Face 2 Face Vs Telesales

[enjoycoldcalling]

Just throwing this one out here to see if anyone has any thoughts? It seems to me that pendulum may have swung back in favor of wearing out shoe leather rather than bashing the phone. Most gatekeeper training now goes into batting away phone calls rather the bloke stood right in front of them. Add to that the whole TPS thing and the threat of a 5k fine, maybe its time for cold-calling in person to make a comeback and actually GO ROUND and SEE people who might want to do business with you?

Any thoughts / comments welcome, even rude ones LOL

 

[wecandobiz]

Certainly cold calling by phone is losing favour, but our recent survey with a question on this showed a whole stack of things small business owners would rather rely on for results ahead of telesales.

You can download the full report here.

We didn't ask about personal visits, but we did ask about face to face networking which is also see strong growth.

IH

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Just throwing this one out here to see if anyone has any thoughts? It seems to me that pendulum may have swung back in favor of wearing out shoe leather rather than bashing the phone. Most gatekeeper training now goes into batting away phone calls rather the bloke stood right in front of them. Add to that the whole TPS thing and the threat of a 5k fine, maybe its time for cold-calling in person to make a comeback and actually GO ROUND and SEE people who might want to do business with you?

Any thoughts / comments welcome, even rude ones LOL

Who really has the time to knock on doors unannounced?

I think the answer is effective direct mail.

A mailshot will get in front of more prospects than a salesman can, at a tiny fraction of the cost, and will deliever the sales message perfectly each time.

Of course, it doesn't have the impact of a personal visit, but the economies make far more sense.

(unless the value of a client is huge and you can afford to pay a sales person thrown out of office after office every day, just to hit one sale)

Steve

 

[maxine]

I think it is a good point that visits seem to be on the up as I know some of my clients are now making the effort to do this whereas before they would have relied just on cold calling and direct mail. Recent campaigns have been to prep a list, tps/ctps check it and I take half for calls and they take half for visits (generally speaking) although the split of tps has varied on average over the last few weeks from 35%-75% on TPS to 65%-25% not on TPS.

 

[snipe12]

I think you still need both. It is good to have someone make an appointment for you and then whilst in the area pop in to the odd one.

To be honest it is all about the business. For example if you walked in to my shop to talk, I would be all ears. If you walked in to the wholesale bit I would kick you out instantly and see it as rude.

So I think it works for some and not others.

 

[SharpShooter]

Just to throw another stone in....

Just by looking at the result of various projects we have done in the past 6 months it will be hard to beat the success of telemarketing we have done for various companies (B2B and B2C, different sectors and industries). Telemarketing can be good if it is well researched and the services/product you offer is of value to the companies/consumers you are offering. Also telemarketing can only be successful if you have good data (freshly cleaned and appropriate for your campaign).
It can be expensive time waisting if you decide to go visiting companies without prearranged meeting/invitation and we find most of the direct mail is a waist of time (ends up in the bin!) unless it has been very carefully targetted and identified which often means calling first before sending anything through.
You still need to get in front of the customer and one of the best ways is telemarketing!!! It is certainly the way forward!


Anna Shaw Associates

 

[LouisaA]

I agree with Snipe12. I've always found it most effective to cold call and then arrange a face to face. 'Gate keepers' are so used to fending off sales calls but it's harder to turn down someone who wants to come in and see then. I, for one, always ask to arrange a meeting.

 

Well we are busier than ever before, I think many telemarketing companies are going out the window as they have spent the last 10 years with a "plenty more fish in the sea" attitude, they grow through clients quicker than socks, they chose profit over quality by hiring slow skilled telemarketers ( out of school or college or out of work actors ) paid them very little and saw their staff turnover go through the roof.

So when the crunch came they realised they could not continue.
We are busy because we retain so many of our clients and we have USP's many of our competitors would die for. Cold calling works just fine. Some have bad experiences, which i am sorry to hear but just because one company fails to deliver it does not mean cold calling is dead, i hear that a lot and they are either doing it wrong or have no idea what they are talking about. Telemarketing is an artform. You really have to get to know the client, not just the product or service you are promoting but also the company ethos, the people and the company image, you need to know what they want from a telemarketing campaign and guide them to different things they may not have known before.
Its all good for me when these cowboys go broke so i have no complaints.

That said when it comes to meeting i will close 8 out of 10...so not sure what that tells you.

Michael

 

[telemax]

I'll say the same as Michael. The phone has been ringing of the hook in the last month or so with enquiries, and things have been very busy.

