By Marcia Jenkins, Senior Operations Manager
According to the 2021 Membership Marketing Benchmark report, it has been a challenging year for association membership. Not since the Great Recession over a decade, ago have more associations reported that their membership has declined compared to those showing an increase.
Increased Member Engagement Through Telemarketing Increases Renewals
One key factor for year-over-year membership growth is a deliberate focus on engaging with members in various communication channels.
Telemarketing is a successful way to engage with members throughout their membership lifecycle, even those who have let their membership lapse.
With employee layoffs, hours reduction, and furloughs, it can be challenging to fulfill all of the roles needed to increase member retention and grow memberships.
Components of Successful Telemarketing Calls
Whether in-house or with an outsourced partner, here are some of the basic telemarketing components essential to success.
Scripting: The key to ensuring the long-term effectiveness of your outbound telemarketing script may be to eliminate the “script.” Instead of writing paragraphs for agents to “read,” consider developing an outline or road map that provides directional conversation and key talking points to assist the agent in accomplishing their objective.
Doing so allows the agent to insert their personality, use their own words and build credibility with the prospect.
Click here to read the 8 Components of an Outbound Telemarketing Script.
Training: Team members have to be thoroughly trained, without question. To successfully conduct member engagement telemarketing calls, the team has to know the product.
In this case, the “product” is the benefits your members receive by being members of your association. Remember that some benefits are tangible, and others are intangible, so make a list and ensure the team knows all the benefits!
To read more about training for associations, click here.
Technology: The proper equipment and technology are necessary to perform the job functions seamlessly. A CRM and dialer are the minimum tools needed to run a telemarketing campaign for associations effectively.
Other tools such as email, texting, and chat are great to use as part of an omnichannel experience.
Metrics: You have to be able to measure results. Is the telemarketing program succeeding? Is it failing? Are there issues with the script, the leads, or the team?
Many factors go into making telemarketing successful. Metrics provide essential information needed to evaluate the program from top to bottom in an easy-to-read report. This way, making adjustments can help optimize the team’s performance.
To read more about telemarketing reports and KPI’s, click here.
A Trusted Partner for Professional Associations
Quality Contact Solutions conducts high-quality outbound telemarketing programs for the association industry.
We make outbound calls to renew memberships, win-back lapsed members, promote conferences, and cross-sell and upsell members with new membership programs. As a result, we help you reduce operating costs while at the same time generating results with a high return on investment.
Creating a partnership with our clients is part of what makes us a great company. With both teams on the same page, we can all be successful. Interaction and engagement from all parties are essential.
If you’re looking for a team that can increase member engagement, increase renewals, and provide an excellent experience for your members, call us at 1-866-963-2889 and press 1 for sales. Or email me at Marcia.Jenkins@qualitycontactsolutions.com.
We’ll take care of increasing your member engagement and other telemarketing needs.
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Marcia Jenkins s the Senior Operations Manager for Quality Contact Solutions. Before joining Quality Contact Solutions, Marcia was a sought-after 10-year call center veteran with the ability to manage and sell. Marcia is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the At Home Division. QCS At Home is a work-from-home telemarketing and call center solution focused on business-to-business outbound telemarketing, test-bed projects, and special programs which are typically not well-suited for traditional brick and mortar call center operations.
