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I have been speaking to different people and they give me conflicting advice about whether I should use a script or not and how to write a telemarketing script. What do you think?

Bill, London

David says:

Bill this is an excellent question and your right there is a difference in opinion over this. Some consider that a highly scripted conversation is inflexible and comes across as being read, stunted and misrepresents their brand because the prospect receiving the call immediately devalues the content due to the impression it makes. Others feel that a telemarketing or telesales script ensures that the marketing message is delivered consistently and at its most effective every single call.

Here are my thoughts, I have always used and trained to use a telemarketing script, but not in the traditional sense, but first, let me explain why I’m not a fan of sales teams not using a script. Allowing telesales and telemarketing teams to completely adlib their conversations results in a complete range of effectiveness and conversations. There is no consideration given to the marketing message and a tendency to lose focus of the true objective (arranging a meeting). Unfortunately, when left to their own devices like this those that are weak at telemarketing outnumber those that are strong and the majority will fail dismally. The end result being loads of conversations leading to no particular outcome. However, for me the worst effect is that it is impossible to measure the effectiveness of the message being delivered in an inconsistent form call to call, and employee to employee, which means there is no constant to provide reliable analysis of the marketing message.

With this in mind here is how to write a telemarketing or telesales script for a client and ensure that it is as effective as possible. To do this I create them all the same and they focus on the vital bits of information that you have to communicate to the prospect so that you can close and ask for the sales appointment or sale and have a reasonable chance of them saying yes. All my telemarketing scripts follow the same format and never in any more than 300 – 350 words. The key components are:

• Intro – I’m ……… calling from ………
• Concept – No more than 10 words to sum up the product that you are going to speak about
• References – Who else I have worked with similar to the prospect I am calling
• Business Pains – I show empathy with the business pains and challenges that I expect the prospect or his industry to be facing
• Product Benefits – The specific benefits that we can deliver against these business pains
• Case Studies – Specific examples of savings or benefits past clients have achieved with the product
• Close and back to references – I reiterate who we have worked with and close for the meeting for the first time

When you sit down to write a telemarketing or telesales script based on this you will discover there is no time for waffle, there is not a lot of room in 300 – 350 word, so be ruthless. Do not use any words or phrases that are not necessary and keep to the mission and formula.

Having got a basic telesales script, I can now turn it into something which I can actually use. Any script will sound like it’s being read, if you have used formal English prose, then read it out aloud. Think about it, there is a big difference between the words we use in written English and our natural spoken vocabulary, plus our vocabulary is different. So ultimately even using the same formula everyone should end up with a unique script to them.

The way I customise each script is to read the first written draft out aloud, rehearsing as if I was talking to someone in front of me. If fact I am really acting it out as if I was on a stage to an audience. I must convince my audience that this is my natural speech pattern and I’m saying it for the first time, but like all plays it’s a script and the same every night. Each time I rehearse my script, I note when I use different words to the script and make changes. I keep going through this until I have a script in front of me containing my spoken language and it feels 100% natural. By now I have spoken through this script 50 – 100 times. I am getting really familiar with it and should now be able to repeat it without having to directly read the script. But each script will never leave my side however long I am using it. It acts as my aide memoire or bench mark to ensure every call is consistent be it my 1^st or 3,000^th pitch. If I ever make a change to the script I document it and keep the old version so I can map how it evolves and be able to take a step back if changes affect my performance.

However, a scripted opening is only the initial part of the conversation. Having pitched to the prospect and given my initial “test close” the prospect is bound to give at least one objection. In fact I expect every prospect to give objections and I prepare for them too in a similar way, but one that gives me more freedom to answer my prospect specific objection, but thats for another post on another day.

I am regularly asked for my top tip. So instead of me just putting yet another list of top 6 telemarketing tips I set about asking and surveying other telemarketing professionals what their top tip was instead and here’s the answer. Perhaps the combined knowledge of over 100 seasoned telemarketing professionals is better than just me. However, I have chosen my top tip of all time and put it at the bottom.

Telemarketing Tip 1 – Do not get distracted into any other task when you are calling. Protect your time like a lioness with her cubs. Do not let people disturb you, do not take any incoming calls from colleagues and get to your next call as soon as you can. This means you will speak to as many prospects as possible

Telemarketing Tip 2 – Prepare for your calls. Make sure you have everything you are going to need beside you. Scripts (or supporting material), who you are going to call, pens, paper and a drink. Then do not move from that seat for the next 2 hours. Then grab a 15 minute break and repeat.

