Boutique Telemarketing Firm vs Call Center – Which is Right for You?

Boutique Telemarketing Firm or Call Center – Which is Right for You? Right or wrong, call centers have a reputation as a place where thousands of identical calls are made each day and there is little room for personalized customer service.

It’s true that agents at most call centers work from a script that is, for the most part, set in stone. They also speak mainly to lower-level managers who are not usually authorized to make high-level decisions. Most of these managers are interested only in finding the best deal or lowest price.

Thinking a large call center is your only option can be discouraging if you need help with specialized tasks such as:

• Getting past gatekeepers
• Talking directly with decision makers
• Making complicated cold calls to top-level executives
• Setting appointments
• Generating qualified leads
• Nurturing existing leads

Thankfully, there is an option other than a large call center. A boutique telemarketing firm. While large call centers can work well in situations where people simply order products, boutique firms use highly-trained sales professionals that act as an extension of your sales team. But don’t be fooled, despite their high-touch approach, boutiques firms are well able to handle a large numbers of calls.

One of the most important differences between a large call center and a boutique firm is the type of training agents undergo. Since the goals of most call center agents are very specific, and they are discouraged from going “off script,” they need less professional development than their counterparts at a boutique firm.

Agents at boutique firm, on the other hand, are highly-trained professionals who must understand the intricacies of lead generation, lead nurturing, and appointment setting. They also must be able to get past gatekeepers and establish strong relationships with decision makers.

It is important to note that boutique firms and call centers each have a place and one is not better than the other. Instead, which is better depends on your unique needs. In most cases a call center works best when you are selling a pre-existing commodity to mid-level executives or purchasing agents. A boutique firm works best when you have a complex product or service that can be modified for specific customer needs and you need to interact with high-level decision makers or executives.

Why Social Media Won’t Replace Telemarketing

In this age of social media, it might seem like the art of live conversation is no longer necessary. And while technology seems to be taking over every facet of marketing, studies show that telemarketing continues to offer an outstanding return on investment.

Telemarketing is an excellent way to find leads and convert those leads into sales. Telemarketing is similar to other forms of marketing in that campaigns must be designed to meet the needs of its target audience. The best telemarketers also realize that their job goes way beyond making sales – although this is the end game. Lead generation, relationship building, and lead nurturing are the hallmarks of any successful telemarketing campaign. Experts will tell you that nurtured leads spend more money – over a longer period of time – than customers who were won over with a quick sales pitch.

Telemarketers need to work hard not just to make sales but to capture vital information and find new opportunities. In this way, telemarketing is anything but behind the times. Telemarketing allows companies to compile a great deal of data that will allow for pinpointed marketing campaigns.

While telemarketing continues to outpace most other forms of marketing – including social media – there are certain components that are necessary for a telemarketing campaign to be successful. These include:

Repetition: The most successful telemarketing campaigns are anything but one and done. In order to forge the type of relationships that lead to long-term customer relationships you should expect to make several calls to prospects. Remember, it’s all about relationship building.

Well-Defined Goals: Getting a prospect on the phone is just the beginning of the process, not the end. Make sure your script is clear, concise, and delivered with confidence. There is a very short window of time to engage your prospect. Make sure you make the most of it.

Relevancy: Make sure the product or service you are calling about is relevant to the prospect. In today’s data-driven marketing world, there is no excuse for poorly targeted prospects.

Telemarketing continues to outpace other forms of marketing because of its high success rate. No matter what you are trying to achieve – sales, lead generation, customer retention, market research, etc. – telemarketing will continue to be important for one simple reason: it works.