For differentiating themselves by way of quality, obviously their costs tend to reflect this. For the majority of companies, they tend to position themselves as “competitive” rather than the cheapest.

We at SalesFirst are used to working across a range of industries, many of which come up against “one-man bands” who, by having a very limited cost base, manage to undercut more established companies.

Positioning yourself as competitive, perhaps even targeting prospects on the proviso that their costs can be reduced by X%, is obviously an reasonbly attractive to companies looking to cut costs. We find, however, that there isn’t a hard and fast rule about where it is appropriate and, it you are significantly reducing your profit margins simply to win business, it is not a recipe for retaining long-term business (they are likely to be swayed by the next company selling on price).

As a rule, for truly profitable business, we feel that a good-quality, reasonably priced offering which gives the prospect comfort and assurance that a long-term relationship can be fostered is the best approach. Of course, for those wanting quick volume then by all means adopt a different cost position but also be wary of being “busy fools” and quoting for lots of work which just enables prospects to beat up their existing suppliers on price!!!

Well, the bad news, like email spamming, is that the high-volume, low-quality approach does work.  It is all about the numbers, a traditional telesales approach employing low-skilled labour on low hourly rates and commissioned to make it attractive.

Of course, the vast majority of pure telemarketing companies do that, even in the UK.  Thankfully for us, we do not!

How do we see telemarketing working?

Our clients inevitably have companies with whom they would like to build a relationship.  In order to proactively target these, we fact find the company including ascertaining decision makers, existing relationships, approximate spend, etc.

Telemarketing gives the intelligence and insight to approach these target companies with a more compelling reason to consider their products or services.  A higher-level conversation can be had which immediately raises credibility and sets your company apart from those who are simply ringing around and playing the numbers game…

Ultimately, alongside some immediate requirements, this allows a good-quality pipeline to be built and ensures that you start to work with the type of companies which you perhaps always thought were out of your reach.

Quite simply, by adopting a professional and focused approach to telemarketing, it ensures that it works and helps to profitably grow your business.

Although these companies tend to be quite locally focused, our telemarketing services prove effective at generating high-quality relationships with the type of clients they would ideally like to work for.

With regard to more general enquiries, a well-designed website with a little SEO (search engine optimisation) and up-to-date news generates a nice steady stream of leads!