Telemarketing Tip 3 –  Make sure that you have good data that is “fit for purpose”. Make sure it represents the type of companies you want to do business with and identifies the correct decision makers in each company. If you need to spend some time data cleansing. Remember the meetings you make will be a direct reflection of the data they come from.

Telemarketing Tip 4 – Make sure you make enough calls, so that you have a good chance of speaking to enough people, to give you a chance of making a meeting. Do not be surprised that you have not made a meeting after just 10 calls, you simply have not made enough calls to statistically get one yet.

Telemarketing Tip 5 – Keep a positive attitude for every call you make. If you think that you are not going to get a sales meeting or sale, then it is the mostly likely thing that will happen.

Telemarketing Tip 6 – Do not use any negative phrases or apologise about calling. Be proud of the message that you are carrying and believe it is the most valuable thing the prospect will hear all day.

Telemarketing Tip 7 – Never, never, never give up and then make an excuse not to make the next call.

Telemarketing Tip 8 – Remember that you may need to call a prospect 10 times, 40 times perhaps 100’s of times before you get through. So be persistent and professional with everyone you speak to each time you call.

Telemarketing Tip 9 – Your prospects and gatekeepers respond to the speed that you speak and the tone of your voice. Always speak in a calm steady fashion, preferably slower that the prospect or gatekeeper. You will be amazed at how they mimic and respond to your tone of voice.

Telemarketing Tip 10 – Treat the gatekeepers with respect and kindness, but be clear and ask for the person that you want to speak to by name not “I’m looking to speak with the person responsible for …….”

Telemarketing Tip 11 – Never pitch the PA or Gatekeeper, let them know in 5 – 10 words what the calls concerning. They may need this to professionally introduce your call. However, you are just wasting your time telling more or “pitching” with someone that can only say “NO”. Keep your powder dry and wait till you speak to the prospect.

Telemarketing Tip 12 – Think about the first few sentences you intend to say when you actually speak to a prospect, you only have 20 – 30 seconds to grab their attention. In that time they will decide whether they are fundamentally interested or not. If they are interested, you have a further 2 minutes to provide as many reasons as possible for them to say yes and ask for the meeting. After that the prospects mind is going to start wandering  back to their task when you rang.

Telemarketing Tip 13 – Don’t waste the prospects time on the phone with irrelevant information. Make sure you have plenty of relevant benefits in your pitch and answers to their no objections.

Telemarketing Tip 14 – Remember more prospects will say “NO” than “YES”, so be persistent and keep your moral high.

Telemarketing Tip 15 – Do not stop at the first “NO”, in fact expect to get objections on every call that you make and do not give up on the first. It usually takes 2 or 3 objections before the prospects will agree to the meeting.

Telemarketing Tip 16 – Build relationships with everyone you speak with and DO NOT burn your bridges. Prospects will say “NO”, but that is only a “NO” right now. In the future that may change and you do not want to be remembered for the wrong reasons when you call next time.

David absolutely top telemarketing tip of all time and the best single bit of advice I ever give is …….

Top Telemarketing Tip Ever – Always, Always, always ask for the meeting. Never leave a call without asking for a meeting at least once, preferable several times ….. If you do not ask you will never get one.

Getting the right data is becoming an onerous and time consuming task. Do you have any ideas where I can buy data? What data shall I buy? How do I know this data is right for me?  How do I avoid scammers and bad data?

 Genevra, Ipswich

 David says:

 A list broker not only has the answer to all of these questions but they also do all of the hard work for you. 

 A good list or data broker will have years of experience sourcing all types of marketing data for an array of different clients and different types of campaigns.  They will have built relationships with the credible data suppliers and know the good from the bad and the ugly.

Let’s cut to the chase, why should you us a list broker?  Using a list broker will save you money and gain you more customers from your direct marketing campaigns.  Here’s why:

• List brokers are impartial.  You get unbiased recommendations on the data which will work best for your individual campaign without any sales spin.
• A list broker has access to a vast array of data sets; B2B data, B2C data, email data, sms data, niche lists and foreign data.  If you need it, they will find it.
• Advice on who to target.  They have seen it all before and know what works and what doesn’t.
• A credible list broker will only recommend credible data: Quality Data = Less Wastage = More Customers for Less Money.  Brilliant. 
• Leveraging their supplier relationships, list brokers can negotiate the best rates on your behalf.

And saving the best until last….

