Telemarketing has a bad reputation, and that puts many Entrepreneurs off to using it in their business.

This can mean you losing out on a fortune. Because, approached correctly - and that means intelligently and sensitively - it is possible to use the telephone for sophisticated telephone marketing, which nurtures and grows your relationships with your clients and customers.

There’s the key word: relationship. If only more business owners would understand how important relationships are in business, it would make their lives so much easier, especially in difficult economic times.

It’s not unusual for a business implementing successful telephone marketing to see profits double within one to three years. It’s that powerful.

But organizing Telemarketing is not always so simple – so here are some guiding principles you may want to follow:

1. Integrate Telemarketing as part of your total strategy. Too many business owners see telemarketing as a separate activity from their other marketing.

And this is a big mistake, because experience has shown me time and time again, the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts when all the different strands to a marketing strategy are pulling together.

Your marketing strategy - if you pay attention to the marketing tips I've shared with you - calls for an integrated approach involving several media. Your marketing strategy has one purpose and one purpose alone: to make you money. To do that most effectively, it all has to be going the same way.

2. Follow up your mailing with a phone call. One of the mainstays of effective marketing is Direct Mail. But what isn’t generally known is if you follow up a mailing with a telephone call, you can improve results by 50 – 1000% (yes, one thousand percent - that’s not a misprint).

If you then get the prospective customer on the phone – (and we’re not talking about the hard sell here) and remind them about the mailing you can often take the order right then and there. One way of looking at it is to say that your letter “softened them up” for the call.

3. If you’re unsure how your customers will react to being sold to on the phone – don’t sell to them. Selling on the phone can be tricky. You can never be quite sure what your prospect is doing when you call, so even the lightest touch with the softest intent can come at exactly the wrong moment.

That’s why it’s important to make your approach as unobtrusive as you can. And if you really are not sure how your prospects, customers and clients will react to being given a sales pitch on the phone, no matter how gentle, don’t do it.

Instead, use the telephone call to ask questions, gather information and ensure their needs are being met. Everyone likes to feel important, and everyone likes to feel someone cares. And make no mistake: even if you call someone to just make sure they are OK, then they’ll appreciate it.

In fact, a very powerful way of upselling your customers and clients, and for getting referrals is to call after you’ve made a sale, just to make sure things are satisfactory and the customer is happy.

4. Use scripts, but also be flexible. Telemarketing scripts are useful, especially at the beginning of a call, because they set the entire “frame” of the conversation.

But you must also allow some flexibility because your Telemarketers and the people they’re talking to are human beings, not machines, and no two calls are going to be identical.

5. Realize that Practice makes Perfect. It sounds obvious, but don’t let whoever is making your calls loose on your customers cold.

Make sure they’re not only properly trained, but are also familiar with your marketing strategy, your business, the offers, and any scripts they’re expected to be using.

Practice might take some investment in time and energy, but it always pays off, allowing your team to become more confident and you to spot and rectify mistakes before you let them loose in anger on your valued customers.

The telephone is one of the most powerful marketing tools you have available to you because it taps in to our in-built and very human need to communicate.

What's more, so very few businesses use it effectively (if at all), you're going to put yourself way out in front of your competitors.

One other thought…I’ve used phrases like ‘Telemarketers’ here but don’t let that put you off. Ultimately we’re talking about the power of a human being picking up the phone and communicating to your customers. That could be you, could be a colleague, could be a temp working in your business a few hours a week. But however you do it – please test Telephone Marketing. It can be immensely profitable for virtually any business.

So I'm going to put on my mad scientist lab coat and come up with the top 7 leadership attributes for business leaders in today’s emerging new economy.  Many of the traits and characteristics required to be successful in today's economy are the same traits needed for great leadership in any economic environment, but the priority of the traits I'm about to share have changed.

1. Pay Attention To Your Mindset

The world is changing, you need to be willing and open to change with it.  That means being open to learning new ways of doing business.  Keep tabs on your rational for making decisions - are your business choices to expand, sell and market your services being driven by a mindset of scarcity or prosperity?  A scarcity driven mindset is reactive, based on fear of loss, low risk tolerance, limits control and will limit your opportunity to grow.  A prosperity driven mindset is pro-active, based on opportunity of gain, requires higher risk tolerance, puts you in control and opens the door to growth.

