Affordable Telemarketing Solutions for Small Business

Ira Spere

Imagine a flood of new, quality leads flowing into your business as the result of a bank
of telephone sales professionals. Your virtual sales team pursues individuals and
companies who would be genuinely interested in your business offerings, if they only
knew that your company existed. Imagine this service as being affordable for everyone,
including small business owners and professionals like you. Telemarketing, Inbound
and Outbound Call Center Services are no longer reserved only for the large companies
who can afford to hire expensive telemarketing services. Any business or professional
office can hire a professional telemarketing firm who will be able to market their
product or professional service at an easily affordable price.
Many entrepreneurs start their companies in the hopes that just hanging their sign will
bring in big sales. Although displaying your shingle plays a role in marketing a new
business, actively making personal contact with potential clients and customers is the
only sure way of generating sales. Small and medium sized businesses have traditionally
relied on the frustrating and sometimes intimidating method of cold calling to make the
essential first contacts with their market. Solo business owners often wake up early in the
morning, make their first pot of coffee and flip through the local Business-to-Business
Directory in hopes of generating new business leads before key decision makers get
caught up in the routine of a busy day. Many new business owners, and even seasoned
sales pros, hate this process. Some newcomers also find the cold calling process
intimidating, while others thrive at it and discover sales skills that they didn’t know they
had. Even the best cold-calling expert finds that taking a couple of hours out of the day
to create new business can be an obstacle to actually starting the rest of the day’s
projects. In slightly larger business organizations, dedicated sales staffers take the
initiative on all sales activity. Sales departments sometimes have the benefit of being able
to track down potential business customers through purchased lists and lead generation
programs. When hot lead sources experience temporary dry spells, sales staff resorts to
thumbing through the B2B Directory to generate new sales. Regardless of the size of
your business, the law of averages rules the cold calling process: the more individuals
called, the greater the likelihood of getting the successful sale. Common wisdom among
cold callers states that you will get ten receptive listeners for every hundred calls, and
perhaps one sale. Often, smaller businesses need dedicated sales representatives to focus
on key customers, and do not have the resources to use their professionals for lead
generation. At other times, a company wants to remain small, and wants to outsource
their lead generation needs to another company who can accomplish these tasks more
effectively and cost efficiently than hiring a dedicated sales force.

While there are many mammoth-sized telemarketing firms targeting behemoth
corporations who need their services, many smaller telemarketing companies specialize
in offering their range of services to smaller businesses. Smaller telemarketing
companies have honed their processes to make their services easily available at an
affordable price that makes sense to small businesses who are working within a limited
marketing budget, but who demand verifiable results for their investment. If one small
business owner, working alone, can generate 100 calls during one business day, what
would happen if she could affordably double, triple or quadruple her efforts? What if she
could contract with a telemarketing firm who could assign her cold calls to five
operators, or ten, or twenty? The small business owner increases her marketing reach
for a very minimal cost.

Call centers that specialize in inbound and outbound telemarketing verify their results
to their customers in several different ways. Business to Consumer (B2C) Sales numbers
speak for themselves: clients can review sales reports, call response rates, hang up data
and all information about the call in a series of reports. These reports are often
instantaneously generated through internet web-based applications that you can easily
access through your own internet connection. Telemarketing services are also able to
qualify leads: they are able to conduct research to determine the principle decision maker
for a company or department, follow up with your sales pitch and set up appointments
between you and receptive leads. Telemarketing service companies will generate
detailed reports so that you are familiar with the results of every single step of the lead
generation process. Other telemarketing services have the capability of creating
complete market research solutions for their clients at a very affordable price. This
range of marketing services used to be the domain of the larger marketing firms who set
prices far above the reach of the typical small business owner. Smaller telemarketing
companies are small and medium sized businesses who know their clients’ needs and
concerns, and price their services within the budgets of businesses just like themselves.
Choosing a smaller telemarketing services firm creates a personal link with another
small business owner who is eager to help his or her clients succeed.

Telemarketing Services are an increasingly affordable solution to generating new sales
leads for your company when you need to extend your business reach. Easy,
customizable solutions within your budget are available from smaller telemarketing
companies who can help you generate hot leads and solid sales with minimal effort,
leaving you free to focus on your key projects.

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About the Author: Ira Spere is a writer for EFLS . com where you will discover a wealth of resources on Telemarketing and other related information.