Is this a stupid idea?

[Darren118]

Hi people,

Ive been struggling to find a call centre here who fits what I require. Purely 100% consumer sales inbound.

I know of an American based call centre who I worked with before did a great job. But the target market was for Americans. In this case its the older Brits .

I would like to get your opinion on this.

Do you think there would be a negative instant feeling from a British inbound prospect if they are hearing an American accent. How would you feel?

Or best to just stick to here (UK)

Thanks.

 

[intheTRADE]

When you say older Brits, what age are you talking? 40+, 50+, 60+ ?

From experience I would say it would be best to stick with a call centre in the UK. Huge companies like E.On used this benefit in their marketing for years and seen a massive increase in new customers because of it.

EDIT: I am also surprised to hear that you have been struggling to find a call centre to cater for what you need. I personally know of quite a few who would jump at the chance for a campaign that was purely inbound sales

 

[Mr D]

If its stupid and it works then its not stupid.

Most of the sales calls I get from calls centres its foreign accents anyway. More of a problem when they cannot understand the accent of the person they are calling.

Probably will be able to find UK call centres to do the work for you - plenty of call centres with capacity offer services to those wanting a call centre to do stuff.

 

[Darren118]

When you say older Brits, what age are you talking? 40+, 50+, 60+ ?

From experience I would say it would be best to stick with a call centre in the UK. Huge companies like E.On used this benefit in their marketing for years and seen a massive increase in new customers because of it.

EDIT: I am also surprised to hear that you have been struggling to find a call centre to cater for what you need. I personally know of quite a few who would jump at the chance for a campaign that was purely inbound sales

Yeah 40++++
This is quite a unique set up I have. To be honest 4 call centres here have failed so far. Does your call centre you know have experience with selling vitamin supplements?

 

[Mr D]

Yeah 40++++
This is quite a unique set up I have. To be honest 4 call centres here have failed so far. Does your call centre you know have experience with selling vitamin supplements?

No, we sold a few products plus insurance.
All relating to a non-food sector of the economy.

 

[ethical PR]

Yeah 40++++
This is quite a unique set up I have. To be honest 4 call centres here have failed so far. Does your call centre you know have experience with selling vitamin supplements?

Why do you feel cold calling would be an effective channel to use on the 40+ market for selling supplements @Darren118 ?

 

[intheTRADE]

Why do you feel cold calling would be an effective channel to use on the 40+ market for selling supplements @Darren118 ?

He isn't cold calling. These are inbound calls from what he states in his opening post

 

[billybob99]

He isn't cold calling. These are inbound calls from what he states in his opening post

So 40+ year olds call to enquire about vitamins? And the call centre has to sell it to them?

 

[Darren118]

Why do you feel cold calling would be an effective channel to use on the 40+ market for selling supplements @Darren118 ?

Hi @ethical PR, i'm not sure where you read i'm cold calling.

It says inbound sales calls. So customers are calling us. Its effective because it sells... it selling. So I need to find a way to expand and use a outsourcing team.

 

[intheTRADE]

Hi people,

Purely 100% consumer sales inbound.

Yeah 40++++

From what he is saying, yes.

 

[Darren118]

So 40+ year olds call to enquire about vitamins? And the call centre has to sell it to them?

In the short answer yes. The marketing has done all the the heavily lifting. A call centre needs to sell it.

 

[intheTRADE]

In the short answer yes. The marketing has done all the the heavily lifting. A call centre needs to sell it.

I can put you in touch with numerous call centres if you wish. What sort of daily volume of calls are we looking at?

 

[Darren118]

I can put you in touch with numerous call centres if you wish. What sort of daily volume of calls are we looking at?

Right now, its pretty low due to a couple of us taking the calls. So around 20 to 30 a day. But I have hit as high as 90 calls in aday. I think with drive around 140 to 180 calls once things are doing well. Currently we are getting 29% conversions right now.

