Handling International Telesales for the FD Centre

 

Knowing the subtleties of cultural differences, and a smattering of Cantonese, have helped allow Mikaela Lashbrook to be an effective international telesales agent for The Financial Directors Centre in both Hong Kong and America.

It is Mikaela’s job to qualify existing prospects and appointment set for the FD Centre’s Chief Financial Officers, who then go out and meet their potential clients. The morning see calls to Hong Kong and greater China and then in the afternoon, when American comes online, the calls to the US begin. Mikaela will ring a pre-agreed database of prospects and book meetings for the FD team.

As an international telemarketer, Mikaela knows that the majority of the Hong Kong business community speak English or have it as their second language, but she has picked up a few key phases in Cantonese to keep the conversations polite. Face-to-face meetings are important in the Chinese business culture and this works in her favour when it comes to appointment setting for her client. She will use Skype and instant messaging to the FD team overseas to catch up on fresh appointments before her calls begin. Afterwards Mikaela will perform all the admin to go with successful appointment setting – sending calendar invites, details for contact person, number, address, attach a call recording and some notes on the call. The Regional Director of the FD Centre, who attends the meeting, will then listen to the call and previous notes on telesales communication and go to the meeting feeling fully prepared.

Sometimes the calls to America can engender surprise when they see a UK call coming in, but Mikaela uses this to her advantage, saying that the FD Centre is a global business with a Head Office in the UK but with a dedicated team in America, and it can often add credibility to the lead generation process.

The Lead Lab have significantly increased The FD Centre’s international share of meeting opportunities and provided a strong ROI. They always encourage feedback and ways to improve and work as an outsourced member of their team. The thing that sends Mikaela home happy at the end of a working day is seeing their success:

“It’s always interesting to talk to the different types of businesses around the world and learn a little about them. The FD Centre is growing rapidly internationally and it’s very satisfying to see them grow. Their wins are my wins too and that’s the part I enjoy the most.”

If you would like to see how The Lead Lab telemarketers can help your business, call us now on 0333 207 0540.