The following five reasons could be why your telemarketing foray did not produce the fruits you were looking for:
1. You had the wrong person (or company) in the role
It is important to separate the role of cold caller from the person, or company, doing the job. The role itself is incredibly important, but it could be you had the wrong person in that role, or you outsourced it to the wrong company. Many MSPs I have spoken with admit it is challenging to find the right person, and have cycled through their fair share of recruits trying to fill the role. But, because they value the outcomes telemarketing plays in helping to drive leads into their sales funnel, they persevere, and never consider abandoning the role. Rather, they continue their search for the next candidate, or outsourced telemarketing firm, if the incumbent isn’t cutting it.
2. You didn’t provide them with any sort of sales mentorship or training program
What sort of training program did you provide when they first came onboard? Did you review your ideal target profile? Your company’s vision, mission, and value prop statements? Did you show them how to properly prepare for their calls? Did you provide call scripts or training around how to handle objections? Did you role-play in mock-call sessions to help them practice their techniques and build confidence? Did you teach them how to sleuth and research to find their own leads? Did you provide any sort of sales mentorship to help guide and show them the ropes, working to help make them feel part of the team?
3. You didn’t make regular check-ins a priority
As with any role, regular one-on-ones are vital. How is anyone supposed to develop in their role if they don’t receive ongoing feedback, training, and support? Scheduling weekly one-on-ones is key if you want your telemarketing employee to flourish. These meetings are critical to review questions or challenges your cold caller may be having, and to provide feedback, advice, and additional training on how to improve. They shouldn’t be pushed aside and treated as something you’ll get around to at some point. Rather, they should be treated as a high priority, no matter how busy you may be.
4. You hired them to cold call, but have them doing everything
Take an honest look at the tasks and activities you had your telemarketer doing. Were they given ample time to research and complete their calls? Or were other tasks dumped on them because no one else had time to complete them?
5. You didn’t compensate them correctly
I have seen many types of compensation plans implemented by various MSPs, so I know this point could be controversial. But if you fell into the camp of offering a commission-only pay structure, that might be where your issue lies. Offering a commission-only pay scheme can be demotivating and unfair to the person doing the job, especially because you are putting 100% of the sales process—from prospecting to closing—on their inexperienced shoulders. If they don’t get the appointment booked at the outset, no lead can be given to the sales exec, meaning no new contract is being signed. So when building your compensation plan for your telemarketing role, you want to structure it in a way where they are motivated to do the job well, which works to help maximize productivity and efficiency in your organization.
So if you have previously tried incorporating the telemarketing motion into your MSP and didn’t get the returns you were hoping for, do one better than poor ol’ Wylie Coyote and take some time for internal reflection. Try and see where you can make improvements in your process and consider giving it another go.
