Is telemarketing still relevant in an info-driven marketplace?

Let’s admit it: telemarketing can be a tad bit annoying, especially for skeptic modern consumers.

These days, customers make use of all the information available to them before making a purchase. They’d research a product online, browse reviews from other customers, and ask their peers to come up with the best choice. This, for the most part, is a good development.

That customers prize quality over affordability compels businesses to create high-value products. It thus follows that many companies have stopped using flashy-but-empty promotion stunts in favor of authentic and organic marketing strategies. The result is a highly competitive marketplace driven by entrepreneurs’ genuine desire to contribute something positive to their lives.

This then begs the question, Is telemarketing—especially cold calling—still relevant in a modern marketplace?

Telemarketing refers to a broad range of marketing activities executed during a phone call. One technique is cold calling, the act of making an unsolicited call in order to persuade customers to buy a product or service. This is typically carried out by call center agents who are trained in sales.

From that definition alone, one can see why this may be a turn-off for many customers.

Living in an interconnected world wherein we can easily keep track of others’ lives or contact our friends in a heartbeat drove us to be more and more protective over our privacy. That can make it difficult for telemarketers to capture customers’ attention and hold their interest. Worse, brand representatives risk appearing insincere and manipulative if they pick up the phone just to sell something to customers. If anything, it’s likelier that they’ll be shut down once the customer finds out that they were calling to market a new product.

But does this mean that outbound calls, especially those intended for product promotion, are completely pointless in information-driven marketplace?

This may not be the case at all, especially if we look at how interactions between brands and customers are changing. At a time wherein Internet-enabled devices are widespread, people seek personalized conversations that sound human, engaging, and genuine. And that’s something you can offer through telemarketing.

Furthermore, deploying your online marketing strategies isn’t necessarily more effective than person-to-person marketing. Sure, the former can help you build brand or product awareness, but the latter is more effective as a tool of persuasion.

But there’s one thing you must pay attention to if you want to turn your cold calling campaigns into a revenue generator: the strategy you use.

You need to update your phone marketing approach to make sure that it reflects the preferences of your customers. And these days, what customers want is to build a personal relationship with brands. Therefore, to hit this expectation, telemarketers need to use a personal approach. Instead of making it about the product, make it about the customer. Find out their needs, and only recommend products you think they’d find most useful. This lets customers know that you want to contribute something truly valuable to their lives.

In addition, storytelling can be a great telemarketing technique. To captivate customers’ interest, tell them stories about your brand, your products, and your milestones. This lets you form meaningful relationships that are founded on trust and understanding.

But most importantly, instead of training telemarketers in the art of sales talk, help them develop their rapport-building skills. What you want are call center agents that can empathize with customers and driven to do everything that’s in your customers’ best interests.