What ingredients do you need for a successful telemarketing project?

Telemarketing gets a bad rap. We have all had experience of someone calling, uninvited, reading from a script, hammering through until finally you get a change to say NOOOOOOO Im not interested... even if you might have been considering changing your current gas supplier or whatever. We just don't like to be sold to that way. We are approaching market saturation, we are being overloaded with advertising and BUY BUY BUY messages and enough is enough.

Not all telemarketing campaigns have to be that way though. We have had a pow wow and have come up with a short list of must do's to consider before you embark on your own telemarketing campaign:

Targeted list
This is crucial to the success of the calls. Make sure it is TPS checked too (telephone preference service) for more info http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/tps/. Even if your service might be suitable for everyone, narrow it down otherwise you wont be able to judge whether your campaign has been a success.

Specific messaging
Get working on that pitch and make it perfect. If you work with an outsource company they can often help you put together a killer pitch but remember it is often a work in progress and will need to be adjusted according to the feedback you get from each caller. Are you turning them off or turning them on. And also, remember don't immediately bang on about your features and benefits... think what pains are you solving... think why your customers will buy from you. We buy emotionally and then back it up intellectually, not the other way round.

Clear objectives
Set out with the end in mind. Think about what you want from this campaign - how many appointments, how many cleaned leads, how many hot leads, how many confirmed attendees at an event. It is quite clear to see whether your campaign is working when you specify your results. And make sure you share them with your team too!

Inhouse or outsource?
If you are thinking about or already have a killer sales team is their time best spent on the phones warming up cold leads or are they best placed closing those leads. It is a different job and requires different skills to do it. Sometimes it works to mix it up a bit - use an outsource solution to trial a campaign and if they do a good job and drum up the revenue you can cost the options to take the team in house. There is also the concern that an external team wont have the 'experience' or the 'knowledge'. However, sometimes it is actually a benefit that the initial call isnt made 'by the expert' as then they won't spill all their knowledge and put the potential customer off. It swings in round abouts.

Open mind
If this is a new project, never been tried, be prepared to tweak the message, tweak the list and treat it as research. Not everything works but if you choose the right team or supplier who has come with good references then you have done everything you can to make the project a success.

These are our top tips of the moment. Do let us know if you have more!