Telemarketing – Breaking the Stigma
Unfortunately, it’s well known that telemarketing has a bad reputation. We spoke to our Managing Director and Group CEO, Toby Blatchford-Tagg, to see how he deals with the stigma and how he responds to this on a day-to-day basis.
“I think that telemarketing gets a bad name from the consumer industry, I feel this came from the boom of window sales along with other consumer services since the 1980s. B2B telemarketing is completely different; we contact highly professional businesses with the intention of offering a service that contacts are genuinely likely to be interested in and also likely to benefit their respective business.”
Although our service differs to the common misconception of telemarketing, it doesn’t change the fact that some people have immediate apprehension with what we do. This is why we feel it’s important to give people a better understanding of our services and the processes we use, after which they will be well informed about the industry and can base their opinions on tangible facts.
“Here at The Lead Lab, we stand firmly against traits such as ‘phone bashing’ and harassment, that’s not what we’re employed to do. We believe each individual person we speak to deserves to be treated with respect and consideration. Although I find myself defending what we do, I can’t defend the behaviour that some companies adopt, which include scams and cons. These companies inherit a ‘rough culture’ in which the only thing that matters is the sale – and not the person on the other end of the phone. We want to offer a service that is actually going to help a business in one way or another. If it doesn’t, we move on in a polite and respectful manner. There needs to be mutual gains for our service to work.”
There are a number of huge benefits to lead generation and telemarketing services that aren’t often talked about. For example, telemarketing to generate brand awareness is often utilised by charities to make people aware of certain projects or fundraising throughout the year. Brand awareness is a huge asset to a business as it allows people to know the business exists – which is one of the hardest things to achieve in a saturated industry with plenty of competitors. Another simple benefit is the amount of created opportunities which would not have existed otherwise, this gives businesses a platform to engage with ‘warmed up’ prospects who are already qualified and are interested in what they have to offer, increasing the likelihood of conversions.
“If I had to say one thing to people who thought negatively of telemarketing and lead generation I would simply say – we’re not all the bad guys. Our business values and culture reflect our success and ultimately, we want to increase sales for the client and offer a beneficial service to prospects, as well as creating a motivating place for employees to spend their days.”
To find out more about the way our business works and how it could help increase sales and business growth, contact us on 0333 207 0540.