Hiring, Compensating, And Training Telemarketers

What do you look for when setting out to hire a telemarketer? Your first thought might be to go out and hire an experienced telemarketer, but you might not want to do this. This person is probably used to a certain way of doing things. If you do want to hire people with a lot of telemarketing experience, get references, find out why they left their former jobs, and determine if they are the kind of person who learns quickly and can adapt to a new direction. Also keep in mind that more experienced people are likely to cost you more money.

Your next thought might be to look in-house to your CSRs or administrative assistants. This approach has its drawbacks, too. Requiring your staff to act as telemarketers may interfere with the sense of loyalty they often feel to clients, especially if they feel that selling is not a function of service. Also, the salary structure and hours of a CSR are normally markedly different than those of telemarketers.

Your best choice for a telemarketer is usually a person who expresses an interest in telemarketing but really has little or no background in the field. What you really need to look for in this person is personality traits and qualities, not an impressive sales history. Find candidates who are good communicators, sound good over the phone, and enjoy telephone work.

When interviewing applicants, it's particularly important to conduct your first interview for this position over the phone. Evaluate their tone of voice and their skills in 'selling themselves' to you. Next, meet them face-to-face. Look for communication skills and motivation in this interview while at the same time obtaining necessary information such as job history, references, and so on.

Generally insurance agency telemarketers are paid an hourly wage (often minimum) and are paid a set fee, such as $l to $3, on top of that for each X-date they obtain or appointment they make. Recognition and rewards can then be offered for meeting or exceeding overall objectives or quotas.

Training your telemarketers should involve familiarizing them with the agency and its products, of course, but the most important aspect of training will be role-playing. When your telemarketers hit the phones, they should already have encountered the most common objections they are to hear and be ready to overcome them.

Provide telemarketers with a script that gives them a framework for each X-dating or telemarketing call. This can give them a basic idea of how the conversation should progress. But no script can substitute for role-playing. Current staff members, preferably those who called for X-dates in the past or who have dealt with selling on the phone, should play the parts of prospects, bringing up objections.

One thing telemarketers don't need extensive training on is insurance knowledge. Their only goals are X-dates and appointments. If a prospect has a specific question, the telemarketer should turn that call over to a CSR or producer who can provide the answer.