A great quote I recently heard related to mindset goes like this, "if you think the way you've always thought you'll always get what you've always got."  Okay, so how do you change your mindset you might ask?  In many ways how you think and the basis for your thoughts and decisions is intrinsic to you and naturally ingrained.  Changing the way you think requires on-going, sometime uncomfortable repetition and practice.  Which is why people normally don't change.

This means reading more (turn drive time into learning time), associating with new people and applying strategies outside of your industry to your world.  A great line by famous speaker Guy Kawasaki related to this topic:

"Eat like a bird, poop like an elephant." In other words, (1) get out there, meet people, consume knowledge like crazy, attend seminars, etc. (birds eat a lot!). And (2) spread the knowledge, information, and contacts that you gained around, share of your time and talent (elephants are good at...well you know).

2. Lead From The Front

I'm not going to say too much about this because, it should be common knowledge but isn't always common practice.  Think about Emanuel Leutze's painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware river. Every time you find yourself at a tough decision or an obstacle, think of this image and ask yourself, "am I leading from the front on this."  You must be willing to show your team you're not asking them to do things you're not willing to do yourself.  That doesn't mean you have to do their job, but your actions on the frontlines will have more influence than delegating orders from the rear.

Which leads us to the next trait...

3. Immunity To Criticism

There's an old line, "People who lead from the front tend to get arrows in the chest and the rear."  Or another Southern saying, "The further up the pole you climb the more your ass hangs out."

It's an absolute unavoidable truth, if you're in a leadership role you will be criticized.  If you aren't being criticized by someone most likely you’re not leading as well as you should be.  This isn't to say your mission in life is to aggravate employees.  But, if you're trying new ways to grow the business (see trait 1.) and pushing people to be successful, particularly in a time when staff may feel there a lot of excuses for failure, you may not be loved and adored by all.

So other than drinking kerosene and eating nails for breakfast (kidding, this will only make you sick don't try it), how can you toughen' up?  Great leaders seem to have a natural ability to deflect criticism.  I think this comes from an emotional shield (consciously or subconsciously) developed from certainty and confidence.  The more certain you are about your direction, goals and potential outcomes the more confidence you will have.

But for many businesses the last few years have been and still are uncertain times, so how do you develop a sense of certainty?  It's actually a loop system that goes like this: Behavior (take action) > Outcome (positive or negative result) > Belief (confidence or lack of confidence) > Certainty > Influences Behavior

Be sure not to confuse confidence with arrogance.

4. Take Responsibility

The more you're willing to take responsibility for your success or failure the more you can control.  Excuses, off loading responsibility, superstition, and blame eliminate your ability to control the outcome on any business venture.  Surely you may fail from time to time, but taking responsibility for your failures will allow you to move forward.  I call this failing forward.

5. Zero Tolerance For Entitlement 

Your job as a business leader is not to provide jobs.  Your job is to produce a profitable business.  Entitlement has become an accepted social norm that has crept into the workplace.  The "inmates are running the asylum" in many businesses.  Owners are held hostage by employees who steal time, abuse resources and complain about compensation.  Meanwhile there are hundreds of thousands of people who are unemployed and eager for job opportunities.  Business is not the little league game where everyone gets a chance to play, no one's keeping score and everyone get a trophy regardless of how they played.  That's called Communism.  So score keeping is a requirement.

6. Be Willing To Make Others Look Good

I know a lot of the traits I've pointed out up to this point may seem hardnosed. This is a little softer, but very hard for people do to.  Great leaders champion the success of their team and are willing to give credit to others for group success.  In larger corporate environments this becomes more difficult as there are more layers of management and people are jockeying for position in the company.  Those leaders who are able to rally a team of devoted staff around them and publicly credit and reward team members who perform well will earn true loyalty that can endure tough times.  Crediting others develops your authority as a leader. People will respond to you because of who you are not simply because you're the boss.

