What are the benefits of outsourcing to Xen versus employing a telemarketing team in-house?
That’s simple, you have readymade experts who only require minimal training. Having a team of people from many different backgrounds means that whatever the client offering, project objectives or target market, we have someone in our team that will understand your world and be able to speak about it with the same passion and integrity that you do.
In a telemarketing environment, it is imperative that someone is managing the team to drive results and ensure the team are coached and developed to reach their full potential. Our team of Project Managers prepare marketing content for emails and LinkedIn messaging to engage with the profile of the person you want to target to ensure a high response rate, so it really is a lot more than telemarketing. Outsourcing is a no-brainer, not only does it save those hefty recruitment fees, it also saves valuable time and resources.
For our readers that have internal training days, what would be the number one tip you can give them?
Work to a process – if you have a structure and understand how to engage over the telephone, your internal sales training sessions will be a huge success!
Michaela Craft, Founder of Xen, holds a very popular sales training course every month at our offices in Milton Keynes where delegates experience the very powerful delivery of our ‘Back to Basics’ course.
In a small group of classroom style interactive training, delegates will cover a range of modules such as objection handling, the principles of selling and how to implement a tried and tested call process which can be adapted for any situation.
Delegates leave feeling inspired and confident to pick up the phone, they have a proven structure to work with, understand how to communicate more effectively and, most importantly, work to a process in order to increase their sales conversions and results.
Michaela says: “I love seeing my delegates inspired by my tips from how to accelerate the positive and how it starts with attitude. One delegate called me the very next day to say that, as a result of my course, they signed a £100K deal.”
What are the fundamental ingredients to a successful telemarketer?
Communication skills are crucial, and someone who wants to be the best they can be even when things are tough, who can engage and appeal to another person’s emotions. Someone who understands how to listen with intent over the telephone and present to a person without selling to them. The ability to learn very quickly, not being afraid to ask questions and wants to self-develop. Self-motivation is key to delivering results. Being able to share insights and add value to marketing campaigns, spotting key trends that can make a difference to the success of a campaign… Need I go on! I’m basically describing the wonderful people we’ve recruited and nurtured over the years at Xen.
How has the telemarketing industry changed over the last 20 years?
I’m sure everyone in ‘sales’ remembers the rolodex cards? Yes, I’m showing my age! Things have moved on so quickly with social selling and personal style emailing, but the telephone is still the key ingredient to a very successful marketing campaign – but why?
Although it’s great to get a LinkedIn message or email in your inbox out of the blue that might be just at the right time, the telephone is still one of the most powerful tools to generate new business, second only to face to face meetings. We don’t call our work ‘B2B’ we call it ‘Human to Human’ and we make it happen by bringing new business to you.
Is it true that people are really rude on the telephone, or is that a myth?
There are many myths in the world of telemarketing, but to answer your question – no, people are people. We define ‘rude’ and ‘not having a great day’ as two separate things. In fact, I can count on one hand over the many years where someone has been rude, once we understand why the reaction was the way it was, we empathise, apologise and take a deep breath moving on to the next call – in our world a ‘NO’ means ‘next opportunity’.
When someone objects or isn’t helping in the way we hoped (many gatekeepers come to mind) we have a saying here at Xen but please don’t take it literally, we kill them with kindness!
Naomi Webb – Sales and Marketing Director at Xen Consultants
To find out more, call 01908 223330!
