Considering how long it’s been around, telemarketing is still a surprisingly misunderstood field. There are a lot of misconceptions floating around, many of which are unfairly negative and paint telephone sales in a bad light. Those myths are harmful because they stop companies who would otherwise benefit from engaging with call centers from doing do, cutting out a marketing channel with a high potential for profitability. The following are just five of those persistent myths plaguing the industry, and the real truth behind each.
1) Call Center Quantity is all that matters
Quantity is important in any high-volume calling operation. Or, more accurately, efficiency is important. But efficiency at the cost of effectiveness is worthless, and simply making a large number of calls that don’t convert is a waste of time and resources. The key is to find a way to balance the two factors and to deliver a high volume of calls while simultaneously maintaining a high-quality sales process. That is possible, and good training and the right tools can go a long way towards accomplishing the goal.
2) Call Center Agents Have an Easy Job
There is a common misconception that working the phones in a call center is an easy job that anyone can do, but that couldn’t be more wrong. Call center work is actually extremely difficult. It requires agents to be able to work at a repetitive task for long hours – stamina that a lot of people just don’t have. It also requires agents to have thick enough skin to be impervious to constant rejection and, in some cases, even outright hostility. In reality, call-center work is difficult enough that reducing agent workload, minimizing repetitive tasks, and monitoring agent wellbeing are all major drivers of success.
3) Telemarketing Doesn’t Work
“X is dead” is probably the most overused statement in all of sales and marketing, and telemarking is the focus of that speculation more often than not. But as Mark Twain once (allegedly) said, “the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” Telemarking is not dead, and it does still work. What has changed is that legislation now exists that penalizes companies that abuse it, but for call-centers that play by the rules, telephone sales are still as cost-effective and profitable as ever.
4) Bots Can or Will Replace Human Agents
There are a host of automated tools designed to remove human operators from calling operations and replace them with robotic counterparts and caller-activated response systems. If you’ve ever called a support line and used one, you probably know exactly how most people feel about them. Telemarketing may be impersonal due to the disconnect, but that’s exactly what makes having a skilled, trained human agent on the other end of the line so important. A human voice with a good script and the right skills can keep a prospect on the line in a way no robot ever could, so don’t expect the rise of the machines in telemarketing any time soon.
5) Telemarketing is Low-Tech
When people imagine call centers, they usually envision a big warehouse packed with people sitting at old computers and pounding away at number pads, but telemarketing is not the low-tech industry that people think it is. In fact, in recent years, there have been a whole host of high-tech cloud-based tools designed specifically to bring telemarketing out of the 20th century and to put technology to work to enable better-calling processes and better conversion rates.
IRIS CRM is one of those tools, seamlessly integrating a full-featured power dialer with an industry-leading customer resource management platform. That marriage enables call centers to scrap monthly phone bills and expensive hardware while simultaneously moving daily calling into the same software platform they use for lead management, reporting, training, communications, and more.
IRIS CRM’s cloud-based dialer includes everything a modern call center needs to maximize productivity, including call queuing and automatic dialing, one-click voicemail drop, local presence calling, inbound IVR routing, call recording and listen-in for improved training and quality control, and advanced reporting on-call activity.
To find out everything IRIS CRM and its built-in power dialer can do to streamline your calling operations and improve your conversion rates, schedule a free guided demonstration today.