacts and maybe receive enquiries about your company. In a marketing sense, every such contact is manna from heaven. Following up every contact has been shown to improve sales in company after company. Telemarketers can provide a truly professional service in contact follow-up further multiplying the benefits of following up.

Practically any small business is capable of outstanding growth. Breakthrough Business Growth is dedicated to making proven small business growth solutions accessible to all business owners..