How to Assess and Hire Telemarketers?

Who are Telemarketers?

A telemarketer is anyone who sells products or services by calling and targeting potential customers to generate sales leads and revenue for the company. 

Businesses still rely on telemarketing agents to generate leads and sales in this day and age despite the dominance of the Internet. It's crucial to hire people who can reach their sales goals and communicate clearly on the phone. Telemarketers who are successful must strike a delicate balance between hearing a caller's needs and suggesting the best course of action. 

The traditional telemarketer who constantly pursues leads at inconvenient times is not the type of worker we see today. Callers must be skilled at communicating effectively and understand that it may take some time before a transaction can be accomplished. Telemarketers need to come across as friendly, approachable, and reliable right away.

Skills to Look for in Telemarketers

A telemarketer should be a people person who can communicate, possess strong sales experience, and is able to find, attract and sell products to new clients. 

Some of the skills that a telemarketer should have include

Positive Energy

You can train skills and the ability to sell to a potential candidate, but what you cannot instill is the vibe that the candidate brings with them.

Look for happy-go-lucky candidates who bring positive energy and aura to your business and do not get demotivated when sales do not happen.

A downbeat person is likely to bring down the whole energy of your setup and frustrate other employees as well. 

Look for Self-Motivation

It could be challenging to judge this when you first meet someone. However, a skilled interviewer is aware of the best questions to ask to probe further and learn more. 

Find out what drives them and how. Instead of letting them deliver unclear information, ask them for examples of self-motivation. 

In the end, they probably aren't the best candidate if you have to constantly push them to perform. You need a goal- and outcome-oriented telemarketer.

Gauge the Tone

How do they sound? You should interview over the phone since that’s the job they will be doing and you will get to hear the intonation in the voice. How do they come across? Of course, you expect them to be nervous but is there warmth in the intonation? 

Do they sound friendly? Can you hear the smile in their voice? Studies show that when the visual aspect of face-to-face communication is removed, nearly 85%  of the impact on the phone is tonality rather than words. So, check out how they sound on the phone.

A Goal Achiever

It would be ideal if the drive to earn commissions and the thrill of the chase could coexist. It's obvious that it's not only about the money, and some salespeople merely like the accomplishment. 

In either case, a telemarketer requires motivation to push them toward their objectives. They must exhibit confidence that they can accomplish their goals.

They should ooze Confidence

If they believe they can, they most likely will; nevertheless, if they believe they cannot, they will almost certainly not. You require confident callers. They won't 'discover' confidence by accident. 

Arrogance, on the other hand, differs from confidence in that it can impede growth and progress. However, you need to see the sparkle in their eyes that shows they are confident in their ability to perform.

Empathetic and Rapport Building

Without empathy, confidence is ineffective because rapport-building is made easier by the caller. Lack of listening, talking, and pitching are all signs of arrogance. You require your callers to establish rapport when making higher-value transactions. 

Ask them about previous examples of how they've handled that. Also, notice how they connect with you throughout the interview. They'll probably sound similar to prospects over the phone. 

Should be open to learning

The fact that many telemarketers have had skill training is a huge plus. They must nevertheless be receptive to feedback, advice, and assistance. It may be about your goods and services, your idea, the market, or several telemarketing strategies. Ask about their method of calling and see if they seem more of a maverick than a team member. 

Effective objection handling

Role play with callers in the interview. A good caller needs to know how to handle gatekeepers, how to overcome telemarketing objections, and knowing how to deal with rejection. They won’t get far if they don’t know how to deal with these situations. Throw some curveballs at them and see how they react.

Day-to-Day Responsibilities of Telemarketers

- To deliver a sales pitch that aptly describes the products and services and to persuade the customer to buy it or at least make a donation.

- To contact businesses or private individuals for selling the products or to make donations for charitable purposes.

- To explain to customers the services and products, the pricing, and any other questions related to it. 

- To obtain customer details and maintain a database of customers for future reference.

- To conduct sales presentations to train other telemarketers.

- To maintain cordial relationships with customers and solve all of their queries.

- To outsource customer details and contact information from telephone directories or other organizations.

- To optimize the sales pitch every now and then and stay updated with the latest trend.

How to Assess Telemarketers?

There are multiple pre-employment assessment tools available online that you can make use of to assess telemarketers. Pre-employment candidate skill testing has become a real thing and has revamped the entire recruitment process.

A telemarketer skill assessment will demonstrate their general capacity to handle the day-to-day duties and responsibilities of a telemarketer. Your impression of their ability to communicate clearly and swiftly, follow up with clients and prospects, and close deals will be influenced by their responses, which will highlight their sales skills.

Tips to Hire Telemarketers

Go Global

Although hiring locally offers numerous advantages, it also has a lot of limitations, not the least of which is a small skill pool. If you search a large talent pool, your chances of finding a competent telemarketer increase.

A diverse workforce also offers the opportunity to collaborate with multilingual and multicultural workers. It might be more beneficial and pleasant for some of your target clients to communicate with a telemarketer who speaks their native tongue.

Be Proactive in Training and Hiring

Be very active when looking for a telemarketer. Even if you have delegated the recruitment process to a third party, get frequently involved in the position.

Look for candidates who have skills, reflect your company’s core values, and fit culturally. Make sure to align your candidate with your company before hiring them.

It doesn't get over only after hiring. You need to put extra effort into constantly training and skilling your candidates and employees to decrease employee turnover.

Use proper AI tools

It is the market of artificial intelligence today and going forward. Make sure you are updated with the technology and use the right tools for your candidate assessment and hiring process. 

There are a number of platforms available on the web. You can gauge different platforms by using their free trials and then finally select one which aligns with your requirements. 

Wrapping Up

The recruitment market is huge nowadays and finding a suitable candidate is like looking for a needle in a haystack. 

You need to pull your socks up and get updated with the latest recruitment trends to bring on board the best candidate for your job role.