• Their services are free.  List brokers work on commission given to them by the data suppliers, which means you get their advice, experience and service for zip!

Now you can’t say fairer than that, can you?!  For more details and benefits of using a list broker plus handy direct marketing and data tips, please visit the Databroker Blog

TangerineDream Consultancy is an approved partners with Databroker an independent list brokering providing free advice on sourcing B2B data and B2C data.  With over  10 years’ experience and DMA members Databroker are committed to upholding the DMA Direct Marketing Code of Practice and providing clients with expertise and trusted advice.

Every day I speak with receptionists and “gatekeepers” that seem to obstruct me from speaking to the contacts and prospects I would like to speak too. Have you got any ideas?

Justine, Exeter.

David says:

We speak with more receptionists, PA’s or “gatekeepers” than prospects every day and we can’t achieve our objective and speak to a specific person without their help.

 So, if you want to proactively get ahead of your peers and develop proactive sales meetings from your target audience then you need to deploy some soft skills, good telephone drills while remaining professional but persistent.           

So here are our top 5 tips we use every day in our lead generation and our basic approach to them.

1. Keep your voice and tone under control. If you speak at a slightly slower pace than normal in a light friendly tone the person that you are speaking to will respond in kind. It’s a great way of keeping tension and confrontation out of the call. Remember you will not be the first salesperson to have called that day, and if the receptionist is a little unfriendly it’s not necessary you they are reacting to.
2. “No names policy” – Don’t waste time debating with reception. Just ask for the CEO’s / MD’s PA. Then ask them the same question. You will be amazed how many time this works. If not call back every few days and ask again and again, and again. It is highly unlikely that this is “Company policy”. It is most likely the personal choice of the person you are speaking too and they have to take holiday etc eventually. Then someone else will answers the phone and hey presto.
3.  ”Send me information and I’ll pass it on. If they are interested I will call you back” – WE NEVER AGREE TO THIS. The moment that you release information to any gatekeepers they can start blocking you unilaterally. We call with the express intention of holding a business discussion. Stand your ground and call back another time without sending information. Otherwise you might as well have just created and sent a direct mail campaign.
4. “They never take cold calls” – We will always ask / insist the gatekeeper attempts to put the call through anyway. This works about 30% of the time. For the balance thank them and just call back and try again another day.
5.  ”Tell me what it’s about and I’ll let you know who would be the best person” – DON’T DO IT. Receptionists and  gatekeepers will never agree that you that you intended to speak to the right person, and will end up palming you off to a subordinate. Ultimately, this just sabotages your sales process. Just stand your ground and if necessary call back another day.

Perfecting your gatekeeper skills will have a really big impact onyour telemarketing and the number of sales meetings you make. Even a small improvement in the number of conversations that you have every day can have a huge impact on the number of meetings you arrange. Imagine if you normally make 100 calls, then speak to 10 people and make 1 meeting. By just speaking to 2 extra people a day would increase the number of meeting you can make in a full working week from 5 to 6. Take a moment to calculate through what that would mean to your business based on sales value, margin and close ratio. Then you can see the impact.

Our field sales team are tasked with making their own sales meetings, but they never seem to be able to designate the time to this task and they struggle when they have sales that need closing. Have you got any ideas?

Mark, Colchester.

David says:

It’s tough to create good business equilibrium here. The challenge is for your sales team to keep existing account management up to date, close sales and find time for telemarketing to generating future sales meetings. It is only natural that your sales team will concentrate on closing business at the expense of arranging sales meetings.

This scenario is difficult to break, maintaining an effective telemarketing campaign that generates sales meetings, is a time consuming task. It is this lack of time and having to squeeze up to 15-20  hours per week of lead generation, plus other sales admin that makes it so difficult.

Creating an effective telemarketing campaign particularly for high value products takes time. Our studies have shown that it takes a minimum of 2.5 working days a week to effectively manage a telemarketing campaign that will add long term value to a sales pipeline. This amount of time and resource is not always available after existing accounts and current opportunities have been managed correctly.

A result, your sales team will face a famine and feast in lead generation. This begins with plenty of new opportunities and sales meetings. Then as the sales meetings are attended, and proposals plus pre sales takes over, the sales team puts less and less time into lead generation. Then finally, business is either won or lost and the sales team’s time becomes more available for lead generation again, but they are right back to the beginning, but now under pressure, to find sale meetings as the sales pipeline is empty. If you have high value / complex products and sales cycles of 6, 9, or even 12 months, this can lead to huge gaps within your sales pipeline that are impossible to fill, as the time for having identified new sales opportunities has already passed some months earlier.

