Category: Blog

It’s great to see our clients reaping the benefits of telemarketing to increase sales revenue and generate quality leads. But, we know how important it is to ensure we are completely transparent with them to develop a great client – supplier relationship.

If you’re considering working with an outsourced supplier for your telemarketing campaigns, it’s important to get it right. You want to trust them and most importantly, know that you will achieve a solid return on investment.

Before you make your final decision, we cover questions that you can ask your potential supplier to make the most out of your telemarketing campaigns.

1. Do you understand our key goals for the campaign?

Both you as the client and the supplier need to be clear on where you see the campaign going. There’s no point in running a campaign if you don’t have set goals that are clear to everyone.

2. What sort of results should we expect from the campaign?

If you aren’t sure what your goals should be, ask your potential supplier what they would suggest. They are experts in their field, and can therefore guide you on what you can expect. This should include expected call numbers, contact rates and expected conversion rates.

3. How long should we run the campaign for?

There is no definitive answer for this, but again it’s a great question to ask. Companies can compare other campaigns of a similar nature, or they may have an initial setup phase which then develops further over a longer or set time period.

In fact, we discuss this in one of our latest blogs.

4. Which clients have you worked with who are similar to us?

If the supplier has worked with other clients in your industry, you can glean ideas and research on what may or may not work for your company. This can also work for their previous clients of a similar size to yours. Remember, you can always ask to speak to their clients to get a reference too.

5. Who will be my first point of contact?

A great supplier will provide you with a first point of contact. This could be in the form of a dedicated account manager. Should something go wrong, or if you need to change parts of the campaign, it’s reassuring to have someone you know is on the end of the phone to help.

6. Who will make the calls and where are they based?

It’s a reality of our industry that there are many different models. Outsourcing calls to agents who work from home or from overseas can keep costs down but ask yourself, is this how you want your brand to be reflected? Furthermore, ask whether you’ll have access to the callers. Will you meet them and have a relationship with them directly?

7. How will I be updated on how the campaign is going?

No one likes being left in the dark by outsourced suppliers. You need to know that you will have regular updates on your campaign including those all-important statistics such as call hours, conversion rates, lead generated and more.

8. How will you ensure that you have researched in to our product and industry enough?

Your brief may be detailed, but how do you know that your supplier is going to be confident enough on the phone to discuss your product? Ask them how they aim to stay knowledgeable on your product portfolio and industry. It’s crucial as a telemarketing supplier that the work carried out is adapted to your company.

From product information to conversations on the phone, an outsourced telemarketing supplier should work with you to setup and develop campaigns bespoke to your organisation.

Air Marketing Group

Our campaigns are supported by our client portal which provides live and transparent reporting. We work with clients to discuss the best approach possible for telemarketing campaigns.

Want to find out more? Contact us today by email or call today on 0345 241 3038.

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At Air Marketing Group, we make thousands of telemarketing calls every week for our clients. As a company that runs B2B telemarketing campaigns throughout the UK and overseas, this means it’s crucial to be prepped and ready to give the best possible customer service.

Part of this service we offer is ability to know conversations. We don’t just mean selling, but having the knowledge and know-how to understand what works best on the phone.

This includes small talk. It’s easy when you’re not on the phone, or out with friends, but when you’re in telemarketing it takes on a whole different angle.

We like to build empathy, and a connection. This gives us better relationships with prospects, and leads to conversations that make a difference.

For us, it’s taking time to know what works when it comes to small talk. So, we’ve put together the following tips based on real conversations that we’ve had, which can help to boost the relationships being built on the phone.

1. Be confident

Confidence leads to a conversation without the umming and aahing. Don’t second guess yourself, but at the same time avoid being overly forceful.

Hesitation means you question yourself, which in turn means the prospect you’re talking to isn’t convinced. Speak with confidence, ensuring you sound clear and concise.

2. Prepare

That old age saying, fail to prepare, prepare to fail. Building relationships doesn’t happen off the cuff, so prepare for conversations that develop such rapport.

3. Take an interest

Small talk relates heavily to taking an interest in that person, their company or what they do. In the business world, it can also relate to understanding their problems on a deeper level.

Ask open questions to gain an insight in to the person you’re speaking to on the phone. If you don’t take an interest in them, they aren’t going to take an interest in you.

