Telemarketing Services: Why Doesn’t It Ever Work?

As the calendar moves over the half way mark and we start drafting the broad strokes of next year’s sales plan, rest assured that just as a copier clicks twice for ledger size paper, sales quotas will be higher. One way to increase sales is to generate scheduling more first appointments.

"But my sales people are already busy enough as it is, [This is complete head trash and a blog for another day, but let’s appease this disillusioned sales manager for now] how could they possibly squeeze more activities into their day?" the sales manager ponders.

Next the mining of the deleted items folder searching for the email from Appts-R-Us!! claiming:

• We set highly qualified business-to-business appointments !!

• Shorten the sales cycle in acquiring and retaining new customers !!

• Quick and easy set-up gets your sales people in front of legitimate decision makers fast !!

• See more sales-ready leads, higher close ratios, a stronger sales pipeline !!

“But didn’t we try this a couple of years ago and very few of the appointments turned into actual closed deals?” asks the VP of Sales hearing the pitch from the sales manager, “Yeah, but these guys offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee, if they don’t produce we’ll just fire’em.”

Well the quick and easy set up is a matter of opinion and the fast part is true if you are racing a guy in a wheelchair on the beach. After all the script writing drafts and other pre-set up preparations the last thing left on the list is convincing the sales staff that they are not losing 5% of their commission for every deal closed set by the telemarketing company but actually gaining 95%,

You give the first few appointments to the top rep to get things rolling and win over mind share. You ask her to present a status report and after you request it a second time you finally receive the following:

Appointment # 1

The prospect didn’t even know why I was there.

Appointment # 2

The guy I met with said that Facilities is in charge of the copier decisions.

Appointment # 3

The address was wrong; by the time I got to right place, the prospect had to go into another meeting.

Appointment # 4

They are happy with their current vendor.

She volunteers the following commentary – These appointments were a complete joke. What we are paying these guys its too much.

Read between the lines. Why is it when the telemarketing company schedules an appointment that does not move into the sales funnel the rep blames it on the incompetent telemarketing company? Now try this one on for size, what if the sale rep herself scheduled these exact same appointments and the outcome was the exact same?  Who does she blame now? Well, of course, its the incompetent prospect right?

Because who else could it possibly be?

As the rules of business change, thinking must change as well. For us sales professionals, I believe antiquated thinking will only lead to frustration, unhappy clients and a dwarfed income. The purpose of my blogs is to provoke a deeper level of thought about achievement in business and to challenge the comfort zone in order to provide a new level of selling and lifestyle.

Max Rosenthal is a manager with Diversified Business Solutions, headquarter in San Diego, California. He encourages your opinions and ideas and can be reached via e-mail or phone at 866-298-2737.