It hasn't got any more difficult to make appointments and find sales leads. Telemarketing always works providing the valus of the product or service is high enough. Also you need to be calling the right type of prospect.

However, if I am at a meeting I will certainly knock on neighbouring doors to at least gain contact details

Jonathan

 

[Trish Barker Telecom]

I am in agreement with having both, intially telesales to book the appointment and gain information and build a relationship with the potential customer, finding out about their interest and requirements and then a face to face informative meeting, where the sales person is aware of the customers requirements and can be prepared to meet the customers needs. Cold calling onto customer's premises would be for the majority of the time unproductive.
I think most mailshots these days end up in the bin without even being glanced at, money would be better but towards a friendly personable telesales, who can build relationships with both new and existing clients.

 

[Rufford]

Just throwing this one out here to see if anyone has any thoughts? It seems to me that pendulum may have swung back in favor of wearing out shoe leather rather than bashing the phone. Most gatekeeper training now goes into batting away phone calls rather the bloke stood right in front of them. Add to that the whole TPS thing and the threat of a 5k fine, maybe its time for cold-calling in person to make a comeback and actually GO ROUND and SEE people who might want to do business with you?

Any thoughts / comments welcome, even rude ones LOL

You don't of course furnish us with the type of business you do or have a battle with.

Success is derived from three things (1) opportunity to do business; (2) conversion rate of that opportunity to sale and (3) profit. Any of those fail; you fail, remembering of course that 49% of people are always below average.

I wish you well

 

[Mark_anderson]

I'd suggest the both ways, They have own effect.

Well I'll pay more attention to a person who is standing in front of me, than a call and mail.

But If I gets a good offer then I won't leave it either it is a mail, phone call and salesman.

If you are willing to go with a email, you must use some attrective keywords to engross the customer's attention.

For a calling I'd like to listen a girl.

 

[enjoycoldcalling]

Hi Rufford.

I am a bit of a sales gun for hire. I work mainly with small "one person bands" to help get them off the ground. I also do sales training. I am just a small bloke with a big chip on my shoulder so I love the challenge of cold-calling

I started this thread as I too have been using the traditional model of phoning for an appointment then knocking on next door with "I was just talking to your neighbor about...", and I am starting to find that I get better conversions from being in the field rather than phone bashing. I was just wandering if it was it was just me or if there is a change in the landscape. I read somewhere that 60% of small businesses are now on tps (I might be wrong, but it was a BIG number). If this is the case if you want to reach them you really have no option than to door step them.

 

[SharpShooter]

Agree with both Michael and Jonathan regarding cold calling. We also had quite a few businesses through the doors who have had bad experience. We are finding its very important to have a good sales force retention as returning clients like to use the same telemarketers and really telemarketing is only as good as telemarketers doing it. All our telemarketers have 5 years of experience and more before they join us and thrive at challenges and having new projects to work on and they achieve!

Mark, all our telemarketers are girls We have nothing against guys, we have had a few since starting the company, but they have not stuck around...

Have a good day
Anna

 

[Dragon Media Group]

Hi Rufford.

I am a bit of a sales gun for hire. I work mainly with small "one person bands" to help get them off the ground. I also do sales training. I am just a small bloke with a big chip on my shoulder so I love the challenge of cold-calling

David Brent? Is that you?

I think that a combination of both is good. All customers are different of course, and some sales staff are better at closing face to face. I know that it is common for some people to just automatically close off when a salesman walks in or phones them, which I have never understood. It seems sensible to listen to what you are being offered before deciding if you are interested or not.

 

[Dazzling Dazza]

Cold calling is a very productive medium as long as it's done with a true understanding of the client's business objectives. You must do your research well. Thereafter, followed by a face to face meeting. I wouldn't go round knocking on doors as this annoys most potential clients. There's nothing worse than a visitor turning up uninvited to your premises. Trust me I did it years back and apart from allowing me to shed a few pounds, it tended to alienate people!

 

[rickwhite]

Greetings from the US
In our organization, given that we are based in a single location but have clients through out North America (and now the UK), the telephone is an essential tool for prospecting. The very first thing we teach our new folks (and continually reinforce with our veterans) is that the preparation is paramount to successful telephone prospecting. A big chunk of that preparation is just in how one views 'cold calling' a term we eschew.
With all of the resources available, no call should be a cold-call. There is some level of transparency that gives the skilled player an avenue in which to create rapport with the prospect. There is obviously so much more...we can save that for another day...