telesales

[Brian Turner]

Got a phone call on my mobile the other day - that means it almost certainly came from my britecorp website.

Anyway, I answer, to be greeted by: "Hello, is that 'New Company'?"

They couldn't even get my company name right. I guess no one could be bothered to cross-reference company names with the telephone numbers their spiders were harvesting.

After they finally stopped trying to sound so official and sincere and highly connected, the point is that they were looking to charge my £895 for a listing on their site: ebronline.org.

What??

Sure - that's great if there's a very real marketing opportunity to be had.

However, though the telesalesman did everything to try and associate the company with EU commerce - he introduced himself as from the "Parliamentary Forums", and mentioned about being associated with over 4000 European Banks (with 3 million employees!) - he did nothing to demonstrate that the listing would be of any actual practical use.

In short, it was a little website pretending to be big. It links to big banks, and has transcripted speechs from big banking names on the site. But absolutely nowhere does it actually have all this attention reciprocated.

And what really got my dander up was the brusque manner that the salesman tried to sound so very official and superior - asking myself whether I had ever done marketing works for banks before. Of course I bloody haven't - but I know that's precisely why that salesman was trained to say such a belittling thing. It's meant to humble the target, make them feel honoured to be approached by such a high-class business opportunity. Which is, of course, what it is not. Mutton dressed as lamb.

What was really sad is that, although I certainly took a few minutes to get my bearings, I could hear right through his hard sell marketing training. And, really, if all I can hear is the training manager's voice then all I get is the stink of BS.

And while BS may be a mainstay of marketing for a lot of companies (cf, a lot of self-professed "Search Engine Optimisation/Marketing" companies I come across) it's not something I'm going to blow £895 at.

So, if you ever get a phone call from ebronline.org, ask them about their demographic information. Demand (politely) traffic stats and consumer base information. Oh, sure, European Banks may have millions of customers - but what the hell does that have to do with anything, especially if ebronline are not actually serving those people? There are lies, damn lies, and then there are statistics. Never let statistics seduce you without clear jusitication.

It all reminds me of the time someone from the Yellow Pages rang me up just before Christmas. He was friendly and polite (for telesales) and tried to sell me a "premium" listing on their website for a minimum of £250.

Trouble is, when asked about demographics, he stated that a third of all the traffic was just for hairdressers. Not much left for internet marketing - and the other few thousand categories, is there?

At the end of the day, when paying for listing on the internet, you have to ensure that you get a return for your money. That means you have to hit a targeted market. Heck, that's what SEO and internet marketing are all about - you grab your target consumer base with SEO, then hit them with your marketing designs. Hey presto: $ales!

That's also what telesales people are there to do. The trouble is, without any written warranties or guarantees there is no way to hold telesales to their promises. I have a website to do that for me - I have a clear "Service Agreement" with clients that does that for me - I have a clear refund policy: I deliver results or I refund.

I walk a path that sees me picking up in the wake of telesales - empty promises of any kind made to close a sale there and then. Too often people are too easily taken in my the spoken word and not the solid written sureties.

Never make a purchase without thinking carefully about it. Are those promises really guaranteed and what does the small print say about it?

If you do take a call from a salesman, insist they send out the information in the post to you. If it really is that good, the literature will sell itself. If not - was it ever that good in the first place?

[Suzanne]

When they ask for your boss, give them a some premium rate number you pulled from a magazine. Horoscopes or something. They don't call back after that.

[Brian Turner]

Heh, heh.

Any recommendations?

[altyfc]

I like it when they belittle me and say they want to "speak to the IT manager" (when I say I'm not interested). They're usually a little less cocky when I tell them I'm the proprietor. :P

Aaron

[altyfc]

As for http://www.ebronline.org/ online... you mean you didn't pay, Brian...?!

C'mon... what are you playing at? They have an Alexa ranking of 4,265,005 (not to mention a homepage PR of 4). One of the top 5 million websites in the world... and you're telling them you're not interested?!

Aaron

[becki]

i'm so guillable I wouldve probably paid. I need to be more careful.

[carolblake1973]

I hate telesales I really do. Telesales people are trained to be pushy and have no regard for the customer whatsoever. It just about clawing commission. It's an aggressive form of marketing I have no respect for. It sucks the life out of the living.

[Brian Turner]

You me both, Carol.

[bizal]

LOL telesales is an art and a skilled disaplin just like all sales, but what they have done wrong is due to lack or research. It aslo takes brains and most telesales people are retired bugger flippers hence you perception

PS I will aslo take any wager that I can train anyone with brains ( my judgement) to covert to eeting better than 1 in 3 calls to a decision maker for a meeting or sale.

PPS I also was offered over a 40K basic in the past to work as telesales when I proved a sales methodology to one of our clients due to the ROI figure!!!

[Brian Turner]

Sounds like your doing well, there, Bizal - I gather telesales marketing is actually one of your industries? (it's actually hard to tell from your website itself)