Telemarketing and Small Business - Is it Worth the Risk?

Mar 11, 2014 9:56:00 AM

Photo courtesy of: http://flic.kr/p/dEqo69

So how do you feel about telemarketing calls these days?

I've been giving it a lot of thought lately.

Although I am on the "do-not-call" list, I still receive about five hang up calls daily from the same numbers.

Of course, many of these are scammers, and not legitimate businesses like most of you.

However, over the last four days a new number was added to the list - New Look (which is Sears) called five days in a row and hung up. Today, they called four times in a row and hung up. I answered on the fourth call and asked to be removed from their list.

Now, to their credit, they did display their real phone number along with the number of the company was displayed. And they were very polite on the phone and said right away that they would remove me from their list.

But has the damage already been done – and what is the lesson here for small business owners who still want to keep telemarketing as part of their sales mix?

Sears is a large company and they are likely playing the numbers game. They have likely weighted the benefit of getting a few people on the line and closing some sales against the cost of appearing rude and offending some customers.

But is this risk worth it for small business owners?

Well, here are a few realities of telemarketing and consumers today that you need to consider:

Very few people will answer a call from a blocked number, or a number they don’t recognize
Most people consider hang up calls and calling over and over very rude
Consumers are very savvy about sales and marketing in general these days – and do not respond favorably to blatant sales pitches
People are putting more and more roadblocks in place for interruption marketing of all sorts. Today we can barely stand watching a commercial or waiting three seconds to skip the ad on YouTube. And this is nothing compared to the level of interruption telemarketing causes
When people are irritated by these types of calls, they tend to talk a lot about them (or write blog posts like this one)

Also, I think it’s important to not underestimate how irritated (or angry) people could be – you really never know what type of interruption you could be causing. Yes, people can turn down their ringers turn off their phones entirely, but often we are waiting for important calls and don’t feel we should have to turn of our phones – businesses should be more considerate.

In this case, I was immersed in creating a presentation for next week and was nearly finished. Four calls in a row certainly disrupted my train of thought – and now I am spending 30 minutes writing this blog post instead of finishing my presentation. That’s interruption enough.

But imagine what other types of scenarios you may be interrupting, and then consider how irritated they really could be from your call. Here is one personal experience I can share – and in this scenario – image it is YOUR business causing the interruption:

I was out at the barn with my horse that was in distress – he wasn’t breathing properly and was shaking and sweating all over – I had called and left a message for the veterinarian and was waiting for a call back. My cell phone was dead and the handset for the home phone didn’t reach all the way to the barn. So I left it within hearing distance while I tried to keep my horse up and walking. While waiting for the vet to call (20 minutes), I received two telemarketing calls. Each time I had to leave my horse in distress to answer the call – and I had to answer because neither call displayed a number so it COULD be the vet.

The bottom line is that while you may get a few sales in the end, you run the very serious risk of offending your target market, and giving them a reason to talk about you negatively to others. And remember - that’s not just word-of-mouth anymore, it’s online and in social media.

Telemarketing Best Practices

So if you feel you really need to use telemarketing as one of your tactics, what should you do? Well, today marketing is all about transparency. First, be clear and upfront. Be sure to display the name of your company when calling so people know who it is. Second, be respectful. This means leave a message and don’t call over and over.The first time I get a message from Lila’s Pet Grooming I think, “Great, there’s a new pet groomer in the area.” The eighth time? “Why won’t Lila’s Pet Grooming stop calling me – I will never use these people”.

The first time I get a message from Lila’s Pet Grooming I think, “Great, there’s a new pet groomer in the area.” The eighth time? “Why won’t Lila’s Pet Grooming stop calling me – I will never use these people”.

You can take it a step further and tell people in the message that you are only calling once – then don’t call back. For example:

“Hi there, I’m just calling to let you know that there is a new pet grooming service in your area – Lila’s Pet Grooming. We’re offering a one-time half price discount so you can get to know us. We don’t want to bother you, so please be assured that we won’t be calling back. But if you want to take advantage of our offer, please call us at (number) or email us at (email).”

Do you need telemarketing at all?

I can’t answer that question for you. It depends on your business, your resources and your circumstances. But what I will tell you is that there are many other marketing options you should consider. The best lead is a lead that has come to you willingly, and that’s why inbound and content marketing have become so successful for small businesses.

And these are the types of programs we coach small business owners to adopt – so you can bring in a steady stream of customers who like and trust you – and will refer you to others.

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If you want to learn more about setting up a complete marketing system for your business (including many alternatives to telemarketing) - download our free eGuide: The 7 Steps to Small Business Marketing Success.

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