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5 Common Telemarketing Myths Debunked
You probably think you know a lot about telemarketing: after all, it’s a prominent form of marketing, and as an entrepreneur you may have even considered using it. However, you might just be functioning on assumptions, likely gleaned from conversations with people who are more annoyed at robocallers than telemarketers. If you’ve ever considered telemarketing to bolster your business, make sure you don’t make your decision based on these five myths.
1. Telemarketers Are the Same as Robocallers
Robocalling and telemarketing are actually two very different things. Robocalling uses an automated machine to dial numbers as quickly as possible, then plays a prerecorded message to anyone who picks up. In fact, robocalling strangers to sell them something is illegal, and the bulk of legal robocalls are for things like appointment reminders and public service announcements. Telemarketers dial numbers personally, and they usually function on a company-specific strategy, rather than a bulk-outreach one.
2. Telemarketers Just Run Through the Phonebook
This tends to be another myth perpetuated by the conflation of telemarketing and robocalling. Telemarketing rarely uses cold calling; successful telemarketing strategies will use your existing customer base to build your business. Not everyone will use your product, care about your business, or want to know about your brand. Because you’re spending time reaching out to every number you dial, you can’t afford to just call random people out of the blue. Besides, with the rise of easily-accessible reverse phone searches, more people than ever are using public search engines to quickly reject calls from people and companies they don’t know.
3. All Telemarketers Are Created Equal
The typical train of thought is that telemarketing is easy. After all, you just have to be able to talk a lot, right? Actually, a good telemarketer can be hard to find, because successful telemarketing hinges on not sounding like a salesman. A telemarketer that talks too much doesn’t leave enough time for the customer to say yes, and pushy telemarketers can turn otherwise receptive customers into resentful ones. Good telemarketers also don’t use scripts, adding another layer of difficulty to the job. The best telemarketers are the ones that can make every sales call feel like a genuine conversation, then succeed in converting the sale. That’s more difficult than it sounds.
4. It’s Cheap to Get Telemarketing Sales
One of the reasons some startups are drawn to telemarketing is that it’s often considered a “cheap” way to get sales. Although telemarketing can definitely be cost-effective, it takes just as much investment as any other form of marketing, and sometimes more. This is why reason niche fields can sometimes shine in telemarketing. In order to get the best return from telemarketing, you need to factor in your conversion rate and average order amount. Someone selling corporate printers for $5,000 each doesn’t need as high of a conversion rate as someone selling home printers for $250 each. These are all numbers you’ll need to crunch before deciding to move into telemarketing.
5. Telemarketing Just Doesn’t Work
In the age of social media and email, some people believe that telemarketing is a thing of the past. If you look at the numbers, though, that’s just not true. In fact, the telemarketing industry grew 4.7% from 2014-2019, and it’s still bringing in billions of dollars every year. Telemarketing does work, but in the era of call blocking, reverse phone lookups, and consumers skeptical of phone scams, it needs to be well-targeted and well-planned. With the right plan, you can definitely make telemarketing work to your advantage.
Conclusion
So, should you use telemarketing for your business? That’s something you have to decide for yourself. The fact of the matter is, however, that telemarketing can definitely have huge returns if you know how to use it properly.
Think about how well-established your startup is, what type of leads you already have, how niche your market is, how much money you have available to invest in telemarketing, and whether your target demographic is likely to pick up the phone. Some resources such as PeopleFinders make it easy to better research the people you’ll be calling, to ensure they’re within your demographic.
Whether you want your business to thrive over the phone or you’d rather stick to the new era of text messages and Facebook ads, one thing’s for sure: telemarketing is still alive and kicking.
You probably think you know a lot about telemarketing: after all, it’s a prominent form of marketing, and as an entrepreneur you may have even considered using it. However, you might just be functioning on assumptions, likely gleaned from conversations with people who are more annoyed at robocallers than telemarketers. If you’ve ever considered telemarketing to bolster your business, make sure you don’t make your decision based on these five myths.
1. Telemarketers Are the Same as Robocallers
Robocalling and telemarketing are actually two very different things. Robocalling uses an automated machine to dial numbers as quickly as possible, then plays a prerecorded message to anyone who picks up. In fact, robocalling strangers to sell them something is illegal, and the bulk of legal robocalls are for things like appointment reminders and public service announcements. Telemarketers dial numbers personally, and they usually function on a company-specific strategy, rather than a bulk-outreach one.
2. Telemarketers Just Run Through the Phonebook
This tends to be another myth perpetuated by the conflation of telemarketing and robocalling. Telemarketing rarely uses cold calling; successful telemarketing strategies will use your existing customer base to build your business. Not everyone will use your product, care about your business, or want to know about your brand. Because you’re spending time reaching out to every number you dial, you can’t afford to just call random people out of the blue. Besides, with the rise of easily-accessible reverse phone searches, more people than ever are using public search engines to quickly reject calls from people and companies they don’t know.
3. All Telemarketers Are Created Equal
The typical train of thought is that telemarketing is easy. After all, you just have to be able to talk a lot, right? Actually, a good telemarketer can be hard to find, because successful telemarketing hinges on not sounding like a salesman. A telemarketer that talks too much doesn’t leave enough time for the customer to say yes, and pushy telemarketers can turn otherwise receptive customers into resentful ones. Good telemarketers also don’t use scripts, adding another layer of difficulty to the job. The best telemarketers are the ones that can make every sales call feel like a genuine conversation, then succeed in converting the sale. That’s more difficult than it sounds.
4. It’s Cheap to Get Telemarketing Sales
One of the reasons some startups are drawn to telemarketing is that it’s often considered a “cheap” way to get sales. Although telemarketing can definitely be cost-effective, it takes just as much investment as any other form of marketing, and sometimes more. This is why reason niche fields can sometimes shine in telemarketing. In order to get the best return from telemarketing, you need to factor in your conversion rate and average order amount. Someone selling corporate printers for $5,000 each doesn’t need as high of a conversion rate as someone selling home printers for $250 each. These are all numbers you’ll need to crunch before deciding to move into telemarketing.
5. Telemarketing Just Doesn’t Work
In the age of social media and email, some people believe that telemarketing is a thing of the past. If you look at the numbers, though, that’s just not true. In fact, the telemarketing industry grew 4.7% from 2014-2019, and it’s still bringing in billions of dollars every year. Telemarketing does work, but in the era of call blocking, reverse phone lookups, and consumers skeptical of phone scams, it needs to be well-targeted and well-planned. With the right plan, you can definitely make telemarketing work to your advantage.
Conclusion
So, should you use telemarketing for your business? That’s something you have to decide for yourself. The fact of the matter is, however, that telemarketing can definitely have huge returns if you know how to use it properly.
Think about how well-established your startup is, what type of leads you already have, how niche your market is, how much money you have available to invest in telemarketing, and whether your target demographic is likely to pick up the phone. Some resources such as PeopleFinders make it easy to better research the people you’ll be calling, to ensure they’re within your demographic.
Whether you want your business to thrive over the phone or you’d rather stick to the new era of text messages and Facebook ads, one thing’s for sure: telemarketing is still alive and kicking.