The adage, “Out with the old, in with the new,” is something many marketers live by. And while it is true that marketers cannot afford to lag behind, it doesn’t mean that newer is always better. Read more to know how and why telemarketing remains relevant to the digital age

At one time or another, most businesses will experience difficulties in generating leads. While there are many reasons this can happen, it is essential to recognize the problem and reignite your lead generation efforts as soon as possible to ensure that your business remains positioned for growth. Click here to read more on this topic

There are few things as important to a business than lead generation. After all, making sure that there are always new customers in the pipeline is the only way to ensure that your business remains secure and positioned for growth.  Read more to know why now is the time to reignite your lead generation efforts.

Sales and marketing are often used interchangeably or incorrectly. To clarify, a salesperson engages in face-to-face meetings, makes phone calls and networks to sell a particular product or service for a business. Read more to know about Integrating Sales and Marketing to Grow Your Business

When it comes to running a successful business, there are few things as important as customer feedback. We all know how much less expensive it is to retain customers than it is to acquire new ones so it make sense that making sure customers are happy is the key to running a profitable business. In this article, Tactical Telesolutions  explains how to gauge customer satisfaction

If you are unable to effectively communicate with customers and prospects, chances are you aren’t going to be able to sell them on your products or services. Remember, communication is the key to building trust and if a person doesn’t trust you, he or she is unlikely to become a long-lasting customer.

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/12-Kinds-of-Sales-Prospects-and-Why-You-Need-to-12956615.phpIt is common for salespeople to fall into the trap of believing that all prospects are the same. The fact is, there are many different kinds of prospects and each one needs to be approached differently.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/293994Communication can make or break a business. So how can you improve your customer communication skills to help your business grow and thrive?

https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-to-listen-to-customers-4107009It is important that you know how to talk to customers. Equally important, however, is knowing how to listen to those customers.

A successful relationship with business to business and business to consumer clients and prospects depends a great deal on how you communicate with them. As important as what you say to your customers—and those you hope will be your customers—is how you connect with them in the first place.

Some customers want to talk on the phone while others prefer you send an email. And many times, best way to communicate with a person will depend on why you are talking with that person in the first place.

What follows are some of today’s best methods for reaching out to customers and prospects and how you will know if they are working for your business:

• Phone Call: Many people prefer a phone call over any other mode of communication because they want the immediate gratification it brings. A one-to-one conversation works especially well when it comes to building relationships, when there is an urgent matter that needs to be resolved or when a more detailed conversation is required. Unsure if phone calls are the way to go? Ask yourself a few questions: Is it easy to get ahold of the person I want to reach by phone? Do they call back when I leave a message?
• Email: Email works best when a person or business uses email as its preferred method of communication. In other words, if a person or business always requests you email them with questions or provides an email address instead of a phone number, it is easy to guess they use email almost exclusively. A quick email response will tell you that email is the way to go with such clients.
• Text: Text often works well when you are trying to reach someone you are very familiar with. It is a good idea to ask a client before texting him or her. If you are looking to send out a marketing text blast, make sure you include an opt out message. If a lot of people choose to opt out, this probably isn’t the right method for your purposes.
• Chat: Many people prefer chatting via a website than any other form of communication. Those who do say that they like being able to multi-task while communicating with a company’s representative. You’ll know if people prefer chatting simply by seeing how many choose this method.

What you have to say to customers and prospects may seem like the most important aspect of business communication. The truth is, however, that how you are approaching them is equally important.

Today’s savviest marketers know that most of their customers will start by making a small purchase and then will continue to make more (and larger) purchases down the road. They also know that marketing done after an initial sale is just as, if not more, important than that which is done before the first sale.

In its article, Embracing the Bow-Tie Funnel: Why Marketing is Most Important After the Win, the online publication, MarTechSeries, explains that in order to optimize and sustain revenue growth, it is necessary to nurture and expand existing customer relationships. What follows are some of the post-sale opportunities:

1. Implementation
2. Renewal
3. Expansion and Upselling
4. Cross Selling

Unfortunately, less than half of all companies focus on both acquisition and retention. Tactical Telesolutions can help you contact customers post-sale. For more information on all of our services, give us a call at 800-700-7422.

With today’s constant influx of marketing messages, keeping your current customers satisfied is vital. After all, satisfied customers are much less likely to be lured away by special deals and one-time offers from your competitors. And don’t be lulled into the belief that losing one customer is no big deal if you add another. The fact is, even when you replace one customer with another you lose ground in the form of increased marketing and lead generation costs. 