The solution is to separate the 2 functions. Have dedicated staff to identify new sales opportunities and arrange the sales meetings and a sales team to attend and close new business. This can be done either internally, or by outsourcing your telemarketing. (We can help you with that click here if you would like to learn more.)

This provides a reliable, consistent and manageable flow of qualified sales meetings that your sales team can manage. This relieves the pressure upon individual salesmen to prospect for new business while actually increasing their productivity. Salesmen relish the chance to close deals. The time that’s saved from the sales team not having to generate leads, means more revenue through new sales. This strategy and redeployment can create a staggering return on investment and takes all the pressure away from the sales team and sales management while keeping the sales pipeline full.

I want to modernise our telemarketing department. Is it still a matter of just calling or are there telemarketing tips for a smarter way to book meetings in 2011?

 Sharon, York.

 David says:

A well executed business to business telemarketing campaign should still be the centre piece of a marketing mix, Sharon even in 2011. It’s still the only form of marketing that does not rely on the prospects taking action to contact you. It does not matter if you deploy tried and tested marketing such as direct mail, public relations, advertising, events, email marketing, online marketing or social media. They all rely on the prospect having already identified their potential interest / need for your solution and then they make contact. They also all rely on significant budgets and long periods of time to gather critical mass, before your prospect automatically thinks about you, when they feel they need a solution.

Telemarketing is unique in that sense, it allows you to proactively contact your ideal prospects and engage in an intelligent two way conversation immediately. During the conversation you can establish their pains, their challenges, demonstrate your products benefits and reinforce your offering by using past case studies. The critical difference between telemarketing and other forms of marketing is the prospect need not have any knowledge of your company or solution 5 minutes earlier to agree to a sales meeting.

However, telemarketing needs to adapt and move away from the old image of thumbing through any old list and mechanically pitching to as many people as possible. To be successful and cost effective at telemarketing in 2011 you have to adapt and use new tools. Here are my 3 favourite telemarkting tips that we are using at TangerineDream. This means TangerineDream is 75% more effective than traditional telemarketing.

Integrating email marketing and telemarketing

Did you know that integrating email marketing and telemarketing can increase productivity between 25% – 75%? You can access real-time results of prospects opening and clicking through to websites from most email marketing solutions. Then the telemarketer can call a specific prospect while they are still reading the original email and start a conversation on subjects that are relevant to the web pages they have just been visiting.

Integrate your CRM, data acquisition and prospect profiling

It is now possible to save enormous volumes of time in identifying contact details and prospect profiling. A perfect example is the ability to add solutions such as Onesource™ or Hoovers™ to SalesForce.com through the App Store. That’s exactly what we do. These instantly download information direct into your CRM about individuals and the company that would have taken an inordinate amount of time to gather by any other means. This not only increases the time spent actually targeting prospects, but also provides better information to the telemarketer so they can adapt their conversation to the company and individual they are speaking too.

Build social media links then use them to the max

The explosion of social media has enabled us to actually see the networks we live within. Everyone is forging links between one another and with the popularity of sites such as LinkedIn.com we are now able to see who knows who, past employment and what they are currently doing. This insight allows a telemarketer to bring existing relationships into their conversation. This means you can uncover people your network knows, mutual contacts, past and present colleagues etc, which allows you to gain better access to target prospects and improve the effectiveness of your calls to arrange sales meetings. All these relationships can be levered into conversations to great effect. Amazingly, this can all be integrated into your CRM so that you can see it as one view.

Telemarketing in 2011 is completely different from the past. We are using every possible piece of information at our disposal to hold unique conversations with our prospects.

I hope these tips put you on the right path Sharon. It’s all about treating the prospect you are calling as an individual and having unique conversations with them.

At TangerineDream we are constantly looking at how we can innovate and improve our telemarketing productivity. Click here if you would like to learn more about how we help our clients and deliver effective and long term campaigns with great return on investment.

Its summer time again and I’m thinking of stopping telemarketing for a little while until people get back off their holidays. Is there any point in trying to book meetings in August and the summer holidays?

Jim, Dunbar

David says:

This is a regular question I get asked Jim in the summer and over Christmas / New Year. There is an instinct or gut feeling that salesmen report back that it is not worth even attempting to book sales meetings during these holidays as “everyone “ is on holiday with their families and if they do speak with people “everyone” wants to put off arranging anything till after they get back. The result is that they are limiting their possible lead generation time to approx. 10 months of the year.