Tear this article out and hang it on your wall and refer back to as often as you need.  When the time comes these 6 leadership traits will help give you the perspective you'll need to make the right decisions about your business.  This article will serve as a reminder of the core leadership traits required to be successful in the current economy.  If you have other traits or characteristics of great leadership that you think should be added please let me know.  I'd love to hear your thoughts.

So this line,"little hinges swing big doors." is a great way to talk about call tracking and the importance of using it.  The challenge a lot of businesses have is they don't realize the revenue and opportunities that are being lost over the phone because they're not paying attention to their phones.

Here's a story to illustrate my point...

Last week I was waiting on an important package that I needed for a trade show.  Timing on this package was crucial, so I had the package sent directly to my house via FedEx.  I had the tracking number and I was fevorously checking the packages arrival online.  So I knew almost down to the hour when my package was going to arrive - I even started looking out the window.  Sure enough, I saw the FedEx truck coming down my street.  This was perfect, I would get the package and head on my way.

But instead of pulling up in front of my house the truck stopped two houses down across the street.  I watched as the deliveryman dropped off a package on the front step of my neighbors house (several houses down).  Immediately, I thought "oh well that's just a coincidence, surely he'll stop by here next."

No - instead the deliveryman drove right on by.  I really needed that package, so I ran down the street and walked right up to my neighbor's stoop and looked at the box, and sure enough it was my package.  In the deliveryman's hast he had dropped the package off at the wrong house.  Fortunately for me, I was so eager to get the package I was at my house watching the road for a truck, so I saw the whole mishap unfold.

So what's the point of this story and how is it relevant to your marketing and sales...

Well, I did everything I could to get that package to my door - delivery was critical, timing was critical.  It had to be the right stuff at the right time or I was going to lose a lot of money.  FedEx has spent billions of dollars perfecting a masterpiece of logistical engineering and transportation to successfully deliver packages (computer technology, planes, software, trucks, distribution centers, etc).  And in my case all of those tools, people and logistics came together to deliver my package to my door.

BUT, right at the point of contact where the package was within 50 yards of my door the ENTIRE system failed because of a minor mistake.  When success/fulfillment was "within inches" the machine broke down.  So all of those resources, all of that time, all of that technology was ALL FOR NOT.

Whether you admit it or not or realize it or not this is the same type of scenario that happens with your marketing and sales activity. 

You spend countless hours coming up with new ways to generate leads for your business, you work on your website, you invest money in advertising, maybe you pay an ad agency, you do social networking, PPC, SEO, direct mail, networking, you go to all the major trade shows, you buy equipment to handle sales and if you're good, all of your hard work on marketing pays off and you actually generate leads.

But you're not done yet... You pay salespeople to take inbound calls, to field emails and internet inquires, to follow-up with good leads, you invest in sales training, you devote weekly meetings to coach your sales team, you pay commissions and salaries - and then of course you have to fulfil on whatever it is you're selling.

So YOU know all of THAT stuff, right.

But here's what happens under your nose...

1. You invest in advertising and it doesn't work, but you don't know what isn't working and those advertising dollars go into the "sunk cost" category (meanwhile you're losing out on winning opportunities because your money is tied up)
2.  Your website produces lots of visits but no one calls you and if they do call you don't know what prompted them to call
3. Good prospects call your business and go straight to voicemail and never get a return call
4. Good prospects do talk to a salesperson but don't buy (you could easily get this sale, but you can't personally take ever call)
5. Good prospects talk to your salespeople and buy, but your company loses money on the deal
6. Good prospects are turned away right at the point of buying because of lackadaisical and indifferent employees

This IS happening in your business - all businesses have a case of the it-almost-got-there-syndrome.  The great businesses are able to minimize and control these gaps, which is what our call tracking solution is all about.  Give us a call: 866-231-9355 we can help you identify and pug these gaps in your business.  You just have to be willing to accept the reality that there is a NEED for accountability and to take responsibility for those missed sales opportunities that are costing your business hundreds of thousands of dollars, that could easily be saved.

