Telecalling: Is it still effective or just a thing of the past?

What is telecalling?

Did you know 92% of all customer interactions happen over the phone? (Source)

Telecalling in the digital world of chatbots and emails might make some cringe but when used as a part of a holistic outreach program by people who are trained and skilled to engage customers, it may do wonders.

When expanding business overseas, there are many uncertainties. Companies are not sure about the customer receptiveness of their products, what expectations they have of their offerings, and so on. Therefore, before expanding into other countries, it’s always beneficial to understand the interests of your target customers and understand the demand for the product.

Telecalling business opportunities involve direct communication to the customers for conducting surveys, contacting a prospect to generate interest in our product or service, and supporting customers in their journey throughout. When these actions are performed with the utmost professionalism, results can be eye-opening statements. 

Leveraging telecalling for your business

While digital and social connections make up the life-blood of giant businesses, today; a human voice is still one of the most effective channels of communication. With customers looking to solve complex problems or speak to real-humans for making buying decisions, it’s clear that human interaction remains essential for business development.

Customer surveys

During the initial stage of business expansion, many companies conduct surveys to understand the opinion and expectations of the customers through telecalling. This has been a traditional way of contacting customers to understand their perceptions about the product. Be mindful that the agenda is not only to collect customer views or feedback but to gain insight from the replies and to find ways of improving business aspects. With the appropriate method and survey questions, customer surveys can be conducted smoothly.

Telemarketing

Telemarketing calls are very important in the due course of the business to promote your products and services to potential buyers. These allow the company to interact with the customers on a personal basis and build trust. These are very helpful in answering the queries of customers about our product/service. Telemarketing executives can be hired for both B2B and B2C setup. Depending on the business’s product/service, geographical location and target audience the skills and qualities needed for telemarketing would differ. For instance, a business with mostly B2B global clients would require the applicant to be fluent in English, while for another business with B2C clients or regional customers, the requirement of the native language would be more important than any other.

Lead generation

When customer surveys and telemarketing are performed successfully, you must be able to generate leads through the customers contacted. To generate continuous revenue through this process, setting lead targets would be helpful. The role of telecaller in lead generation is to approach potential customers or clients, over the phone and attract interest in their products or services. It is a time-tested method that performs efficient and effective lead generation. Telecalling offers a personalized touch to lead generation, and also carries out several important purposes.

Customer service

Telecalling is one of the most useful communication channels when it comes to customer service. It connects customers or potential customers in real-time. In situations like tough decision making or need clarity on the product/service, customers/clients prefer voice communication touchpoints to any other. Supporting the customers with their issues and queries has a major impact on the business. Good customer service will lead to loyal customers and also word of mouth marketing. Customer service through telecalling plays a major role in maintaining great customer relationships.

Skills to make telecalling work

Telecalling campaigns only work when you are patient and trained to build customer conversations to nurture prospects before delivering a call-to-action. Synonymous with scams and frauds, telecalling now needs a makeover.

Here are some skills one must have to ensure success in telecalling:

Positive attitude

To maximize your benefit from telecalling, it is important to have a good attitude when speaking directly to your customers. Recipients can clearly understand if you’re smiling or stressed out. Keeping your motivation intact will generally lead to a positive response and feedback from the client/customer.

Updated knowledge

It is very important to be aware of the product or service that you are offering. You should be able to answer the queries of the customer on the call, which will improve customer satisfaction. The customer/client should have a feeling that they are talking to an expert rather than an amateur. A telecaller is essentially a mascot of a brand during the conversation.

From our experience in running contact center operations, regular updating of information and knowledge for telecalling executives is key. With an in-house knowledge management platform and interactive modules for delivering this information, customer experience is enhanced, while allowing an executive faster access to the right information at the right time.

Courtesy

Telephone etiquettes are very important when talking to a customer on the phone. Courtesy starts the moment an executive answers the phone as they have only an initial few seconds to build rapport with the customer, to build a trustworthy and mutually beneficial relationship. It’s better to avoid technical terms and use simple language so that the customers can be comfortable and easily apprehend the information.

Clear objective

The executive should have a clear objective before taking the call. This will again help in the uninterrupted conversation. All the important information to be shared has to be clear beforehand. They should be well-equipped with the knowledge to answer queries posed by the customers.

Organized

As the call center employees have to multitask at a time such as updating the CRM, checking the knowledge base, and more while attending to the customer’s call, staying organized is very important. This will help in avoiding errors during the process. This will lead to effective interaction with the customer and also ensures the completion of after-call work smoothly.

Is telecalling still effective?

There are more options for businesses to communicate with their customers. While social media, websites, emails, and print media look more appealing, what sets telecalling aside is the fact that it still drives results due to the personal touch, that, it provides the ability to personalize the customer’s experience.

Human touch

Telecalling is more effective when compared to the other forms of communication as it provides a human touch. There is a high possibility of building relationships with prospects and gaining the trust of the customers. This is an approach that is more user-friendly.

Real-time need analysis

As there is a direct interaction with the customer, the reaction is immediate, without any delay. It provides an option to immediately answer the queries of the clients. This will help in maximizing the satisfaction of the customer and will further improve our business.

When outsourced to third-party service providers, the operating costs are eliminated.

Outsourcing telecalling

When businesses realize the need for a telecalling service, the major decision to be taken is regarding the service provider. Having an in-house call center is not beneficial for many reasons and the main concentration of the business should be on the core business rather than running a call center. In terms of ease of business and cost, outsourcing telecalling-based customer support or lead generation initiatives is the most logical option for any business to go forward.

Some of the benefits of telecalling outsourcing are:

• Concentration on core business
• Reduced cost of operations
• Work with set targets to generate leads with the outsourced company
• Access to multilingual services

Opting for telecalling service providers, you get access to a skilled team of telecallers who are backed with high experience and also professionalism. They know how to captivate potential prospects and convert them into genuine leads. They are also efficient in providing seamless customer service.

If you are a start-up or an established brand, a well-planned telecalling service will surely help in building your brand. It’ll further lead to an increase in sales and overall business growth. Choosing the best inbound and outbound telecalling services will surely support your company in the process of generating genuine leads and also increase sales and customer satisfaction through seamless customer service.