That’s a whopping 16.5% of the year’s capacity to generate new sales meetings being ignored.

Telemarketing appointments booked v's meetings attended

Over the past 8 years I have constantly mapped when and where the TangerineDream telemarketing team book their meetings and the evidence is overwhelming. There is absolutely no difference what time of year it is, regardless of industry, size, level of business or seniority of target contact. The number of sales meetings generated every month works out the same.

Every year I am amazed at just how consistent telemarketing is. However, our results have drawn up an interesting fact, which I think gives everyone the impression that it’s a waste of their time to pick up the phone and make meetings during the summer and at Christmas. Over these holidays sales people often see a sharp decline in the number of sales meetings they attend somewhere between late August to the end of August and similarly over the 2 weeks leading up to Christmas till the first full working week of January. Yet they also have extraordinarily high numbers of meeting in September and late January early February.

I am trying to decide whether to include telemarketing as part of our marketing mix, but I want to ensure that I get a good return on investment. Any tips on how to work this out?

Jayne, Newcastle

David says:

Jayne, before you embark on any marketing a great first step is to look at the business case. A telemarketing campaign is no different. However, telemarketing is now becoming a more and more difficult form of marketing to deliver return on investment, particularly when used for low value / profit goods.

Brief potted history

Not all that long ago, maybe only 8 – 10 years, some of the modern forms of marketing that we use were not being seriously considered as part of the normal B2B marketing mix. Since then email marketing, SMS marketing and the now all pervasive Google have taken an ever bigger slice of the marketing mix and budget. The reason for this, particularly with lower value consumables and products in a matured market is because it is possible to generate sales leads at a fraction of the cost of more traditional telemarketing and direct mail.

What that means today

What this leaves companies with is a drastically reduced cost per sale for some products and it is just not possible to be able to achieve this cost to sale with a telemarketing campaign.

However, as product values increase and awareness of specific solutions and products decrease newer forms of marketing become less effective and this levels the playing field for anyone wanting to add a  telemarketing campaign in their marketing mix.

So when you calculate your return on investment think about:

• The expected profit generated for each sale?
• How many sales appointments you would expect to attend to gain a sale?
• What is the expected cost of generating each sales meeting?
• How long do you expect it will take to make a sale from the first meeting?

Consider how these will work out and when you can expect to start to gain revenue as a result of the telemarketing.

Here’s an example for you. All you need to do is put your figures in and then you will get an idea of the potential ROI.

Example Product:

• Has an expected lifetime gross profit of £10,000.00
• The sales team usually win contracts from 1 in 6 sales meetings they attend
• The sales cycle is 4 months from first meeting to sale
• Each sales appointment generated by telemarketing costs £300.00

This would mean the cost to sale from a telemarketing campaign would be £1,800.00, (6 x £300.00) but will provide a return on investment of over 450%. However, you should not expect to receive any revenue from this marketing for a minimum of 6 – 7 months after the campaign commenced.

Hope this gives you a simple model to work from Jayne. If the numbers do not stack up for a telemarketing campaign, then my advice is to not do it, and think very carefully about reducing the budget and still applying the same amount of telemarketing resource.

Over the years I have seen more and more desperate attempts to keep a telemarketing campaign as part of the mix. Ultimately this has led some companies to strip every possible cost out of the function. It forces them to lower costs, employ lower skilled staff, provide little or no real training and no support mechanism to support the campaign. Ultimately, this has never been able to rebuild the ROI; invariably these steps have meant less productivity and actually driven cost per sale higher than the original higher skilled better resourced telemarketing campaign.

We are exhibiting at our main trade show in about a month. I want to get as many leads as possible over the 3 days, but in the past we have never been very good at converting leads to business afterwards. Have you any tips so that we get the best possible return from the event?

Laura, Southampton

David says:

Over 90% of B2B business is won by following up after an exhibition rather than on the day, but let’s be honest, how many times have the leads been brought back to the office and just forgotten about, or that it has taken so long to follow up, that the leads have all gone cold and are useless. Amazingly, over 70% of leads from seminars and exhibitions are never even followed up. It confuses me that some people exhibit at all, considering they do nothing with all the potential business that escapes their grip.

So making sure you follow up all the leads from an exhibition or seminar is vital. It should all start in advance of the event. Make sure that you have a clear process for capturing all the data that you are going to need to effectively market to the prospect later. Data capture technology is very popular, but do not forget to be able to match the person with the discussion they had on the stand.

