Though they are two terms which are often confused and invariably interchanged, there is a stark difference between the notions of telesales and telemarketing. And if you want to embark on a relevant and successful telephone based campaign for your business, understanding the distinction between them is important.
Telesales have been around for decades, used as a prime selling tool, contacting a customer directly and attempting to offer your services or products. Telemarketing is a more overarching term used the describe the process of using direct communication to engage with your customer base, learn more about them and in turn allow them to learn more about you. It involves research, feedback and the garnering of information to improve your customer knowledge and generate sales.
Telemarketing is a whole campaign, spreading the vision of your business and ensuring its attributes are made aware to potential or existing clients. Telesales is purely the function of approaching customers directly, possibly by using the information gleaned from your Telemarketing approach. Both have outgoing cold calling in common, but Telemarketing has a raft of approaches to increase brand awareness, while Telesales has one simple function: closing a deal. Both are different, and they each have their individual advantages, as we will learn.
Telemarketing can be seen as a number of different phone based activities used to seek out new customers while at the same time spreading the message of your brand. Your clients are approached directly as you try to ascertain what they need and how you can support that need. Buying trends and deficiencies in your offering can be identified by speaking to existing customers, while new markets can be unearthed and indentified, allowing for a more focused approach to sales and reducing the need for your Telesales team to engage in extensive, and often fruitless, cold calling. Telemarketing teaches you about your customer base and consequently your business.
Polling and market research conducted directly with the public can provide invaluable data concerning the best way to strengthen your concern. It can develop a rapport with those you are trying to target and promote your attributes. Telesales The focus with Telesales is much more apparent. The bottom line is following leads and making sales. A strong Telemarketing campaign can provide a wealth of new marketing channels and potential customer bases, but effective, professional Telesales operatives are still required to close those sales and generate business. The in-house generated data provided by your Telemarketing scheme can provide a more focused and defined information source for your sales team to employ, but sensitive, persuasive Telesales staff are vital to reduce customer annoyance and bolster conversion rates. Which is Better? It is not a question of choosing one approach over the other.
The most effective (if potentially costly) method is an integrated campaign of Telemarketing (plus a variety of other traditional marketing research initiatives) to identify lead generation followed by an outbound Telesales campaign. By just cold calling without effective research, you can expect a poor conversion rate and an inadequate return on your investment. While conducting marketing research without fully briefing your Telesales team may also yield poor sales. But by understanding the inherent differences between these two disciplines and exploiting their positive elements, Telesales and Telemarketing can effectively help your business prosper.
