Art
Siegel

Telemarketing: The Literature Follow-Up Call

Many sales cycles begin with a prospect who calls an 800 number or e-mails with a request for information. Not knowing what else to say, the prospect often says, "Send me some literature." These calls or e-mails are then passed to a salesperson for follow up later. We explore the fine art and science of turning literature requests into customers in  Telemarketing: The Literature Follow-up Call.

Imagine this scene:

Then your phone rings. It is a telemarketing call from a salesperson following up on some literature you requested. Your first reaction is to think of the call as an interruption, wanting to end it as soon as possible.

What percentage of the time are you really ready to receive a telemarketing call? Probably not very often.

This is the situation you face when you place outbound telemarketing calls to other people, even if you're following up on their request for information. Nearly all of your outbound calls represent an interruption. Whether the person is working on a project, watching television, reading, talking to a friend or just sitting and thinking, the person you are calling is mentally somewhere else. He or she is seldom ready to receive a sales call.

You can overcome your prospects' natural resistance by following these simple guidelines:

Go slowly at first
"Good morning, Mr. Collins. This is Roberta Meyers calling from Benton Security Systems." This opening gives the person you are calling a chance to switch their brains from what they were doing to participating in the conversation.

Words like "good morning" and "this is" are fillers to help you slow down. Since the prospect's mind is elsewhere, his full attention is not on you. He needs this slow pace in order to comprehend what you are saying. Breaking the opening into two or three sentences serves the same purpose.

Give the prospect a headline
After your opening greeting, the headline helps direct the prospect's attention to the topic at hand. Tell her the purpose of your call: "I'm calling to follow up on the literature you requested on our line of office security systems."

Besides providing a headline of what this call is about, this opening avoids closed-ended (yes/no) questions. The ideal sales conversation does not start with a focus on whether or not the prospect read your literature or has heard of your company; it is about the prospect's needs.

Pause
After your headline, give the prospect a moment to think about the literature (or other actions he has taken toward considering your products). You'll be tempted to fill the dead space in the conversation by talking, but you're more likely to get the prospect involved in the conversation if you give him a few seconds to think about what you have said and then respond.

About half the time, prospects will soon fill the void by talking about what they are trying to do. Or else they will try to end the call, in which case you have to either get them interested in talking now or try to make an appointment for another time.

Ask a series of open-ended questions
In about half of your follow-up calls, the prospect will be willing to talk, but will still have little to say after your headline. In these situations, you use a series of open-ended questions that focus on the prospect's needs (not on your product):

"How do you folks handle door security now?"

"Why are you considering making a change?"

"Why is it so important in your company to keep track of who leaves the building after hours?''

Questions like these show that you are interested in the prospect; they involve the prospect in the conversation, and they tell you the key issues that will contribute to the buyer's decision.

When the prospect answers your questions, it is often tempting to jump in and tell how your company's products address these issues. But it is usually better to continue asking questions about the prospect's needs as long as possible, rather than offering solutions, because:

• The more you learn about prospects, the more you can say later about why your solutions are truly the best for them.
  
  
• The more questions you ask, the more you communicate to your prospects that you are interested in them, not just satisfying your own sales goals.
  
  
• The more questions you ask, the more you allow prospects to talk, which deepens their commitment to you and your company.

Present your solutions
When you understand the prospect's needs, and the prospect is totally involved in the conversation, it is time for you to present your company and your products as the solutions: 

"I see, Mr. Collins. The big issue in your company is inventory shrinkage in the evening when the guard is off duty. Let me tell you how the Benton Security model 6000 addresses that problem."

You now have everything you need to lead this customer to a close:

• You got the conversation going by using an effective greeting and then using a headline that told the prospect what your call was about.
  
  
• You asked many open-ended questions focused on the prospect's needs, which expressed your interest in the prospect and gave you insights into the prospect's needs.
  
  
• You offered a solution that specifically addressed one of the prospect's stated needs.

SeaBird Associates Inc
3011 NE 7th Drive
Boca Raton, FL 33431
Phone: 561-750-9233
E-mail: Art Siegel

About Art Siegel