When it comes to marketing  there's so much misinformation and crap being sold that a lot of businesses lose sight of the core goal of their marketing.  So here's a motto to live by when it comes to your marketing or sales:

A.I.M Marketing®:

Aggressive - you will need to use multiple channels to reach your customers and prospects and you must be willing to stand appart from the crowd.  Your market is over run with competitors and using timid, glossy, same ole marketing will not work.  Directly targeting your customers and prospects is the best approach.

Intelligent - instead of wasting money on advertising that does not produce a response or truly further your cause, identify those strategies and tactics that work best.  Be smart about how, where and what you say to your prospects so that you get maximum response and revenue from every communication.

Measureable - with out measurement tools in place you have no way of know if your marketing is truly paying off the way it should be.  By measuring your activity you can optimize your ad spend and more accurately target your best customers.  As I've said before, "marketing without measurement is madness."  The same is true when it comes to your sales activity.  With the right mindset toward accountability and the right tools you can make good decisions about your marketing and sales.

This is a feedback loop system (follow how this works)...

Aggressive - you're aggressive and you try a bunch of different stuff to get customers and you're not afraid to be different.

Intelligent - you match the right message, medium and targeted prospects for maxium response and revenue.

Measurable - you track and measure your marketing and sales effort.  You then take that infomation to make good decisions about your marketing which then allows you to be MORE aggressive and MORE intelligent.

If done correctly this cycle will go on and on and on...

To learn more about A.I.M. Marketing® and to get a free 15 minute consultation about your business call: 866-231-9355 or email: info@newcallsolutions.com

I'm sorry, but this is absolutely outrageous!  That line of thinking, is counter productive in many ways: 1.) By not being willing to hold your sales team accountable you create a culture of entitlement (even if your sales people are awesome people and have the best intentions) 2.) Without measurement tools in place like outbound call measurement you will always have more dramatic peaks and valleys in production. 3.) You will not be able to develop a scalable sales force from the stand point of retaining and promoting existing sales people and more importantly orienting and training new sales people. 

Tracking and recording your outbound sales calls provides critical insight into how your sales process truly functions and this information should be organized and used as part of your day-to-day performance evaluations, and then used as a benchmark for training and rewarding.  This is called "in-prossess evaluation" as opposed to "end-result evaluation."

You can start using outbound call tracking within a matter of minutes and get your staff using it with about 30 minutes of training. Run the program for 30 days and have THE most productive sales meeting you've ever had.

Does that statement resonate with you? Would you agree? Your phone is the lifeblood of your business...if not "the lifeblood" surely it's a vital organ. 

I don't mean the actual physical hardware - the plastic handset, the digital screen, the cords - I mean the incoming and outgoing phone calls that are made at your business every day - the communication that takes place with your prospects, customers and clients.

I recently had a client call me and tell me how important our call measurement program is to them, because they were away on a combined business/holiday trip overseas, more than 1000 miles away from their office, but they were able to "keep an ear" on the business at their leisure without having to actually be there.

While she was away she periodically logged into the call measurement system to see how many calls had come in and gone out.  She listened to several sales calls and inquiry calls from prospects. She told me she feels confident in her staffs ability, but having the ability to quickly monitor activity ensured that while the "cat was away, the mice wouldn't play."

Any business owner who wants more freedom from their business without having to sacrifice control should seriously consider implementing our call measurement program.

The big leason here is you don't have to be teathered to your office to oversee it and measuring your phone calls with our web-based tracking solution can give you that freedom.

I can't help but think about business lessons that can be learned from watching pro-sports.

Instant replay with crystal clear slow motion video recording has changed the game of professional football.  A lot of people were and still are opposed to instant replay, but I'm all for it because it shows officials, players, coaches and fans the actual truth and real outcome of every play.  Sure it can be a pain if you're on the tail end of an unfavorable call because of instant replay, but overall it makes the game better.

Throughout the playoffs and regular season you can find tons of big plays that were made or broken by instant replay - decisions that were game changers.

* What would it be like if you had instant replay in your sale department? 

