Let’s talk telemarketing. Telemarketing is a very easy thing to despise as the receiver. And while as a collective, the public hates receiving telemarketing calls, telemarketing remains potentially one of the most valuable strategies for your direct marketing campaign. Here’s why:

• Raise brand awareness
• Lower operating costs
• Increase sales
• Allows for immediate feedback
• Encourages connections

And finally…

• Provide customers with an interactive and responsive experience on a personal level

So how exactly should you go about conducting a telemarketing strategy? First you of course need to do some homework to define your audience, set goals and objectives; but when you’re ready to write up a script, here’s some of the basics for succeeding at marketing’s most thankless job:

• Get attention
• Describe the benefits
• Present the offer
• Ask for the order
• Continue to repeat steps 2-4 as many times as the customer allows

It’s important that the prospect receiving the call feels in control. It’s all too easy for them to hang up one you. Keep the conversation flowing and keep the prospect involved. Remember, this call can be a steppingstone to building a relationship with your prospective audience; make it a positive experience.

Let’s imagine we’re building a sales script for a prospect from scratch. You’ll want to have a nice first impression with a strong, friendly opening line. Always introduce yourself and the context of the call. For example, “Hi, my name is Maddie, calling from B Direct.” From here, you can continue to make conversation by asking simple questions of your prospect ranging from “How are you today?” to small talk about the weather (if applicable to a local call).

Now that we have that established, we can get to the business of the call. Make sure your prospect knows Who your company is, Where you are located, What you offer and to Whom. Bonus points if you can do this all in just a couple of sentences.

If you still have your prospect’s attention, you can move to your elevator speech now. You know, the speech you would give to a stranger in an elevator if you only had a minute or two to convince them to give your product or service a chance. This should be very brief and straight to the point. Don’t waste precious time on the call.

After the elevator speech, check in with the other person on the line. This will give them the opportunity to exit the call if they wish, or to stay on the line while you make them an offer. Questions such as “Does this product interest you?” or “Would our services be helpful to your company?” usually get the job done.

If the answer is no, politely thank them for their time and wish them well.

If the answer is yes, you can make your prospect an offer.

Hopefully they agree to get more information on your product or service or accept your offer! If not, don’t take it personally.

Remember, we all hate telemarketers.