Posts Tagged ‘Telemarketing management’

Hire an interim to support your new telesales manager

Monday, January 4th, 2010

Hire an interim to support your new telesales manager. You may have a new team leader, or a supervisor who you’ve just promoted to run the team for you. This is something they deserve and have worked for, and you want to acknowledge their contribution. However you may also acknowledge (perhaps privately) that they don’t have all the rounded commercial and business skills that will help them become an immediate success. This is a situation we are coming across increasingly at the moment as clients seek to motivate and reward the staff they already have without wishing to commit to management wages and extra salaries.

Help support your telesales or telemarketing team leader

Help support your telesales or telemarketing team leader

You want them to lead the team on a daily basis, but you recognise that they may need some help and assistance setting up good management reporting systems and training. Perhaps they’ve never had to look at key performance indicators before, perhaps they don’t know where to start. Have they ever trained a team ? And what are they like at working with you to set up a good motivational commission scheme ?

Other areas we typically look at include the quality of the database.  What’s the quality like ? Have they had to evaluate it before ? In order to help your team supervisor or team leader make a quick success of their role and in order to help shorten the learning curve, we can work alongside them on an interim basis to help get the systems set up. Once that’s done, we step away and you then manage your team in-house.

Hiring an interim on a fixed number of days per month can give them the support they may need to get things set up without you commiting to the ongoing cost. If this is an idea you’d like to explore further, just drop us an e-mail to info@tomarket.co.uk and we can have a chat.

We can help you with interim telesales or telemarketing management across the West and East Midlands including Leicester, Birmingham, Lichfield, Solihull, Coventry, Derby, Nottingham, Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Milton Keynes, Melton Mowbray, Daventry, Northampton, Newmarket and Cambridge

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Posted in Independent audit of telemarketing team, Telemarketing management, Telesales team assessment, benchmarking telesales teams, interim telesales manager, owner managers directors, telesales team management | No Comments »

Get advice on why not to hire a new telesales manager

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Get advice on why not to hire a new telesales manager. If you are currently looking to build up the telesales or telemarketing function in your company, you may be looking at recruiting a new telesales manager. Alternatively you may be looking to recruit one who has left. However there is a flexible alternative.

Hiring a short term telesales manager gives your business flexibility

Hiring a short term telesales manager gives your business flexibility

You can hire in a manager for a limited period of time. You can agree some objectives for them, and you can ‘hire’ them for a fixed number of days per month. A package might be between a half a day per month and say 6 days per month. In this time a quality telesales or telemarketing manager will be able to help you set up good managment systems and KPIs (key performance indicators) for your team. They should also be responsible for training and agreeing with you some targets and benchmarks for activity and results.

We can come and have a chat over a coffee about how this may work for you.  We can give advice on what to look for, and what an interim or short term contract telesales manager may be able to offer you. So if you’re in Leicester, Northampton, Market Harborough, Corby, Wellingborough, Kettering, Lutterworth, Cambridge, Newmarket, Daventry, Coventry, Rugby, Birmingham, Lichfield, Solihull, Melton Mowbray, Uppingham, Oakham give us a call on 01858 461148  and we’ll have a chat.

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Posted in Independent audit of telemarketing team, Marketing, Telemarketing management, benchmarking telesales teams, interim telesales manager, owner managers directors, small business marketing, telemarketing, telesales team management | No Comments »

What is the difference between commission and bonus ?

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

What is the difference between commission and bonus ? This is a question we’re asked frequently by clients. Not only what is the difference, but equally importantly, “do we need both of them ?” and “how can we use them both to motivate our team in different ways ?”

Get your commission and bonus schemes right and this is what should happen to sales

Get your commission and bonus schemes right and this is what should happen to sales

Indeed we think commission, bonus and campaign incentives all have a place in how you reward your telesales or telemarketing team. It is worth spending some time thinking these elements through too, because if you get it right you can motivate your telephone team to produce better results, increased sales, more appointments, higher numbers of quotations etc. You don’t mind paying more if you get more do you ? However you don’t want to pay more for the same or less !

