As lockdown curbs begin easing in the UAE, businesses will be shifting focus from survival to recovery mode. From rebuilding supply chains to restarting operations, the emphasis will be on the resumption of normal business activity. Needless to say, sales will play a crucial role in such a situation, requiring marketers to devise appropriate strategies that take into account the new social experiences catalysed by Covid-19.

Telemarketing is one of the strategies that could be used effectively in these circumstances. This form of outbound marketing is uniquely suited to the current situation owing to the distance factor inherent in the activity. Below we will discuss all the different ways in which telemarketing services through temporary call centres could help you drive your business in the current economic scenario.

• Keep the Sales Rolling

Despite the UAE gradually reopening after the lockdown, it is important to realise that the threat of Covid-19 hasn’t gone away. In fact, health experts still recommend staying home and avoiding public spaces as much as possible to protect yourself and others from the virus.

Consequently, fewer people will be visiting markets, malls and retail outlets compared to the pre-COVID period, impacting your sales. Telemarketing offers an excellent way of reaching out to this homebound population through effective one-on-one communication.  Use it to complement your traditional sales and marketing channels to improve lead generation and give your business an edge at a critical juncture.

• Social Distancing

Since telemarketing is a long-distance activity, it is aptly suited to these times with its emphasis on social distancing norms. One big advantage is that it can help you interact with both homebound people as well as those venturing out thus expanding your caller base.

Outsourced telemarketing services also absolves you of the responsibility to ensure proper protection and social distancing measures among the telemarketing staff as this is the responsibility of the vendor. All you need to do is pay for the services at the agreed time period and enjoy the fruits of the campaign.

• Personal Touch

Telemarketing is the next best thing to in-person marketing because it retains the personal touch. Unlike advertising and digital marketing, which are technically mass media, telemarketers can actually speak to the consumer, build a rapport, and engage with them on a human-to-human basis.

They can gauge the mood of the consumer and steer the conversation accordingly. They can also answer queries about the product then and there to help the customer make up their mind quickly, leading to immediate results.

What’s more, call centre agents are trained in telephone etiquette, cultural norms, and situations like how to handle rejection, making them excellent brand ambassadors of your business.

• Wider Reach

Businesses can take their products international with the use of telemarketing. Telemarketing can not only help you reach out to consumers in the UAE but the world beyond. Educate and inform international customers about your products to grow your leads and sales on a global scale. This could be especially useful at a time when businesses are struggling to recover from low sales due to the lockdown by expanding your lead generation base.

• Cost-Effective

Telemarketing is a cost-effective means of promoting your business. Service providers usually offer their clients different billing plans such as hourly, commission-based, and hourly-plus-commission-based enabling you to choose the most effective option.

Setting up your own in-house telemarketing department can be expensive, but outsourcing these services can help you reap the fruits of the campaign while keeping your costs under control by saving on infrastructure, training, hiring costs etc. You can also benefit from economies of scale and domain expertise of the outsourcing service providers.

• Temporary Staff

Suppose, in the next few months, you wish to reduce the focus on telemarketing. You can shift gears immediately by cutting down the number of telemarketing executives or ending the contract altogether. The advantage of engaging with a temporary call centre is, you can scale up or down at will in response to your business plans and the prevailing economic situation. If you feel the need to re-engage their services at a later date, you can do it with minimum fuss and assurance of full flexibility.

Choosing Your Telemarketing Vendor

Businesses should ensure they choose the right telemarketing vendor for the best results. A great way to start is to build a shortlist of vendors using inputs from your peers and associates. Ensure that the vendor understands your needs at the onset and has the professional expertise and resources to deliver on the requirements.

Don’t forget to ask them about the recruitment strategy they employ as the executives will be handling sensitive information. And remember to probe into the data security measures they have undertaken to satisfy yourself about the confidentiality of your business data.

Here is a list of questions you could ask them to assess their suitability for the role. The list is merely indicative so feel free to add, subtract or customise the questions according to your need.

• Have you handled clients belonging to my industry before?
• How do you measure performance?
• What technology do you use?
• What do you do about data security?
• How do you recruit and train your staff?

Performance Evaluation

Businesses should routinely review key metrics that reveal the performance of the call centre. Key performance indicators like customer satisfaction, first call resolution, service level, call availability, contact quality, abandon rate and average handling rate should be studied in detail in the interest of maintaining high service benchmarks.

Businesses should feel free to communicate to the call centre if they are not satisfied with any aspect of their services. The vendor contract and service-level agreement should be used to outline the terms of service and define the service quality that is expected from the vendor to ensure clarity in expectation from both sides.

Wish to engage the services of a temporary call centre? We can help. Log on to innovationuae.com to get in touch.