The Next Best Thing To Being There

Thanks to NBC’s insistence on showing Olympic television action only via tape-delay, Twitter has become the medium of choice to communicate results of events in real time. According to the service itself, there were a mind-boggling 9.66 million tweets sent during the Opening Ceremonies alone.

On Saturday, spectators along a men’s cycling race course bombarded mobile networks with so many texts, tweets and photo shares that sportscasters had problems getting proper timing information during their event coverage. That prompted the International Olympic Committee to make an official plea for spectators to “take it easy” with their mobile devices.

All of this, and more, might cause small business owners to believe that mobile and/or internet marketing is definitely the best way to communicate their marketing messages to prospective customers, clients and patients.

That would be a big mistake.

Sure, such technology has certainly changed a lot of things about small business marketing – mainly making it cheaper, easier and faster than ever before to get a high volume of quality leads.

But that doesn’t mean it’s the best way to convert those leads into customers.

Face-to-face, in-person communication is still by far the most effective way to convert prospects into buyers. And the next-best thing to being there is still to use the telephone – otherwise known as “telemarketing.”

Here’s how to use telemarketing to your full advantage…

First of all, I know that the word “telemarketing” might as well be a four-letter word, prompting thoughts of your prospects and customers shouting “Put me on your ‘Do Not Call’ List!” But next to in-person communication, a phone call is still the best way to give your customers the personal attention they crave.

And yes, there is a way to use telemarketing while keeping people from hating you and blocking your number!

Thanks to modern technology, telemarketing can be used as a powerful follow-up tool for your direct mail and other marketing campaigns. It’s especially effective as a follow-up tool when you are selling high-priced, high-margin products and services.

Here’s some help with both direct mail and telemarketing campaigns…

First, here are the key steps to putting together a highly-effective direct mail marketing program:

1. List all benefits customers will get from the purchase of your products and services (*NOTE: these are “what’s-in-it-for-them” benefits – NOT just a list of features about you, your company or your product or service).
2. Pick the single most powerful benefit from that list.
3. Build an attention-getting headline around that benefit. Make sure to use emotion – fulfill their desire to be young, wealthy, desired, popular or successful (or to avoid the alternatives).
4. Develop a sales letter using the headline you created in order to grab people’s attention, provide information and motivate them to act.
5. Put together supplementary items, such as a brochure, order form, reply envelope or note that encourages them to read the letter.
6. Rent or purchase a mailing list.
7. Compare cost of mailing vs. cost per order.
8. Add follow-up steps to your initial mailing to maximize your results.
9. Test and refine your direct mail marketing campaign on an ongoing basis.

Direct mail marketing may sound “old and fuddy-duddy” — especially compared to social media — but it’s still the best bang for your buck and the most cost-effective way for you to find a local, national or even international target market from which to draw in new customers, clients and patients.

By continually testing and fine-tuning your marketing campaign, you’ll get better and better results and therefore lower the overall cost of the campaign and improve your return on investment.

Now here are the keys to being successful at telemarketing, so you can boost the results of your direct mail campaigns even more:

• Decide exactly what you want to accomplish during the call before you pick up the phone or plan your conversation.
• Develop a list of topics to discuss on the call, and the questions you want to ask your prospects about these topics.
• At the start of the call, make sure to ask people if you are calling at a good time.
• Include enough questions to keep the conversation interesting, but not too many – and not too basic – to sound like you are interrogating them or wasting their time.
• Start with broad questions, then make sure to narrow your focus as the conversation continues.
• Offer periodic feedback to show them that you are paying attention and you appreciate their time.
• Don’t insult their intelligence or be manipulative.
• Listen first, talk second.
• Be relaxed and conversational.

Telemarketing doesn’t have to be the traumatic undertaking it’s made out to be. You can put together an honest, personal and effective telemarketing campaign that is endearing, informative and gets the job done. Think of how you would want to be treated on a marketing call, ask your customers, friends and family what they hate most about the telemarketing calls they get and work hard to craft your plan to avoid those mistakes.

As Jay Abraham says…

“When selling by telephone, you have approximately thirty seconds to convince the customer to listen to you. You need an opening statement that captures their attention, conveys who you are, what you want and why the prospect should listen.”

Now can you see how simple it is to use direct mail marketing and telemarketing together to bring in new customers and increase the level of awareness about your products and services?

Our FREE 30-day test drive of SSSMarketingUniversity.com gives you the exact resources and tools you need to work through these processes and put together the most-effective marketing campaigns possible. Click on the image below to start changing your business for the better: