If you've browsed through the employment opportunities and stumbled upon a plethora of telemarketing jobs, you might be thinking about giving it a whirl. The pay can be lucrative for many individuals, and the hours can be very flexible. But if it's something you've never done before, you might wonder if it's a good fit for you. While these aren't all encompassing, here are five traits of a good telemarketer.
Enjoys Socializing
This shouldn't come as a shock, but telemarketers talk. And they talk a lot. If you're the kind of person who enjoys socializing with others while also understanding the art of controlling a conversation without dominating it, then telemarketing might be a good career path for you.
Listens Well
A career in telemarketing doesn't exclusively involve talking every second that you're on the phone. Here's the thing. If you're involved in telemarketing, you're involved in telesales. And even if the company you work for is giving away a product, you will still have to determine if they need this product to begin with. Therefore, part of being a good telemarketer is knowing how to listen effectively.
For example, suppose the company you telemarket for sells life insurance. But you're not trying to sell them a policy. You just want to make an appointment for an agent to visit their home so they can sell the policy, if needed. Instead of rushing through the conversation just to lock down a day and time, ask them a few questions first. What kind of policy do they currently have? What do they like about it, and what would they like to change? And then listen to what they say.
Now you have golden nuggets to pass on to the agent who will hopefully sell them a policy and make you both a commission. Good listeners almost always do well with telemarketing.
Has Thick Skin
Most of the people you have phone contact with will be polite or they'll simply tell you "no thanks" before hanging up. Occasionally, you'll get a customer who clearly can't appreciate whatever it is you're offering. They may throw insults your way and try to bring you down.
Having a thick skin and understanding that not everyone will treat you like the phone king you are will be extremely beneficial to your success. In fact, it's a good idea to treat an irate customer over the phone the same way you would treat them in person. After all, they're not really upset with you. They just don't want to feel like they're being sold something.
A good telemarketer will learn not to take these instances personally. So before throwing your headset across the room, just apologize and move on to the next customer. After all, telemarketing is a numbers game.
Enjoys Educating Others
Telemarketing is a multi-faceted job that requires several skill sets. While you clearly don't need any experience teaching, per se, it does help if you enjoy educating others. Bottom line, you should know your product well and enjoy discussing the many ways that it can benefit the person on the other end of the phone.
Think of it this way. When you educate your customer, you show them that you're familiar with the product. This facilitates building trust and establishing credibility, which ultimately helps to close the sale.
Good At Building Rapport
When you combine the above characteristics with a few other traits, you magically become the person who is capable of building rapport. This is vital to your telemarketing success because your clients are much more likely to buy from you if they like you. In fact, not many people will buy a product from someone they don't like.
Rapport essentially involves being able to carry a conversation in a friendly manner, listening to the client to uncover where their problems lie, showing that you're interested in them, making them feel comfortable, educating them about the product, and demonstrating that you have solutions.
If you can develop rapport fairly quickly over the phone, you will probably do well as a telemarketer. You can check out telemarketer job postings to learn more about what traits a good telemarketer should have.
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