10 Steps to Building A Killer Telemarketing

Script
Posted on October 13, 2011 by Bob

Winning new customers in the IT Services business is akin to dating. It’s all about building
relationships. If you expect someone to trust you to touch their computers, networks, or other
important technology assets, chances are they’re going to want to be pretty comfortable with you
first. You’ll ultimately want to be perceived as their “trusted advisor” in all technology matters.
But how and where to start?

Today I’m going to tell you how to build a killer pitch that will keep your prospect listening long
enough so, at a minimum, you can deliver a very important awareness and branding message
about your company, and in 50% of the cases, get your prospect to take a positive step to learn
more about what you’ve got to offer.

But before I do, I need to broach the touchy subject about who should be doing the calling. In
most IT business companies I’ve worked with  (and there’s a LOT of them) I find a reasonable
number of pretty outgoing people. But hardly any of them relish the thought of sitting there for a
few hours at a time calling perfect strangers to solicit business. So, unless its their full time jobs,
they tend to avoid this dirty deed at all cost. But my philosophy has always been, “new business
is everybody’s business.”

The fact of the matter is that nobody can drum up new business better than the company CEO,
no matter what the size of the company. But he or she is going to need help. Since we’re talking
about “building relationships,” the most effective telemarketing programs are those where the
people who will actually “own” the relationships after the business is won are the people who
should be doing the calling.

The relationship building STARTS with the outbound calling effort! The minute you get that
prospect on the phone for that first telemarketing call, is the first and immediate opportunity to
begin the relationship building process. If you can get your prospective customers to get to know
you, and to trust that you know what you’re doing, you’re more than halfway home free.

Sounds good in theory, I know. But how do you actually make that happen in a predictable way,
that you can control as opposed to just “hoping it happens” when you go to the next Chamber of
Commerce gathering, Boy Scout meeting, or other networking event?

Well, in previous posts I described for you the process of identifying your target market,
purchasing contact lists, and setting up Autotask so that you could set up a “marketing machine”
that could touch dozens of targeted and pre-qualified new prospects a day.
I’m assuming that you have your own existing sales strategy that you are deploying around your
telemarketing campaign (big assumption, I know. But, no worries… if you’re not there yet, I’ll
cover some of that in future blogs).

So for the purposes of this example, I’ll use my fictional IT Services Company, Making Your
Computers Work, Inc.. My sales strategy for this company is to offer up monthly executive
workshops for the CEOs of small local professional services firms, my specialty. Once I get
them to attend, I give them a heck of a lot of valuable information they can immediately use, and
some materials to take back with them that allows them to do a self-assessment of their computer
systems and network. My game plan is to follow up with each workshop attendee to discuss the
outcome of that assessment, and see if I can get in the door for a deeper dive paid engagement. If
they never actually did the assessment (which happens in most cases) I’ll make the pitch to come
in and do it for them at a small fee, with an offer to credit that fee to future work if they
ultimately purchase some of my managed services down the line.

My next challenge is getting my prospects to take my call, and listen to me long enough to make
my pitch. You’re busy, right? Well, guess what… your prospects are just as busy as you are.
Busier, maybe. And their initial reaction to your call is likely going to be, “Crap… another
salesperson who wants to sell me something I don’t need.”

You need to get past that right away. Here’s an example script I invented  in calling John Jones,
President of ABC Ad agency. After the script, I will reveal the 10 hidden steps that makes this a
“killer pitch:”

“Hello, John. This is David Jones, calling. I’m the CEO of Making Your Computers Work,
Incorporated. I  run a very specialized and highly successful local computer services company
that helps business owners to get the most value out of the technology assets they own
today. Because of our 10 years of experience in working with ad agencies like ABC, we can help
you to evaluate how well your existing technologies are performing compared to industry
norms, and  make recommendations about new technologies that might give you a competitive
edge.

“I’m not calling today to sell you anything. But I would like you to be my personal guest at an
upcoming workshop that I’m leading exclusively for CEOs in our area. It’s a high-level,
strategic presentation for business executives that reveals how technology can be more valuable
than your best employee, or more damaging to your business than your worst competitor. This is
a high level presentation that I will be personally making exclusively for the area’s C-level
executives. I’ll give you some actionable tools you can take home evaluate your own technology
assets. This workshop will run about 90 minutes, and we’ll  save some time at the end for some
refreshments and allow you to network with some of the other local business executives who will
also be there.   

“And, John, in order to allow for a meaningful exchange with the workshop attendees, I’m
limiting this workshop to 20 senior executives per session. I only have a few seats still available
for the next workshop, which is coming up next Tuesday. If you can make that one, I can
guarantee that none of your competitors will be in the room. From the background research I
have on ABC Ad Agency, John, I really think you’ll get a lot out of my session, which is why I’m
calling you first. Will you be my guest at this event?”

If I’ve done my targeting right, and I actually get my prospect on the line, half the people I make
this pitch to are going to say ”yes.” Let’s break the pitch down so you can customize it to match
your own sales process:

1.  First of all I’m assuming that you are the business owner or a manager or partner of your
company (if not, make up some really important title for yourself to let your prospects know that
you are “on their level” so to speak. This will buy you a few important seconds right up front.
“Hello, John.  ”This is David Jones, calling. I’m the CEO of Making Your Computers Work,
Incorporated.”

2. Always use the first name to level the playing field… never use the deferential, “Mr. Jones.” 
That’s an immediate reminder that his time is more important than yours.

3. Introduce yourself in a manner that conveys confidence and uniqueness, and communicates
the benefits of what you do:  “I run a very specialized and highly successful local computer
services company that helps business owners to get the most value out of the technology assets
you own today.”

4. Quickly follow up with a statement that reinforces the unique value your services and makes
them relevant to the person you are calling: “Because of our 10 years of experience in working
with ad agencies like ABC, we can help you to evaluate how well your existing technologies are
performing compared to industry norms, and make recommendations about new technologies
that might give you a competitive edge. This is a high level presentation that I will be personally
making exclusively for the area’s C-level executives. “

5. Before the prospect has a chance to say, “I’m not interested,” lower his guard: “I’m not
calling today to sell you anything.”

6. HIt him up with an offer that is personal, exclusive and compelling:  ”But I would like you to
be my personal guest at an upcoming workshop that I’m leading exclusively for CEOs in our
area. It’s a high-level, strategic presentation for business executives that reveals how technology
can be more valuable than your best employee, or more damaging to your business than your
worst competitor.”

7. Once you’ve got him interested, give him additional incentives to agree: ‘I’ll give you some
actionable tools you can take home evaluate your own technology assets. This workshop will run
about 90 minutes, and we’ll save some time at the end for some refreshments and allow you to
network with some of the other local business executives who will also be there. 

8. Time to create a sense of urgency: “In order to allow for an meaningful exchange with the
workshop attendees, I’m limiting this workshop to 20 senior executives per session. I only have
a  few seats still available for the next workshop, which is coming up next Tuesday.”
9. Continue to sweeten the offer: “If you can make that one, I can guarantee that none of your
competitors will be in the room.”

10. Ask for the commitment, and keep it personal: “From the background research I have
on  ABC Ad Agency, John, I really think you’ll get a lot out of my session, which is why I’m
calling you first. Will you be my guest at this event?”

Still Got Questions About Telemarketing?

In future posts, I will share some other approaches you may take to the pitch, other offers you
might want to think about, and a discussion about overall sales strategies. We’ll also take a look
at marketing to your existing customer base.

If you have any questions or comments regarding this post, feel free to comment below. If you
have any other questions regarding best practices in marketing, sales, or business development,
send us an email with your suggestion for another post.