4. Relentless positivity

Our internal office motto. We have good calls, difficult calls, long calls and more, but whatever happens we seek to stick to the motto ‘relentless positivity’.

If you stay upbeat and positive (no matter how hard!), you’ll see it come through in call recordings and results. No one bought anything off of someone with a negative attitude.

5. Humour

There isn’t anything wrong with a little humour. We don’t mean that your call has to be all stand up jokes, but humour keeps the conversation positive.

6. Story Telling

Story telling helps to break down barriers in conversation and gives you an opportunity to give real life, tangible examples as to how you can help someone or what you do.

We know good conversation. Each and every call we make is adapted to the prospect at the other end of the phone, ensuring that we say the right things.

How can our conversations help your business to generate sales? Find out today by contacting us here or calling us on 0345 241 3038.

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According to Harvard psychologist Amy Cuddy, we judge individuals on two things before anything else. Firstly, we ask – can we trust this person? And secondly, can we respect them?

Although this is based on life in general, the same theory applies to sales and more specifically, sales relationships. We, as sales professionals, are looking for both trust and respect, to build long lasting and sustainable relationships with both our prospects and customers.

Relationships in the world of sales are incredibly important. With no relationship and no trust, you won’t end up selling much at all.

What do we mean by trust-based selling?

When we talk about selling that’s trust based, we’re talking about dropping the hard-hitting sell. It’s more about understanding prospects and what they need by staying open and transparent.  It’ also about saving the sell until after you’ve found that your products or services could be a good fit for your prospect.

This type of mind set means you think differently about selling, by building trust and teaching yourself to recognise the elements of selling that enhances this to build better relationships.

What can we do to build these types of relationships?

One of the most straight forward tips we can give you, and unfortunately one that some sales professionals still forget – listen, and listen well. Don’t talk over people or tell them what they need, not only is it impolite, you won’t learn anything about them.

Furthermore, accepting that it’s not right to sell to everyone will go a long way. Make your job to uncover a need or a fit and if you can’t find one, refrain from pitching your products and services unnecessarily.

You’ll earn trust and respect giving you a better chance when the time is right and when a need does arise.

Prompt responses and regular communication also helps to build great relationships. Here at Air Marketing Group we ensure consistent contact with both our clients and prospects. By doing so, it allows us to understand their situation in greater detail, from which we can focus how our solutions fit them.

What it all really boils down to is being personable. Show interest, be sociable, ask about them and never forget honesty throughout the whole process. It seems basic, but avoiding these simple traits can be detrimental.

And again, ignoring them and what they’re saying doesn’t give you a two-way conversation and shows you aren’t in being open or transparent with the individuals you’re talking to.

Want to know how we can apply these selling tips to a sales campaign for your business? Get in touch today or call 0345 241 3038.

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Air Marketing Group’s Campaign Managers make sure that our client’s campaigns are running as they should be, as well as advising them on what’s best for optimal return on investment.

The role is of utmost importance to client campaigns and we believe in transparency, so we thought we’d delve in to a typical day for a Campaign Manager to show what goes on behind the scenes.

Morning

• Review the previous day’s results
  We’ll go over what happened the day before, checking what worked, and what didn’t. This gives us a good idea of what advice to give business development executives on the calls for the day.
• Catch up with clients
  We’ll check in with clients, to give them an update on what’s happening with their campaign. This includes meetings, suggestions on calls and discussions around the success of the data.

Midday/Early Afternoon

• Making Calls
  By this point, the campaign manager would have made several calls on their dedicated campaign. We know that although call rates are significant, quality conversations are just as important.
• Make Sales/Book Appointments
  During call times, and dependent on the nature of the campaign, we’ll make sales for our clients and book appointments for sales teams.
• Listen to the Team and Coach/Train
  We’ll listen to members of the team on our specified accounts, ensure that all calls made are of a high quality standard and tailored to the product or service being promoted.

Afternoon

• Make Suggested Improvements
  We’ll speak to both the client and the team members who are on the phone for certain campaigns. Suggested improvements will be given to both, advising on what areas of the campaign can be developed to achieve better outcomes.
• Update on Results
  We’ll also update the client on the results of the campaign, giving them information on appointments/sales made, checking they are able to see stats in their portal, and taking on feedback they may have for us.