* What if you had the ability to go back and review what your salesperson was saying word-for-word with a prospect or customer?

Do you think you could have some "game changing" decisions if you had the ability and willingness to hold your salespeople accountable to the same degree that pro football players are held accountable on game day?

VPs should be measuring the performance of salespeople like professional athletes.  Afterall aren't your sales reps professionals too...

I'm sure they are, but some of your salespeople may not be performing at the level you need, but you don't know unless you have a way to measure performance. Once you start measuring performance, the game changes because measurement creates accountability and accoutability produces results, which is what you want in your business.

People in any environment, whether it be the NFL or in business perform better with measurement.

I'm going back to the game, but I wanted to share this idea with you...

If you're not measuring your sales department and marketing results with our call measurement software - give us a call or send us an email we'll be happy to explain our program and how you can start using "instant replay" with your sales team to maximize performance.

Best,

Ryan Pitz

Recession Response

Here are six recession response strategies to help you profit in the current economic climate.

Response # 1. Ensure every lead opportunity is being handled and accounted for properly. Many business don't realize they get good leads, everyday,that "slip through the cracks" - andwho can blame em' ya don'tknow what ya don't know. If you can identify and "plug up the holes" in your customer acquisition funnel - your lead generation and sales process will become more efficient. An efficient lead gen process will free up cash and give you flexibility to put more resources into advertising and sales initiatives. Tips for making customer acquisition more efficient. 1.) Track response from all forms of advertising and marketing - drop the ads that don't produce response and spend more on those that do produce a direct response. 2.) Hone your sales process at the initial point of contact when people call your office, walk into your business or complete a lead form online. Pay closer attention to those factors that result in sales. Most of your competitors will not take the time to measure response, script their sales process and identify which forms of marketing are most effective. Most will simply reduce spending money on customer acquisition initiatives (advertising, sales and conversion strategies). In the past you may have been able to get away with sloppy or half-hearted marketing and sales, but tight times expose weaknesses.

Response # 2. Employ the "Glutton at a rainy picnic principle" - Imagine you're at a picnic BBQ and it starts to rain. All of your friends and family run for their cars, but you stick around. Now you can eat to your heart's content without competition. If you stick it out through the rain and let the storm pass you get first pick of all the vittles you like. The same is true when recession proofing. Most businesses knee jerk reaction is to "hold everything." Tighten the belt - run for the hills. But before you do that, find your "rainy picnic" opportunities. Start using a media outlet or ad source thatyour competitors have bailed on because of they think it's too expensive. Find the opportunities that come with change and make bold moves to capitalize on the new circumstantial change.

Response # 3. Leverage adjacent marketing and sales strategies. Because everybody is "feeling the heat" or worried about the changing economy develop relationships with other companies to pool resources and refer internally. Devise a strategy to offer your customers more service, special offers or other incentives to do business with you because of your relationship with fellow business owners. For example: If you sell auto parts, develop a relationship with a service station for discounts on gas (of course only available through your store). Develop a relationship with an oil change station, etc. Workout a mutually beneficial referral system that gives each business a better shot at a customer. I guess you could call this a Co-Op Win-Win.

Response # 4.Don't sing the Recession Blues around any staff what-so-ever. If people feel like they have a reason to fail some of them just might - don't give em the opportunity. It starts at the top...all that stuff. Don't ignore reality, be willing to speak candidly about the changing circumstances that impact your business, but don't emotionally "throw in the towel." With the exception of a handful of businesses...the market still exists for what you sell. Somebody somewhere is buying what you're selling. The question is are you positioned well enough to be the one to sell it to em' and are you capitalizing on every opportunity? (see tip # 1)

Response # 5. Riches in Niches - specialization allows you to charge premium prices vs more generic competitors. And it affords you a stronger position in the minds of your customers. For example Whole Foods specializes in organic groceries. They can charge more,as theybuild a loyal customer base who continues to buy from their store time and time again. Think of Whole Foods vs Food Lion or Giant or Harris Teeter or whichever basic grocer is in your area...Whole Foods competes with those stores, but they don't have the same level of competitive threat the other more generic grocers have with one another because they have a niche. Essentially you can elevate your business out of the competitive mire by developing a niche position in the market - great for recession proofing.