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/291926 You know that selling to existing clients makes great business sense but how can you encourage existing customers to do more business with you?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilpatel/2015/12/21/how-to-upsell-any-customer/#66aead2fc406 Upselling is a great way compound profit. In fact, some companies will even sell a product or service at a loss in the hope of a future upsell. In most cases, it works.

https://hbr.org/2012/07/to-sell-more-focus-on-existing When you are performing at your peak, you are able to keep your competitors at bay. Moral of the story? Always be performing at your peak!

We all know that it is much more cost-effective to retain a customer than to acquire a new one. However, as a business owner, simply maintaining the status quo shouldn’t be your ultimate goal. To increase your bottom line, and keep your business growing and thriving, it’s important to look to sell more to your existing customers.

With today’s constant influx of marketing messages, keeping your current customers satisfied is vital. After all, satisfied customers will be much less likely to be lured away by special deals and one-time offers from your competitors. The ultimate goal, however, is to treat your customers in a way that builds loyalty that leads to repeat and increased sales.

What follows are some effective strategies that will allow you to gain additional sales from your customers.

1. Anticipate their needs. The more research you do on your customers, the better able you will be able to figure out exactly what they need from you. What products are you selling that your customer hasn’t yet purchased but could benefit from? In other words, how can your products or services add value to a customer’s operation?
2. Expand your list of contacts. Depending on the size of the company, make sure you are in contact with all managers that have purchasing power. Just because you work closely with one manager doesn’t mean you can’t work closely with others, as well.
3. Set yourself apart. No matter how long you have been working with a company, make sure you are always differentiating yourself from the competition. Remember, it’s easier for customers to work with one vendor, too. Always let them know that if you they need something more, you can provide it.
4. Continue to build trust. Your customers need to know that they can count on you. Just because you have a longstanding relationship with them doesn’t mean they know that. Present new ideas to make their business better. Call them out of the blue to see if they need anything. Consider hiring an outside telemarketing firm to conduct customer satisfaction surveys with your clients so that you get an objective view on what your customers really feel about your products and service.

Retaining customers is critical to your bottom line but increasing sales to these customers will allow you to be even more successful. Remember, your customers want to work with you—make sure they continue to feel this way.

Big companies and multi-national corporations are able to spend millions on advertising. Small businesses, on the other, don’t have the same luxury. In today’s digital marketplace, however, that doesn’t mean that small businesses don’t have any advertising clout.

As a small business, however, you must be vigilant about how you spend your marketing dollars when setting up an advertising campaign, so you get as much as possible out of it. Here are some practical tips to ensure that you don’t squander any of those dollars!

Tip #1: Carefully Define Campaign Goals. While it is easy to say that you want more sales, this is too broad of a goal and will likely lead to you squandering your resources. It is important to be specific. Do you want to focus on lead generation? Brand awareness? Launch a new product?

Tip #2: Identify the Target Audience. Your target audience will be your ideal audience for this particular campaign. You want to zero in on a particular segment of buyers or consumers. It also is important to find the best ways to reach these individuals. Are they likely to respond best to social media? Email marketing? Print ads? Telemarketing?

Tip #3: Time it Right. Are you going to use a variety of marketing methods—direct mail, social media and email, for example? Then you need to time the launch of these elements to best complement each other. A combination of inbound and outbound marketing techniques is a great way to maximize your advertising dollars.

Tip #4: Create the Appropriate Message. Whether you are calling prospects, sending emails or using print ads, what you say is crucial to any campaign’s success. This may seem obvious, but you may be surprised how many businesses become so involved in the overall scope of the campaign, they forget what they want to say. You may have to bring in help with this aspect of your campaign. For example, if you are using telemarketing, choose a firm that can help you with script creation that hits the mark.

Tip #5: Measure Results. At the end of any advertising campaign, it is important to determine if the goals you set out to begin with were achieved. In most cases, this will mean much more than how many sales you made. For example, are more people aware of your brand as a result of the campaign? Did you obtain a list of solid leads?

Small businesses don’t have to resign themselves to sub-par advertising campaigns. They just need to know how to use their resources in ways that give them the best return on their investment.

In the never-ending battle between inbound and outbound marketing, it turns out neither can claim victory. Instead, the most successful strategies incorporate both methods. And this is backed by research that shows that sales conversions rise significantly when a company moves from using only inbound or only outbound to a combined approach.

It can be difficult, however, to know which inbound strategies and which outbound strategies are best for your business. The truth is, it will probably take some trial and error until you know for sure. It also may vary depending on what you are trying to accomplish with a particular campaign.

An article posted on business2community.com, 7 Practical Inbound and Outbound Marketing Tactics to Implement Today, provides some suggestions how to make the switch to a combined marketing approach. These include:

• Using inbound data to inform your outbound efforts
• Emailing and retargeting visitors who have engaged with your content
• Encouraging communication between your inbound and outbound teams
• Measuring the ROI of both inbound and outbound

It can be difficult to go from an all inbound or all outbound marketing approach if that is how you have always done it. Chances are, however, once you see the results you will wonder why you waited so long to try it.

