We always advise our clients to invest in this area as the data any company holds on its customers or prospects is vital to the business, enabling it to provide excellent customer service and to support future marketing efforts. We currently have a great offer to enable your company to improve its campaign ROI and clean your database.

We are offering up to 25% reduction in the costs of any data cleansing in the month of August.

To learn more about how we can help you improve your marketing effectiveness today:

Contact Richard Rouse on 01923 274641 or richard.rouse@rjrconsulting.co.uk

If you are interested or know of anyone who may be interested please get in touch immediately to get more details of the job and the opportunities.

Many thanks

• Identify whether telemarketing / telesales would be suitable for your organisation
• Identify how to set up a campaign either internally or using a 3^rd party

This really is free with no obligation to use our services. It is designed to help companies grow their business. During the session we will:

• Find out about your company
• Discuss your strategic objectives
• Discuss current goals and tactics being used
• Explain the benefits of telemarketing / telesales
• Identify how a suitable campaign could benefit you
• Walk you through the process of setting up a campaign focussing on effective scripting

Please feel free to contact us directly at info@rjrconsulting.co.uk

(* Consultations will take place at RJR Consulting offices)

There are a number of principles I always stick to which increase my rates of success:

• The PA is my friend and can help me if they want to
• Talk with confidence as though you expect to be put through
• If the executive is genuinely not available find out when he / she is
• Always answer every question and offer your own question as well
• Make sure you have good quality data

The first principle here addresses how you behave as a sales person. There is no room anymore for a brash, won’t take no for an answer type of approach as it delivers very little value. Therefore I always am extremely polite no matter the provocation. I tend to find I get treated with the same politeness and helpfulness in return.

Secondly, if you aren’t sure whether you will get put through, a modern PA will identify that straight away and you can guarantee you will never get put through. Many years ago a team member told me it was impossible to get put through to a particular contact as he was never available. She had tried to reach him every week for about 3 months. I had a small wager that I could get through on my first call. (I was taking a risk, I know) however after a brief conversation with the PA I got put through. I always explain to my team that if you phone a friend or family member at work you always get put straight through without too much fuss. This is because you sound like you know you will get put through. You have to carry this through to your telemarketing calls.

Thirdly if the executive is busy, find out when you could call back when they won’t be busy. It is important, while still being extremely friendly with the PA, to specify a time. Then at that specified time you can phone and say something along the lines of, “Hi Penny (PA’s name) it’s Richard Calling from RJR Consulting for my 2 o’clock appointment with John, can you put me through”

My fourth principle centres around the psychology of people and I will explain why. It is thought and been researched by cleverer people than me that nobody likes to say no more than five times in a row. Therefore if you can draw their ‘no’ answers out early the greater your chances of getting past the gatekeeper. The questions don’t need to be anything more than a reiteration of your polite request to be put through. The best way to explain it is through an example:

Me: Good morning. Can I speak to John Smith please?

Gatekeeper: Can I ask who is calling?

Me: Richard Rouse. Is he in?

Gatekeeper: Can I ask what company you are calling from?

Me: RJR Consulting. Can you put me through?

The important part here is to get the tone right. You need to remain friendly but assertive. Try this in a role play with your colleagues. It really does help.

My final principle is about your data quality. It is absolutely imperative to have good quality data. There is no point trying to build a database and telemarketing in the same call. If you phone a target company and ask who the Sales Director is and then ask to be put through to him or her, no PA or receptionist will ever put you through because you have already demonstrated that you don’t know them and they will definitely not know you. It will be identified as a sales call. If you haven’t got quality data it is best to have a campaign of data building, so finding out who the relevant contact is and then phoning back a few days later and saying, “can you put me through to John Smith please?”

All these elements will dramatically improve your ratios of decision maker contacts which will ultimately improve your call outcome ratios. Please also look out for our upcoming article on improving your calling and outcome ratios.