Response # 6. Get more from what ya got - focus on your existing client base. According to the late Peter Drucker (these are old ratios, but relevant)your business has a 1:14 chance of doing business withsomeone withwhom you have never done business, you have 1:4 chance of doing business with someone with whom you have had a relationship but have stopped and you have a 1:2 chance of doing business with an existing customer. So, what does this mean? A great recession proofing strategy is to communicate more with your existing customers - focus marketing and sales resources inward. Build a loyal herd of followers and use your client base to drive referrals.

I have helped companies "clone" their top sales performers.

Here's a step-by-step formula:

1. Recruit young, aggressive yet coachable salespeople who have good personal skills.
See Chet Holmes' material about a pragmatic, hard-nosed recruiting and interview process.

2. Screen them using an assessment instrument that measures:
Behavior, Attitude and Values (Target Training International is one of the leading suppliers of assessment tools - they have thousands of distributors throughout the world) The Brooks Group is one of the top firms focusing on sales assessment)  Also, use a little tool called SPQ Gold, which measures sales call reluctance; it's the only tool I've found that measures call reluctance specifically.

3. Train and orient them using inbound and outbound call measurement. Have them track and record their prospecting and sales calls using our web-based tracking tool.  With this you'll be able to see how many calls they're making, how many calls they're getting back and how effective they are while on the phone.

4. Let them listen to themselves on the phone.  Take 10 minutes and select key calls, both good and bad and review them with them. This is the ultimate truth mechanism.

5. Use call measurement with your top sales person and share their good calls with new recruits. Also, you need to personally make some calls and be an example for your reps.

6. Map successful sales calls.  Take the recording of successful calls and have them transcribed.  You can easily do this using our system because the calls are in wav. format and can easily be downloaded or emailed to a transcription company.  You should be able create "the ultimate sales scripts" for less than $50 bucks.

7. Remove all the extraneous verbiage from your transcription and break it into "bit sized" peices, literally creating a Sales Map.  Make sure all of your reps have the Sales Map in front of thier desk.

8. Continue to use call measurement to ensure they're replicating the sales process and following the Sales Map.  This is a feedback loop process...continue to hold them accountable and course correct when necessary.

9. Finally, feed more recruits into the system and repeat the process until you've reached your ideal size.

Presto chango - easy peezy!

For example:

In 1996 if it cost you $300/week to run an ad and it produced 2 leads per week - today in almost 2008 it will cost you $900/week for the same ad and the bad news is you'll only get 1 lead per week. 

So you're spending more and getting less!

Why is that?

Your cost of advertising has gone up and your results are going down because of 3 key factors:

1. The Clutter Factor - everybody's advertising everywhere, which drives the cost up and makes it more difficult to get people's attention.  The average American consumer is exposed to 30,000 commercial message per day.  People feel bombarded by marketing and filter it out.

(Of course ad agencies and publishers would have you believe that if you put your message out enough some how you're going to have an impact on people's sub-conscious and they'll think of you when they want what you offer.  That takes deeeeeep pockets and is extremely difficult to measure.)

2. Ad Options are Expanding - you have more options and mediums available, which makes it increasingly more difficult to know where to spend resources.  Confusion and uncertainty lead to inactivity or paralysis and many business end up spending more to have a third party manage this all their marketing for them.

3. Prospects Have Control - I want what I want, when I want it and I can find it on my own terms.  Now you have to retool your marketing to create pull versus more traditional methods based on push advertising.  Opt-in lead generation has grown tremendously over the last 5 years and you need systems and processes in place to capture and retain interested prospects to funnel them to your business.

Now more than ever it is critical to measure everything!

You can't manage what you can't measure and your customer acquisition process is no different.

We offer unique systems to measure and increase your customer acquisition with a web-based tracking system.  If you'd like to see a demo please give us a call or send me an email.

Best,

Ryan Pitz
(336) 790-5726
info@newcallsolutions.com