By Ryan Apodac, Operations Manager/Training Leader
Let’s face it. We’re living in a very competitive age. Existing customers have many choices and options. The best telemarketing companies are in a constant whirlwind, adapting to the market and over-coming new challenges. Ultimately, the key to success is adaptation. In the world of sales, making the most out of each contact is a top concern of the best telemarketing companies. With existing customers, cross sells can make all the difference. Let’s take a look at the 3 key elements to an effective existing customer cross sell telemarketing campaign.
Discovery
We’ve all been there, “We have what we need”. While this is a generalized blanket statement, your existing customers may very well feel like this is true. Objectively, their current product or service has accommodated their needs in the past. The key to getting a customer out of the status quo mentality is meaningful discovery. Getting your existing customer engaged in the telemarketing call and sharing their current solutions and resources is key to identifying gaps and opportunities for additional products or services you offer. Discovery isn’t just about asking questions, it’s about asking the right questions the right way. Open-ended discovery is crucial here, as a “yes” or “no” question will simply result in a “yes” or “no” response, and will be unsuccessful in getting to know your existing customer’s pain points. The best telemarketing companies use effective discovery questions to sell more services with their existing customer cross sell strategy.
Transitioning
“One more thing before I let you go…”, “I also wanted to tell you about…” and similar phrases are simple transition statements that can lead to the demise of any cross-sell attempt to existing customers, as it comes across to the customer as “They’re just reading a script”. An effective transition will utilize the information gathered from discovery to present a solution to their specific challenges. “I realize you’re struggling with XYZ, and I hear that quite a bit from customers I work with. What I would recommend is our XYZ…”. Tailoring your transition to your customer is just as important as tailoring your pitch. The best telemarketing companies use tailored transitions to effectively sell more services using an existing customer cross sell strategy.
Product Knowledge
Knowing your products like the back of your hand is a no brainer here. Any telemarketing company will tell you this is one of the highest priorities in training. To be great at existing customer cross sells, you need to know not only the feature of your products or services offered, but most importantly the benefits to your existing customer. Hearing a feature is one thing, but understanding the benefit of that feature is paramount to getting the “yes”. With competitors in your market vying for the same customers, it’s also important to know about them, and their products or services. However, be careful about bad mouthing the competition. The best telemarketing companies ultimately raise the bar and focus more attention on what makes your product or service superior to the competition, without using a smear tactic.
To recap, the 3 key elements to a great cross sell telemarketing call are Discovery-Transition-Product Knowledge. Think of it like the fundamentals of Volleyball; Bump-Set-Spike. You “Bump” with discovery, getting the existing customer in play. You “Set” with transitioning, getting the customer right where you want them as you prepare for the Spike. You “Spike” with product knowledge, by catering your pitch to your existing customers with such a logical position of your product/service that they just can’t say “No”.
Ryan Apodac is an Operations Manager/Training Leader for Quality Contact Solutions, a leading outsourced telemarketing organization. With a background of more than a decade in sales, Ryan is passionate about developing and delivering training that ultimately results in improved performance for client programs. Ryan can be reached at Ryan.apodac@qualitycontactsolutions.com or 516-656-5127.