If you’re thinking of running a campaign with us, or would like to find out more about how our campaigns work, you can contact us on 0345 241 3038 or email our team.

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Objections aren’t fun, that’s the honest truth of it. And the reality is that sometimes you just aren’t talking to that person at the right time or, quite simply, they just don’t need your product or service.

However, there are times when there are ways and work arounds to review objections, some of which can switch it back to being an opportunity. So, we take a look at some of the best ways to handle such objections, to help you know how to deal with them professionally and turn rejections around.

Reinforce the value

If the prospect doesn’t see value in your product or service, they aren’t likely to stick around to hear more about it. But, if they clearly understand how it could help them or how it could benefit their business, they’re more likely to stay on the phone.

Show empathy

A little empathy goes a long way, and one way of connecting to prospects on this level is pain points. (You can read more about this in one of our recent blogs.)

Understand their situation, feel sorry for them if they are experiencing a problem, and thank them for bringing any insights about them to light.

Back up your claims

So you’ve got a great product, and you’ve told the prospect about its amazing features. But, have you given them cold hard evidence as to why it’s the best product?

This could be in the form of a customer reference or testimonial, or even better a story about how it’s helped a customer of yours. Story telling is so powerful on sales calls.

One of the key things to consider when handling objections is to try to discover a bit more about that individual. Using the above tips can help you to have a longer conversation and give better value, rather than giving them reasons to tell you to go away.

Here at Air Marketing Group, we use a simple formula to handle objections. It consists of 3 steps:

Step 1 – Diffuse
Step 2 – Statement
Step 3 – Questions

Put simply, our first response to any objection is to try to diffuse the situation, using empathy, by saying something along the lines of ‘that’s fine’ or ‘I understand’. This approach is designed to take the pressure out of the conversation.

The next thing we do is make an evidence-based statement referring to why it is normal to have that objection, or to show why you understand the point they’ve made.

Finally, we ask smart questions, giving us a chance to move away from the objection or find out more information to help us handle the objection and make the right recommendations.

Air Marketing Group’s team of business development executives are experts and handling objections and creating opportunities. Want your business to benefit from this? Get in touch today or call 0345 241 3038.

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Outsourcing your appointment setting to an external telemarketing company can provide you with a team of people who are highly experienced in setting up new B2B sales meetings.

But, why should you choose a B2B appointment setting campaign in the first place? If it’s something that your company is considering, we look at why it might be right for you.

Speak over the phone or meet face to face

Depending on your product or service, you can set appointments over the phone or carry out face to face meetings.

Get in front of buyers

Appointment setting allows you to get in front of key decision makers at a time that suits them, so you’re only talking to prospects when they’re at the right stage of the buying cycle.

It’s proven across several industries

Appointment setting campaigns have worked for a huge variety of businesses. From communications companies to those in the automotive industry, appointments have been scheduled to convert prospects into sales.

Quality prospects

Scheduling meetings using appointment setters means the good leads are separated from the bad. You’ll only meet with those that are genuinely interested in what you have to offer.

Outsourcing saves you time

Outsourcing an appointment setting campaign means you don’t have to invest in time spent on the phone organising or scheduling meetings; a dedicated team of appointment setters will do that for you. So you or your sales team can spend more of your time in front of well qualified prospects.

Achieve the results you need

Not only will you save time and money, with experts working on your appointment setting campaign full time, you’ll achieve better results leading to a full diary of sales meetings.

Our team of B2B appointment setters schedule quality, qualified appointments for companies both over the phone and face to face. Each appointment set is quality checked to ensure it’s right for your sales pipeline.

Contact us today, or call on 0345 241 3038.

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It’s no secret that a lead isn’t a lead anymore. You need to qualify it to understand where that prospect sits in the buying process and the value of that lead.

In the great marketing landscape, there are a huge variety of processes that allow you to try to understand the stages of your leads. But, there is one consistently proven strategy that goes that extra mile.

Enter telemarketing and the human conversation.

During your lead generation and business development process, a quick call with an unqualified lead can give you the information you need to know.

Conversations over the phone with leads can help you to better qualify that lead. You can ask questions surrounding objections, budget, pain points and more.

