Telemarketing script

Warning; long one:

The emails I've received lately all about telemarketing scripts - most people with lacking results. All of the people who are getting their ass kicked, or their marketers are getting their ass kicked all have something in common - they are trying to qualify.

Listen, imagine you're running any retail business. What's your job? Generating traffic. But don't get confused with operating something like a restaurant where almost everyone who walks in is a client and operating a clothing store where most people are just looking. You're the clothing store owner.

Would you pay someone to stand at the entrance of your clothing store and qualify people? Good luck with that: "Hi, welcome to Ann Taylor. I'd just like to ask you a few credit questions before you come in the store."

Yes....they are gonna come in, try on clothes, waste your staff's time, buy stuff and return it the next day. However, do you give a crap if at the end of the day you made $2,000 net? Say you have 200 people come through your store each day and only 30 buy. Are you really looking for ways to stop the other 170 from coming in? No...you're looking for ways to get 400 people through.

Imagine the VP's at Sears at the board table: "Listen, we have on average 10% of all store traffic purchase. Let's put our heads together and figure out a system to reduce our traffic by 80% and still keep all the buyers."

And we come to insurance agents who are racking their brains to find ways to not deal with "tire kickers" or "unqualified leads." All leads suck, you just need a lot of "sucky" leads to make great money.

I can see some of us actually trying to run that clothing store: "Hi, I'm the owner and I see you've been with one of my sales associates for 20 minutes now. Are you planning on buying something, because this is looking like a waste of time."

The hunt for the "qualified lead" is like the hunt for the Loch Ness Monster. Out of all the agents I know who are actually making money all of them deal with high volumes of leads, be in internet or telemarketed. I heavily prefer telemarketed since although they suck, they are at least exclusive and small biz owners. I also can take my time with them and not worry about another agent, a month behind on their car payment, slamming them into a lacking plan.

I have my marketers simply ask owners if they want health insurance information emailed to 'em. Do I care if one is diabetic and just had a stroke? No. That's a 20 second phone call for me, at least he has my info, knows my business exists and I might get a referral.

The flawed mentality is this: "Hey, if I close 1 out of 15 maybe there's a way where I can just get 5 and close 1 out of 5." Stop looking to do less work. Stop getting frustrated when you call a prospect and they say "I just wanted the info, thanks." Stop pestering people who don't want to buy.

I'll include myself in this bust; I've never seen, as a group, a lazier bunch of people than insurance salesmen. Nowadays we want to pick up the phone, sell in our t-shirt and jeans and basically have no hassles. If we put in just half the effort of other sales professions we'd make $200,000 a year - easily.

You think you're getting stroked when talking to an unqualified lead? Sell cars. Take someone on three test drives, spend 4 hours with them then find out they have a 540 beacon and are $10,000 flipped in the trade. But does it matter if you sell 5 cars that week and make $1,500?

We sit in our offices - home or physical, and incessantly look for ways to make more and work less. I was on the phone with someone yesterday who said he wrote over a million last year using webinars. I made him laugh; "Can you make my next house payment for me?" Although he laughed, I said I was serious. He replied "of course not." I said "Good, because I've never written a mill. writing online so I meet with my clients." I really don't think my family cares how I write business - just that I write it.

And yet we fall for this don't we? We hear of these people making "thousands" a week and say "well I'm a sucker if I don't do the same thing." Right...but you try it and get your ass handed to you. Then you make $240 for the week and do what - tell your spouse "but there's this guy honey, he writes a million a year over the phone."