A Great Example of a Disarming Telemarketing Call

The good ones always sell you... before you even know you were sold.

I bet if she was allowed to take credit cards or check by phone, she
would make a killing.

But since she is relying on her "pitch" to last long enough for you
to make a donation... they are probably losing 70% or more
of the commitments

Good share

We take this approach sometimes. If she sensed or could hear your "discord" in your voice (which most good callers can), she knew she'd have to friend you.

Doesn't mean she does it with everyone, I'm sure she can go in for the kill...she just knows what she's doing and worked you

You go girl!

I wonder how much she get paid per hour? Is there any commission and/or daily target?

A great resume builder for starters.

Sweet example man. Thank you and can be used as a good example .

Yeah and she wrote a "wood" pledge, as its called in fundraising. She asked what you were comfortaable with , got you to quote a number, but never directly asked you for the pledge or nailed you down tight (tied you down as they say). 90% of those dont come back in the mail.

She wrote wood.

Some fundraisers have 70% conversions, as in 70% of the pledges they send out come back with a check...and some fundraisers write wood all day and only 10% of their pledges come back in.

In 2007 I ran a call center in Nashville for a year called NPS, anyone can look them up and see we had 7 million dollars come back that year.... I had about 50 telemarketers I guess.... and I had to watch all their numbers constantly for wood writers.

Even good ones get in slumps and start writing wood. Their daily gross numbers look good on the board,,,but their monthly conversion goes down.

Fund raising managers dont pat people on the back for high daily gross...they are more concerned with what your numbers look like 30 days-6 weeks- and 90 days out.

I had alot of hot shots come in and throw wood at the board for weeks like a ham....then a month later their numbers came in and they were let go of.

Just like appointment setters, there is a vast difference between someone saying yes to a free quote and someone who is interested in a website.

But I do agree with the disarming part...

In construction , roofing and siding appointments the TMs start with

Hi is this Bob?

Great, Bob the reason Im calling is because, you still own the home over on 123 main street right?

and they start asking questions.... then qualify them for interest in home repair or not...

In group insurance sales we used to have a pitch (My room did multiple programs) that went

Hi Bob, "this is Bob's Steakhouse right?" Lol. Okay Im calling the right place.

Real quickly Bob, its nothing official, we are just shooting out free quotes to local business owners like yourself on health plans designed specifically for business owners like you with 5 employees or less, I just wanted to make sure I had your address correct so I can get it out to you okay.... you are still located at 123 main street right?

Bob: Yes

Okay great, let me just ask you a couple of quick questions to make sure I get you a good comparison... (Then they start "qualifying")

If the person qualifies in the question phase they start closing them on a phone appointment and tighten it up...assuming the close because the prospect is already invested emotionally from the questions.

Lots of ways to disarm.

I call the insurance pitch a reverse engineered pitch.

Tried a version of it for a telemarketer I trained recently and its working well for web design too... Its getting the committment first before you lose them, then qualifying after that... a person wont back out generally after they are invested in the call and feel like they have already committed on some level, so if you can make committment easy and fast...THEN qualify, its easier to hold them on the phone.

In the beginning they think you are just shooting out the quote, so they commit because they assume you meant a mail out...but by the end you are scheduling a phone appointment, and they dont back out because they are emotionally invested.

The opposite of that is that they like you at first, then you start pitching and they think "OMG another long pitch, and say they arent interested...you lose them.

But if you make it easy at first, commit them quickly...then qualify...you get to pitch,because now they have interest in your questions... and again (for the 5th time) they dont back out, because they already committed on some level.

John....reverse engineering the pitch is priceless! Thanks for the insight!

John, why do you think the TM didn't CC close me?

She just said she'd be sending something.

Thank you for sharing this, it's the charm that makes you a good sales person, isn't it.

She had you at "Hello"

J/K but she did get you when the both of you shared schools. That was the link.

Rearden, good share
Although you were a well targeted warm-ish call - she had your details, you recognized the phone number of the school, so it is kinda lower barrier to cross, isn't it?
But it seems that a real conversation rather than jumping for the pitch, will make it easier to get people to open up, and than the close is easier.

I get the same pitch from my schools to "update" my information several times a year.

One much more frequently than the others.

I added the numbers into my cell (I guess I gave to number out at some point) and I don't normally take the calls unless I'm in the car and want to have a little fun.

It is a great way to open a conversion and use the "yes ladder" and the power of small commitments.

I'm sure, as John said, that you could adapt this and use it to call on any market.