THE TELEMARKETING CONCEPT
Telemarketing separates the prospecting and sales functions in an insurance agency, leading producers more time to sell. Telemarketers spend the majority of their time on the phone, getting X-dates and often setting appointments.
For such a program to be successful, five key factors must be established:
1. Management must support and commit to the program. All managers in the agency must understand the program's importance and agree to devote the time and energy necessary to its implementation.
2. The program must be based on achievable and solid goals. It might not be realistic to expect the telemarketing program to contact every insured for a cross-sale while at the same time blanketing the entire community with X-date calls. Set specific, achievable goals; for example, in one month, the new department will have contacted 300 prospects and obtained 170 X-dates. Your goals, of course, will vary with the number of telemarketers, the size of your selling territory, and so on.
3. Telemarketing efforts should be coordinated with the other marketing efforts in the agency, particularly with direct mail. You might use a direct-mail letter to announce your intent to call, or to discuss a new service or coverage for which the telemarketers will be prospecting. Coordination is the key, however; you shouldn't send out more direct-mail pieces in a week than your telemarketers can follow up on.
4. Your telemarketing efforts must be effectively executed and supervised. If telemarketers fall below realistic goals, management should determine and try to correct what has gone wrong. And if the results are good, the efforts should be rewarded and broadcast.
5. Telemarketing efforts must be continuously and thoroughly monitored. Monitoring allows you to justify the program, discover clues to increases in sales, and modify the program when needed.
Once you understand these five key factors and accept their importance in your telemarketing program, you are ready to establish a program in your own agency.