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Telemarketing Victory - 10 Rules: Use The Phone, Let 'Em Moan, Retain Client Confidence

Written by: Shaun Gisbourne

Article Overview: Ever had good clients and customers walk away and never understood why? Is it possible they're so disgusted they're refusing to respond to your email or take calls from you? Ever felt powerless to change the outcome? How did it come to this? Whether they slip away silently and imperceptibly by degrees or create a commotion on the way out, for some business owners and directors it's a bitter blow they never fully recover from. The good news is that in the vast majority of cases it can be avoided. Often, it's the telephone that provides us with the answer to the problem of losing clients and customers.

Telemarketing Victory - 10 Rules: Use The Phone, Let 'Em Moan, Retain Client Confidence

You may have heard business owners and senior staff in organisations say things like: "If only they had told us, we could have fixed it!" or "Why didn't we know about this sooner? We could have dealt with it"

Sadly, laments such as these are all too common when a dissatisfied customer or client pulls the plug on an organisation, stops ordering its products or services and, worst of all, tells some other people about their bad experience. There is a way to deal with this.

We've all heard that it costs up to 10 times more to get a new customer than it does to retain an existing one. Well, if we take this to be true, surely it makes sense to put as much effort into retaining existing customers and clients as we put into obtaining new ones. Here are some questions you may want to ask yourself first: How many times per quarter do you believe they would appreciate hearing from you? You're unsure? Ask them! Some will want to hear from you once per week, some once per month, some once per quarter. Start now by asking them and then putting those calls into your calendar. A word of caution: Be wary of the need to remain in control on these calls, especially in terms of time. Some clients will be glad to have you ask them some questions and be done within 5 minutes. Others will happily chat away the entire day if you let them, so agree with them that the call will take no longer than, say 5 minutes, unless of course there is a grievance or a complex selling opportunity that you need to qualify with them on that call. Then count the number of calls you'll be making each quarter to your existing clients and estimate how much time you'll need to service them.

Next, and for the more brave and bold, call on former clients, old or lapsed customer accounts. Unless there is particularly bad blood between your organisation and these once proud users of your products or services, then you will be well served to pick up the telephone. They believed in you once, can you help them to believe in you again? You may obtain referrals from some of them, but if you fail to pick up the phone and ask you'll never know. Again, set aside how many times during the quarter you'll call on each and the estimated time required.

Once you've mapped out how many calls you'll be making per quarter and have an estimate of how long it will take to do so, get calling! Or, if you're struggling with resources internally, you may consider hiring telemarketing or customer service experts to help you to deliver on this. Whatever you decide, here are the golden rules to remember:

1. Ask questions that are relevant to the products or services that particular customer or client is using. If you truly are a sales and customer focused organisation, you will probably retain this information in a Customer Response Management (CRM) application or on file somewhere.

2. When the customer or client is speaking, let them finish. We all dislike being interrupted. If you inadvertently interrupt them, apologise and allow them to continue. It's courtesy they'll appreciate.

3. Take notes and enter them in to your CRM or corresponding customer file. What is the point of making the call if you fail to record their comments?

4. Whatever action you agree you'll carry out for your client or customer as a result of your call, communicate the action steps you'll take (preferably by email as well so you remain accountable), and make sure you do them. You may need to enlist the help of colleagues in order to carry out the action you agreed with the client or customer.

5. Never overpromise and under-deliver. The net result is a guaranteed dissatisfied customer or client, even if they fail to comment or neglect to say anything negative to you about the shortfall.

6. Once any agreed action has been carried out on the client or customer's behalf, remember to ask them how they feel about it. Never assume they'll be satisfied.

7. In the event that your customer or client is genuinely satisfied, ask them if they are happy to give a short testimonial to your work for them. If they agree, get this by email. There are some things for which the telephone has limitations.

8. Be sure that you and your client or customer are in no doubt as to when you will be speaking with one another again. Mark it in both your calendars.

9. Never fail to communicate changes to client or customer accounts that affect your colleagues. If there is something you need to communicate with them, do so. Email works well for this as you've a written record to support your communication. Never expect a colleague to read your mind. If you neglect to share something with them, they may be at risk of making inadvertent mistakes in their area of responsibility and it will be your fault.

10. Thank your customer or client for their loyalty. They are the lifeblood of your business and your organisation would cease to exist without them.

Thank you for reading. If you gained some value from this article, enjoyed reading it, or have a specific part of the telemarketing mix you'd like me to write about, get in touch!

Related Articles
  Perceiving Victory
  6-and-a-half rules for victory
  Avoid B2B Appointment Setting Mistakes
  Tele-phony
  Creating and Using a Victory Journal

Article Tags: bad blood, bad experience, business owners, caution, complex selling, dissatisfied customer, existing customers, grievance



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