The golden questions of lead qualification

During telemarketing campaigns at Air Marketing Group, we tend to go by golden questions of qualifying leads for our clients during conversations.

These are questions we ask about prospects to make sure we don’t miss out on any opportunities. You can ask these too:

• Is there a problem that they have which you can solve?
• Does their budget suit the cost of services?
• What does their timeline look like?
• Are they a good fit for your company?

With a focus on the human conversation, telemarketing provides honest and direct answers straight from your target audience and if you can get answers to these kinds of questions, you’ll know where to focus your time and when, giving you a better chance of converting your leads.

Immediate response from a live lead

These answers are given by someone that is on the phone, there and then, providing an immediate response to your questions. Telemarketing is, therefore, one of the most effective ways to generate qualified leads. And let’s face it, a few qualified leads is far better than several that aren’t qualified at all.

Inbound leads through digital marketing do provide you with prospects, but talking to them gives you a better idea of where they sit in the buying cycle.

Lead generation campaigns using telemarketing quickly identify the contact you need, the answers you’re looking for and find out what objections may arise, giving you the chance to handle those and build trust, rapport and comfort.

Additionally, the qualification is personal, and you can give a better impression of who you are as a company.

Telemarketing campaigns at Air Marketing Group

We work with clients to help both generate leads and qualify them on the phone so we know exactly what’s happening with their decisions on buying. We set conversion rate benchmarks to work on what’s really important to your business: ROI and more sales.

Lead nurturing is also a large part of what we do, which is crucial to ensure we don’t miss out on great opportunities for your company.
Want to find out more? Contact us today or call 0345 241 3038.

At Air Marketing Group, we speak to thousands of businesses to generate quality sales leads and appointments for our clients. We ask many a question to understand how we can help businesses; however, not much attracts attention quite like a relatable pain point.

A pain point to a potential buyer or prospect not only gives them something to relate to, but it also provides a problem to be solved. This is where you can emphasise how your product or service can be the solution
.
Pain points are the driving force behind a real need for your product or service. With this in mind, how can you make sure you find them in sales conversations?

How to find the pain point

A pain point is an experience the prospect has been through or an element of their situation that is not ideal. When this is mentioned, your contact with the prospect becomes more than just a message but a relatable and emotive subject.

The trick is to get your prospect to identify that the pain point exists and visualise it and what it could be like if a solution was available and this is where most sales people fail. It’s not good enough for you to see a pain point and expect a prospect to want to progress.

You can ask yourself a few questions to understand what a potential customer’s pain point might be:

• What problems does your product/service solve?
• What is the consequence of not buying it?
• What does the customer really need?
• Are there repeat problems the company faces in relation to the product?
• What value does the product bring to their business operations? Or, more importantly, what is the value – in time and money – of solving the problem or pain point?

Remember, people don’t buy a product. They don’t care what it is or how it works. They only ask, ‘What does it do for me?’
Once you’ve asked yourself the above questions and have some logical answers, build open questions around this, designed to lead prospects to their pain point. These can be, for example:

• How often do you do x, y or z?
• When was the last time you reviewed this?
• When was the last time problem happened? What did you do/How have you tried to fix it?
• What’s the biggest challenge you face with x area of your business?

Remember, when speaking with B2B leads, open questions are those that get answers. The more open the question, the more you can find out about that prospect and their pain point.

Don’t just identify it the pain either. On your B2B call, show prospects that you can help them to get rid of it. The ideal is to start with the pain point, and end the process with a very happy customer!

Air Marketing Group

At Air Marketing Group, we consider the pain points of our clients’ prospects, and use their language to build relationships based on trust to find great leads and generate sales.

Want to find out more about what we can do for your business? Don’t hesitate to contact us today or call us on 0345 241 3038.

Sales representatives make countless numbers of calls every day. For those looking to make an appointment, it’s well known that it’s not as easy as picking up the phone and booking a meeting on every call.

It’s great to get that first appointment when running a sales campaign. You’re excited and punching the air… but, it’s only the first step to making that all-important sale.

Taking in to account the above, we at Air Marketing Group want to help you make sure the first appointment is all that it can be.

