Should telemarketing calls be unscripted? The debate continues.
At Virtual Sales Team, we recognise the benefits of both; however, we have always used unscripted telemarketing as in our experience this always delivers higher quality appointments and leads. Not all telemarketing companies ditch the script though and stick to the same tired talk every time. Why is this, when a fresh approach to each call clearly delivers a much more human led approach? It all boils down to one thing – experience. At VST, we pride ourselves on how we talk to customers and always being “call ready”, which means we can deliver an unscripted and unique telemarketing experience every time!
Using unscripted telemarketing
Unscripted telemarketing allows the telemarketer to strike up a natural conversation with the prospect and this often results in quickly building strong relationships. Chatting in a conversational manner means the telemarketer can instinctively and quickly adapt their style, enabling them to empathise more effectively and naturally lead the conversation to improve the chances of a successful close.
This approach might sound easy, but in fact requires years of experience and quality training to master it. Here’s the key though – not only is experience and quality training essential, but the business experience of the caller and the ability to listen to the customer on the other end of the phone are also of equal importance. Nobody likes to feel like they’re being talked at or rushed, so giving each prospect the chance to communicate their thoughts is essential!
At VST we have a diverse team of highly-qualified and skilled telemarketers. They vary in age, and although they come from a diverse range of career backgrounds, they are always commercially aware and extremely professional. You certainly wouldn’t hear any poor language in the background or ‘bell ringing’ on our calling floor!
The way we prepare our telemarketers to be ‘call ready’ involves them taking the time to really understand our clients’ business inside out, even visiting their sites if it’s a production or process led company. Essentially, they become a seamless extension of your existing sales and marketing team.
There are occasions when we do need to read from a script – such as when compliance statements or terms and conditions need to be read out, but other than this, all of our calls are natural.
Scripted telemarketing
In comparison, scripted telemarketing most certainly restricts the ability of the telemarketer to build a relationship with the prospect. Scripted conversations are rigid and automated, and this can frustrate or alienate the prospect within the first few seconds of answering the phone. Scripted calls limit natural progression of the conversation.
A lot of companies choose the scripted call option because they can employ less experienced telemarketers and don’t need to worry about too much training or being too involved with their clients. Often, they operate on a payment by results commercial model, which can mean more initial appointments are obtained but these turn out to be of poor quality once your sales team follow them up. Often they’re simply not the right fit for your business.
Less means more
Our approach is that “less means more”- we would rather set 2 appointments in a week that result in business for our clients rather than 5 appointments that have a very slim possibility of a sale. Our industry leading quality scoring and feedback process is geared towards achieving very high-quality appointments that will not waste your time.
Unscripted or scripted? It obviously depends on the type of product or service and the quality of appointments you are targeting. If you want a telemarketing company to offer a product or service that requires the caller to possess business acumen and good communication skills, and you require appointments setting that go through a rigorous quality scoring procedure, then VST should be your first port of call.
For more details please visit our lead generation and appointment setting pages for more information, or please contact us to see if Virtual Sales Team is right for you!