Everything in moderation is a phrase we hear quite often. This advice makes especially good sense it when it comes to a company’s marketing strategy. Research shows that sales conversions significantly increase when a company uses a combined approach of inbound and outbound marketing.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/03/28/what-is-the-future-of-digital-marketing/#5fa64f6631e3

If you’re wondering if inbound or outbound marketing is the future of digital marketing, you may be surprised to learn that it’s not one or the other. Instead, it’s a little bit of both.

https://www.business2community.com/inbound-marketing/7-practical-inbound-outbound-marketing-tactics-implement-today-01906221

Inbound and outbound marketing used to be at odds with one another. Now that they are working together, both tactics are becoming more successful.

https://customerthink.com/the-b2b-marketing-ironies-of-our-time/

Many of the companies that push inbound marketing actually use outbound marketing to push their products or services. And vice versa. Ironic? It certainly is.

Outbound remains a critical piece of any company’s marketing strategy. However, in today’s digital marketplace, the outbound tactics of direct mail, email blasts and telemarketing works best when coupled with a corresponding inbound approach.

When working together with inbound marketing, the cost of outbound is lowered while the quality of leads produced is increased. In fact, when executed correctly, the sales opportunities from a combined approach of inbound and outbound marketing can lead to double or even triple the sales opportunities than either method executed on its own.

It can be difficult to know exactly how to marry these two marketing techniques to ensure the best outcomes. What follows are just a few of the ways inbound and outbound marketing can complement each other and, therefore, increase their success rates.

1. Targeted Content. Personalized experiences are the name of the game today. In other words, whether they are reading a blog or opening a direct mail piece, people want to feel as if it was written just for them. Make sure that anything customers or prospects receive from you captures their wants, needs and pain points. Content also should include information that is relevant to buyers at various stages of their sales journey.
2. One-to-One Connections. Sales conversions are more likely to occur when there is personalized follow-up at every stage of the sales journey. A phone call after a direct mail piece or email solicitation goes a long way towards building a relationship with a potential client.
3. Experienced Telephone Agents. The individuals managing inbound and outbound calls from customers must be adept at knowing how to listen and build rapport with potential customers. Not only should they be well-versed in the product or service your company offers, they also need to understand how to handle leads that are not yet qualified so that they place them where they need to be in the sales funnel.

When companies understand the importance of combining their inbound and outbound marketing tactics, they can devise a marketing method that allows them to set realistic and measurable goals and then do the work to allow them to reach those goals. While it is true that many of today’s companies believe that outbound marketing is no longer relevant, these companies would do well to understand that when it comes to inbound and outbound marketing, it is not an either-or proposition. Rather, the most sales conversions come about when these two strategies work together.

Many companies would love to outsource their appointment setting tasks because they believe doing so would save them valuable time and resources. They are absolutely correct.

When companies do not delegate appointment setting to their salespeople, these salespeople are able to do what they do best—close sales. Likewise, hiring an in-house staff to complete these tasks can be cost-prohibitive. Finally, delegating other staff to make these calls in their downtime can cause issues since appointment setting takes a specific skill set that not everyone possesses.

Unfortunately, many companies who believe outsourcing would be a good choice are hesitant to do so because of a concern over handing such a vital task to an outsider. The truth is, most companies who outsource their appointment setting tasks have had great success. The key is to understand some of the common misconceptions associated with outsourcing and then find a quality firm to conduct this important business development tool.

So, what are the most common misconceptions associated with outsourcing appointment setting?

1. Calls will be automated or made by offshore agents. While some firms may use robo-calls or offshore agents, quality ones do not. Make this the first question you ask prospective firms.
2. Fake appointments will be set up. Another critical question to ask is how appointment setters are compensated. If they are paid per appointment this is a red flag. Remember, quality firms that have been in business for a long time are looking to establish long-term relationships with the clients they serve. Setting up sham appointments is not the way they do this.
3. There will be a large upfront fee. A reputable firm will likely offer a pilot program so you can see your results before you make a long-term commitment.
4. Outside appointment setters won’t properly represent my brand. High-quality firms that handle appointment setting tasks for companies got where they are because they are able to become brand ambassadors for the companies they represent. That means they get to know everything about your company and are able to pass that knowledge onto prospects.

Finally, while price is always an important consideration, you really do get what you pay for. If you are looking for a cheap way to line up the most appointments possible, there will be plenty of businesses willing to take your money. The key is to find a quality firm who has a proven track record of success and who can set appointments with people who are interested in what you are selling. Work with that type of firm and you will wonder why you ever tried to set appointments yourself in the first place.