Customer Service Reps Might Be Unsuited for Telemarketing Duty
Executive Roundtable is a weekly column by TEC Worldwide, an international organization of more than 7,000 business owners, company presidents and chief executives. TEC members meet in small peer groups to share their business experiences and help one another solve problems in a round-table session. The following questions and answers are summaries of discussions at recent TEC meetings in Southern California.
Question: I run a small garment-manufacturing business that sells through outside salespeople and inside customer service representatives who take catalog orders over the phone. In order to increase sales, I have asked our inside phone people to begin making telemarketing calls (to set appointments for our outside salespeople), but so far my efforts have been met with strong resistance. I have tried pep talks, cash incentives, even threats of layoffs, but with no success. How can I get my inside phone people to embrace this new activity and make it part of their job?
Answer: Three issues come to mind here: training, compensation and personality type. All three probably are having an impact on your lack of results. Let’s address the issue of training first.
Michael Barkin, president of Advanced Die Supplies in Santa Fe Springs, said making telemarketing calls requires an approach very different from taking orders over the phone.
“Telemarketing firms always use carefully written scripts, and they give their staffs plenty of practice before actually putting them on the phones,” he said. “How much hands-on training have you given your phone people? Do they have specific scripts to read? Was the training presented by a professional telemarketer or someone inside your company?
“More important, do your employees feel that the training has adequately prepared them to make the calls? People who don’t feel they have the knowledge, skills and tools to perform a task will not approach it with much enthusiasm or expectations for success.”
In regard to the compensation issue, you might want to look at noncash incentives. Today’s work force often places more value on nonmonetary rewards, such as days off with pay, tickets to concerts or sporting events and trips to Las Vegas. If you’re not sure what motivates your people, ask. They will be happy to tell you and will appreciate having a say in their compensation plan.
At the same time, make sure your sales manager is on board with the initiative and is properly motivated. Does your sales manager understand and support the need for the telemarketing calls? Does he or she get a piece of the action in terms of increased sales that result from the calls? Does the sales manager feel capable of managing a telemarketing operation or require additional training?
The sales manager’s performance will play a key role in the success of your telemarketing venture, so don’t automatically assume the person can handle the task.
The most difficult hurdle to overcome may be the personality issue. By asking your order takers to make the calls, you may be trying to force square pegs into round holes, said Laura Tarbox, president of Newport Beach-based Tarbox Equity Inc.
“In general, people who take orders over the phone tend to have very low-risk profiles,” she said. “By that I mean they don’t like activities that require them to put themselves on the line and face possible rejection or disapproval. For those kinds of people, telemarketing represents a very high-risk activity. No matter how big a carrot you dangle in front of them, they probably won’t make the calls because it creates too much internal discomfort.”
In addition, telemarketing has negative connotations to some people. Regardless of their personalities or skill sets, they may not want to do it simply because they find it distasteful. If this is the case, you have two basic options: Hire additional staff more suited to the task or out-source to a professional telemarketing firm.
Ian Crockett, president of Hunter Barth Inc. in Costa Mesa, prefers the latter approach. “Outbound telemarketing requires a strong commitment to succeed,” he said. “You can’t do it halfheartedly and expect to get good results. You also need someone who knows how to motivate and manage a telemarketing team, an aggressive cheerleader type who will stay on top of people and put the pedal to the metal every 15 minutes. Most companies don’t have that kind of person on staff. They don’t have the resources or the mind-set that it takes to make a telemarketing operation a success. For these reasons, it’s almost always more cost-effective to outsource to a call center than to do telemarketing on your own.”
One final point: Make sure your outside salespeople also are on board with the telemarketing program. Nothing will turn off a telemarketing team more quickly than trying to support salespeople who ignore or fail to follow up on leads they generate.
If there is a business issue you would like addressed in this column, contact TEC at (800) 274-2367, Ext. 3177. To learn more about TEC, visit https://www.teconline.com.
