Telemarketing activities are commonly used to contact leads and land appointments. Unfortunately, inside sales teams are often too overwhelmed to optimise productivity, which impedes sales efficiency. In such cases, outside support from specialists is a possible solution. Here are four signs your telemarketing team needs help in reaching its sales goals.
Bookings Efficiency Wanes
One of the clearest signals that your inside sellers need support is when they fail to reach quotas. A lack of quality leads, which is usually a marketing responsibility, is one potential reason for missed targets on appointment setting. It is of greater concern if your marketing system is producing a high volume of prospects, but your inside sales team is failing to make calls and set appointments efficiently. A common metric for measuring efficiency is average sales cycle. If your team’s average period exceeds industry norms or increases, you have cause for concern.
Rewards Don’t Motivate
Call centres routinely instil goal and rewards programs to maintain telemarketing motivation. As you track performance, inefficiency, gaps in productivity, and of course, missed numbers, all signal a lack of motivation. Some gamification systems and rewards programs just don’t incentivise inside sellers in a way that works. It is challenging to set up an efficient and long-lasting motivation program in an environment where people make a lot of routine calls hour after hour, day after day.
Communication Falls Short
An effective, efficient sales cycle requires a seamless process and communication among different people. Marketing often sources leads, inside sellers make appointment setting calls, and then field reps go in for the final sale. When your inside sales team is overwhelmed, it is easy to get so caught up in making calls that communication takes a back seat. Reps might not enter critical data into CRM profiles, which makes it difficult for field salespeople to prepare well for the first call. More involved face-to-face meetings to discuss problems are also overlooked.
Inside reps are part of a large selling process that requires internal communication for optimisation.
Results are Inconsistent
Telemarketers require a clear structure and organised environment to achieve consistent levels of productivity. If your team’s productivity is very volatile, it can signal an undefined structure and erratic calling behaviours. On some days, reps may feel higher levels of motivation and mental energy, which results in more calls and greater efficiency. On off days, very few successful calls occur. A top-performing sales organisation cannot afford such wild swings, as it impedes high return on investment.
Conclusion
The most obvious sign that your telemarketing team isn’t cutting it is when you don’t achieve goals. Beyond that, look at how well motivation programs drive consistent performance. Communication systems and office structure are also critical pieces to a highly efficient telemarketing function.