Appointment quality is everything

It can be hard to qualify a lead based solely on the first appointment, but quality leads result in quality appointments. It’s good to do the best you can to determine whether that appointment is really worth your paid time. Ask yourself questions to justify that appoint – don’t be afraid to be straight talking!

Prepare, prepare, prepare

You’ve heard it a million times, but the truth is preparation can make a huge difference to that first meeting. Prepare your approach, what you plan to discuss and focus on how your offer can help their business.
You want to arrive at the first appointment fresh faced and ready for any questions that might be thrown your way.

No hidden surprises!

No prospect needs to be informed of something they had no idea about in the first place – this will make them uncomfortable and add a negative vibe to the meeting before it’s even begun.

From pricing to product knowledge, check that you have given all the essential information about you and your offer, as well as who is coming to meet them on the day.

Follow up

Follow up contact is great – we at Air strongly recommend it. There are a variety of things you can do to follow up after a meeting. From an email clarifying what was discussed or a call to tie up the offer, you want to keep yourself at the forefront of the prospect’s mind.

Purpose and benefits

Never stray from the purpose of your meeting and the benefits of what your offer can provide. It’s easy to deviate from what you’re trying to achieve by way of conversation, so keep to a rough track with your goals in mind.

It’s all about them

Anyone who’s anyone appreciates an honest and genuine individual. The more personable and genuine you are, the more you can develop better trust with your prospect. Don’t spend hours talking about your company, focus on their business – it really matters to them, and you need to show that it matters to you.

Is there something that they mentioned in the build up to the meeting that they are concerned about? Why not list a few of the most important things that they’ve spoken about, to make sure you’re fully aware of their top priorities.

Does your business need to generate more appointments?

We’ve worked with clients across a variety of industries to book appointments and meetings for their sales campaigns. Want to fill up your diary? Contact Air Marketing Group today or call 0345 241 3038.

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Telemarketing can be an effective tool for lead generation. Whilst it’s not suitable for all organisations, it’s a proven strategy with the human conversation being a powerful driving force behind an effective sales process.

Many businesses look at outsourcing their telemarketing to a specialist company; this can be a great choice for a number of reasons. We look in to the benefits of outsourcing, and why it might be right for you.

1. Time
All businesses, regardless of the size, need more time. When you outsource to a telemarketing company, you are saving yourself a huge amount of time and use of physical resource which can be better spent on other areas of your business.

For example, if you’re a small business owner and making your own cold sales calls, imagine what else you could do with that time; you could be working on the business, servicing clients or focussing on up-selling or cross-selling to current customers. Or, if you are in a sales or sales management role, you’d no doubt be far better utilised in front of more qualified prospects.

2. Cutting Costs
Outsourcing your telemarketing can be much more cost-effective than expanding your business and building on your in-house teams. On top of avoiding extra employee costs for the sales team, you also don’t need to invest in management staff, software and infrastructure.

A telemarketing specialist will have all the software, hardware and reporting tools in place. And, don’t forget point number one; more staff means even more of your time taken up.

3. Transparency & measurable results
If your telemarketing is outsourced, you don’t need to spend time managing a team or monitoring performance for that campaign every day. With companies like Air Marketing Group, you’ll only be involved with the parts that really matter. This includes updates, reporting and feedback, all with a dedicated account manager to provide you with ongoing support. (You can find out more about our process here).

4. Hiring the talent you need
Anyone who can communicate over the phone can be successful at telemarketing… right? Not necessarily. Outsourcing your telemarketing to a specialist means you are getting individuals who are well trained and versed in the art of selling on the phone, well-motivated and used to working in a results-driven environment.

This saves you having to find, induct and train new employees and saves you time and money. After all, how much time and money do you spend each year on recruiting people?

5. Flexibility
Last, but certainly not least, is flexibility. In-house teams and business expansion work well, but you will struggle to match the flexibility of an outsourced team who will fully dedicate their time and capacity to your targeted calls.

The requirements you have for a telemarketing campaign may change, from data requirements to call volumes. With an outsourced team, you can pick and choose how many hours you need and the number of sales professionals you need working on your project at any given time.

Get in touch
At Air Marketing Group, we provide solutions that fit your business requirements. Our account managers and experienced business development executives are some of the best in the industry and they generate quality leads week in, week out for our clients.

Contact us today to find out how we can help your business.

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