Once the event starts speed is everything. The faster you engage with the prospect the more likely that you will get business. Why not send out an automated SMS / text to their phone while they are still at the event thanking them for visiting your stand. How about sending an email marketing campaign the following morning with links through to more information and reinforcing any particular offers you are promoting. You can also make sure that they receive company details by direct mail within 72 hours and finally do not forget to start telemarketing asap.

Telemarketing has a real advantage over every other form of marketing. You are able to interact with the prospect and control the process of converting leads into opportunities, because you are not relying on the prospect contacting you. Telemarketing and booking sales meetings for your sales team to meet your prospects is the most direct step that you can take to gain sales after the event and you should start this within 48 hours, because after 2 weeks the effects of the exhibition or seminar on the prospects will have worn off and their minds moved to other problems in their in-tray.

So, my tops tips are:

• Capture the data accurately on the day and start entering it and using it straight away
• Think about how quickly you can get contact with your potential prospect using SMS / Text messages and email
• Make sure that you send out hard copies of the brochures after the event, do not let yours languish in the heavy bag by the prospects desk with all the others
• Start telemarketing with the intention of booking sales meetings for your sales team to attend within 48 hours and stop after 2 weeks

If this seams a lot to organise or you want to ensure that you get it right first time then we can help. Click here to learn more about exhibition and seminar follow up.

I have eight people in my telemarketing team and I am about to recruit 2 more, but last time I hired a telemarketing executive it was a disaster. Although they looked great throughout the interview process, they turned out to be just disappointing and ultimately fail in their role. Have you got any tips for this time around?

Daniel, London

David says:

Daniel, getting telemarketing employees with the right skills, dedication and desire is really tricky and despite what many may think, a truly skilled telemarketing professional that can add value to your business is hard to find.

One thing that is for certain, there are plenty of candidates looking for telemarketing jobs, but hiring the wrong employee to begin with can disrupt your team, reduce overall performance and end up costing time and money.

I asked David Filwood of TeleSoft his thoughts on this and he gave fascinating insight into telemarketing employees.

David said “you’ll typically find 3 grades of telemarketer: (Above Average), (Average), and (Below Average).

(Above Average) agents seem to have “The Right Stuff” that pushes them to succeed – and a natural compatibility with the duties of the position. They work hard – exceed expectations – do more than asked – achieve high-quality consistent sales results – can always be counted upon – need little direction – and work extremely well with everyone.

(Average) agents perform their duties adequately enough “to get by” – but no better. They are the partially competent. Generally they’re strong from a Skills standpoint but missing a key ingredient or two from a ‘Soft Skill’ Personality/Job-Fit standpoint – or from a Sales/Customer Service orientation.

However (Below Average) agents are the people who just don’t fit somehow. Sometimes they’re good people in the wrong jobs. They need extra coaching & supervision just to achieve below-average results. Often you will find they:

• Cause unnecessary internal conflict
• Have high levels of absenteeism
• Have low levels of sales productivity
• Deliver the poorest performance & customer satisfaction ratings
• They have a negative impact on team morale

(Below Average) agents represent the real problems in a sales team. While (Average) & (Below Average) telemarketing agents may seem fully qualified at the interview stage – they’re a poor Job Fit – and the cost of hiring them is enormous – with little value add to the organization.”

I totally agree with David, but the question is, how to tell the difference between those which are “above average” and the others? I would consider using psychometric profiling of your current team and matching traits and behaviours of the most successful to potential employees, putting all future employees through the same profiling before you give out an offer. I use an independent consultant to deliver this to my business.

Alternatively, David and TeleSoft Systems may well be able to help with their software.

So getting back to the question, my top tips are don’t hire in a hurry and do not fill the position if the candidates in front of you are not good enough. It’s better to keep looking than get it wrong. Plus test all potential employees to make sure they fit making sure that you take up all references to ensure they are proven performers and their claims of past performance can be verified. This gives you the best chances of getting above average telemarketing employees.

David Filwood is the Principal Consultant with TeleSoft Systems. Top performing telephone sales/inside sales call centers drive their revenue & performance through superior hiring tactics. TeleSoft Systems helps employers gain better insight & more accurate predictions as to which applicants from a pool of Candidates would perform up to, or beyond their established standards. You can find out about a Free Trial of SPAS Call Center Agent Pre-Employment Screening Software at http://www.telesoftsystems.ca/64201.html “