Telemarketing and telesales agency RJR Consulting moved into new offices and grew its workforce by 900% last year, while a fantastic first quarter in 2011 has put the company firmly on track to achieve its target of doubling turnover this year and taking on more staff.  

Richard Rouse, Managing Director of the Kings Langley-based firm, puts this success down to a change in strategy developed in 2009, implemented from early last year, and supported with ongoing advice from Business Link. “Our previous strategy worked very well for us, but was limiting our potential for considerable future growth,” explains Richard. “We tended to win tactical, rather than strategic, telemarketing and sales projects. The result was that work levels and our income fluctuated, which is why we used freelancers who worked from home.” 

According to Richard, it was a series of conversations with his former boss and Business Link Adviser Stephen Herman that led to the change in strategy: “I was chatting to Stephen about further developing the company, and he suggested I ask myself where I thought the business would be in five years. That pulled me up short, as I realised we wouldn’t be able to grow as fast as I would like to using our current structure. So I worked with Stephen to explore how to encourage the sort of sustainable development that would allow us to grow the business fast and win more strategic, long-term projects.”

 The result was a new strategy, developed with Business Link’s help, that last year saw Richard focus on generating sales in the business-to-business markets he knew well. He also hired additional staff to meet the renewed demand and moved into new premises. In fact, such has been the success of his efforts that Richard is now well into the next phase of the company’s development, with RJR set to double turnover in 2011 and take on more people.

 RJR Consulting offers partner-based telemarketing, telesales, market research and data cleansing services. This covers everything from appointment setting to turnkey telesales solutions, with which RJR handles the entire process from initial call to confirming sales made. Research can be anything from short customer feedback surveys through to in-depth market intelligence interviews. “These services are particularly useful for companies that don’t have the time or expertise to manage it themselves,” says Richard.

 As part of the firm’s ongoing growth and its commitment to best practice, Richard has recently launched the RJR Consulting Sales Academy. “This will not only provide our employees with better skills and a sustainable career platform, but will also ensure clients receive even better returns on their investment,” says Richard. “In addition, the Academy is being opened up to clients to ensure they get the most from the sales appointments generated by the RJR team.”

 Throughout the fast growth of RJR, Richard has been able to rely on Business Link’s support. “Having Stephen available to consult has been invaluable,” says Richard. “For example, when I was considering renting office space, he helped me explore the benefits versus the downsides, and identified a number of issues that prevented me from making potentially costly mistakes.”

 Business Link was able to help Richard deal with the influx of new staff, as Stephen explains: “I ensured Richard had templates for the latest employment contracts, policies and procedures from my colleagues in Business Link’s Information Gateway..”

 Richard acknowledges that his key challenge in 2011 will be to manage the rapid growth of the business, particularly as his team of nine new employees will continue to grow, with a further five people joining through the year. “Being an employer comes with many responsibilities, and I’ve had to implement new policies and procedures that would have been hugely time consuming if I didn’t have access to Business Link’s resources.”

 “Business Link’s ongoing and all-round support has undoubtedly made a positive difference to the speed at which I have been able to grow RJR Consulting,” says Richard. “Having Stephen at the end of the phone, not to mention all the resources he can call on, has enabled me to focus on taking strategic decisions and growing the business.”

• Coaching
• Mentoring
• Classroom Based Training

This was kicked off in February this year and led to an immediate impact in the way in which we approach every client engagement, the motivation of the team and the results we delivered for our clients. Furthermore since the successful start of the Academy we realised that we had not included our clients and so we have now taken the decision to include our clients with the Academy and so, soon we will be running our first workshop, ” Getting the most from Your Sales Appointment” which will be specifically run for our clients. For more information please get in touch with us at info@rjrconsulting.co.uk

The benefits of outsourcing include:
*  Proven track record
*  No employee costs
*  Clear ROI calculation
*  Fast, measureable results
*  On demand service

If you have any questions about conference ticket sales, by all means call Richard Rouse on 01923 274 640.