The call centres we hired only got 12%, 17%. So it wasnt worth continuing.

 

[intheTRADE]

At that volume you dont need a call centre (and that volume most credible centres wouldnt entertain you) you need a freelancer/virtual PA until you really scale this.

I wouldnt bother paying on conversion either, pay an hourly/daily rate

 

[Darren118]

At that volume you dont need a call centre (and that volume most credible centres wouldnt entertain you) you need a freelancer/virtual PA until you really scale this.

I wouldnt bother paying on conversion either, pay an hourly/daily rate

I don't pay on conversions I do pay per minute, but it needs to be at 30%.

This is like chicken in the egg. I can spend more to bring in more prospects calling in. But not until I have a call centre, kinda of a sales company who the agents manages many campaigns at once.

So right now, we are only spending a smaller amount on marketing.

To answer your question about freelancer. I would prefer a call centre.

 

[intheTRADE]

Why is the conversion so low?

You're doing the hard bit right by getting people to call and buy. What is going wrong when they do call that over 70% are then not buying?

 

[Darren118]

Exactly. The services ive taken have been an order type service and customer service... type service. Prospects who call, need to speak to someone who is very confident and has the answers in a convincing way just to give the prospect a slight nudge.

These call centres don't understand tonality. We provided a script that works for us. They couldnt get it to work.

 

[Mr D]

Exactly. The services ive taken have been an order type service and customer service... type service. Prospects who call, need to speak to someone who is very confident and has the answers in a convincing way just to give the prospect a slight nudge.

These call centres don't understand tonality. We provided a script that works for us. They couldnt get it to work.

So the script needs changing?
If it works in one culture does not mean it will be successful in a different culture.

 

[Darren118]

So the script needs changing?
If it works in one culture does not mean it will be successful in a different culture.

Maybe...
Im not sure that would be the case. Considering this script is not long at all.

 

[Gordon - Commercial Finance]

Why is the conversion so low?

You're doing the hard bit right by getting people to call and buy. What is going wrong when they do call that over 70% are then not buying?

It is crucial @Darren118 that you understand and address the question above that @intheTRADE has asked.

For inbound sales, the hottest leads you can get are coming to you, and something is scaring away 70-80% of them at the last hurdle. That is a major problem, you absolutely must find it and deal with it before you start outsourcing the problem and wasting all your marketing money

 

[Darren118]

Our pricing is not the cheapest. Our average order value is over £130. Most of the customer say they cant afford it. I played with pricing low end, very high end and kinda in the middle. We are in the middle. So based on the calls we get this is the main reason.

 

[Gordon - Commercial Finance]

Our pricing is not the cheapest. Our average order value is over £130. Most of the customer say they cant afford it. I played with pricing low end, very high end and kinda in the middle. We are in the middle. So based on the calls we get this is the main reason.

So quote prices in the marketing, and cut the number of calls you need to take dramatically. You will be able to handle them on your own then and you don’t need a call centre.

 

[Mr D]

Our pricing is not the cheapest. Our average order value is over £130. Most of the customer say they cant afford it. I played with pricing low end, very high end and kinda in the middle. We are in the middle. So based on the calls we get this is the main reason.

Even with that pricing you should be looking at quite a bit higher sales percentage on inbound calls.
If the marketing of the product prior to the call is good enough.

Call volumes shouldn't be the target, pre-sold calls are far more valuable. Remember, they are ringing in to find out more / purchase.

May also be worth looking at options for payments. Can £130 for example be paid over 2 or 3 months in order to close the sale?

 

[AllUpHere]

Our pricing is not the cheapest. Our average order value is over £130. Most of the customer say they cant afford it. I played with pricing low end, very high end and kinda in the middle. We are in the middle. So based on the calls we get this is the main reason.

Your marketing is fundamentally flawed. Finding a call centre to take the calls won't fix it.

 

[billybob99]

Why can't over 40's buy your vitamins on a website and just pay using their debit/credit card.