Commission should be a regular payment for doing the telesales or telemarketing job well. It should be a constant, and the best performers in your team should earn the most. In addition it must be easy (for them) to work out at the point of getting the order. After all if it isn’t, it can’t motivate them can it ?! So a percentage of order value is a common version of this.

“My commission rate rewards me at 2% of order value.” “Great so if I can get this deal for £500 this morning, that means that will be £10 in my sky rocket (or pocket – for those of you not familiar with cockney ryhming slang !)

Bonus however is for what you reward individual members of your team with on top of their core job. So if you sell any of the platinum service plan we give you £50. You can tailor this then to sales of your more profitable products or services, or end of line stock that you want to clear etc. Alternatively it could be for achievement of quarterly target. Bonuses then should be for specific (relatively) short run campaigns or business objectives. This allows you to direct the guns in a particular direction until the objective has been achieved, or time has passed.

Then on top of commission and bonus there are incentives and for a phone team these are the fun bit. Very short term and with a high profile to add some energy and dynamism to a team’s activity and performance in the short term. But this is perhaps a subject for another day. In the meantime, there is a slightly more indepth article at ezine articles. Follow the link here http://ezinearticles.com/?Should-I-Pay-Commission,-Bonus-Or-Run-Campaigns-For-My-Telesales-Or-Telemarketing-Team?&id=2088836

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Posted in Commission schemes, Marketing, Telemarketing management, Telesales tips, owner managers directors, telesales team management | No Comments »

Don’t hire a new telesales manager yet !

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

Many companies are in the situation where they want to develop a more effective telesales or telemarketing team, but don’t necessarily want to commit to spending £40,000 a year that it would cost to secure a quality manager.

How to find a quality telesales manager for your team

How to find a quality telesales manager for your team

Furthermore the economy is fragile and so you want to maintain flexibility. A great and increasingly popular solution is to hire a quality telesales manager on a short term contract. And if you can negotiate a flexible and open agreement where you’re not even committed to them for as long as a year then so much the better !

By agreeing to take on someone with a track record in successful telephone team management you can improve your own systems and processes so that after they’re gone, you can run the systems yourselves. Often a team leader or supervisor can look after the team on a day to day basis and they might only be costing you £20,000 a year.

Our advice on beefing up the telesales management in your company is that you should expect a good telesales manager to help you with such varied issues as ;

  • Advice on your team’s callpots. Do you have enough names, too many, about right ?
  • A check on your database quality. The best sales team will struggle and get demotivated if they’re working poor quality leads.
  • Input into setting up some effective KPIs and management reporting systems. This gives you complete control then. Disciplinary procedures rely on evidence. Underperformers must know they’re underperforming.
  • Advice on how to set up and run easy incentives schemes
  • Help integrating incentives into company campaigns
  • Added value in terms of general marketing advice on things such as your website. Optimising it so that it brings in more visitors is straightforward, it just takes some time and dedication.

If the idea of hiring in an interim telesales or telemarketing manager is something that appeals to you, feel free to contact us on 01858 461148 for some tips and advice. Alternatively go to Associated Learning Systems site where you will find an audio CD on the topic of how to set up and manage an effective telephone team. Click through here http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/product_detail.asp?ProdID=2

We have worked with companies in many areas including ; Leicester, Northampton, Market Harborough, Corby, Wellingborough, Kettering, Lutterworth, Cambridge, Daventry, Coventry, Rugby, Melton Mowbray, Uppingham, and Oakham

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Posted in Independent audit of telemarketing team, Marketing, Telemarketing management, Telesales team assessment, benchmarking telesales teams, interim telesales manager, owner managers directors, telemarketing, telesales, telesales team management | No Comments »

Interim telesales or telemarketing manager – Cambridge

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Interim telesales or telemarketing manager – Cambridge. This is currently one of the fastest growing sectors of recruitment, because hiring an interim gives you the flexibility to hire in the expertise you need for a short to medium period of time without the long term financial commitment. The economy is continuing to change rapidly at the moment and businesses need to keep flexible. Salaries is the single biggest element of cost so limiting these fixed costs makes good economic sense. 

Help with the management of your team - without the fixed costs

Help with the management of your team - without the fixed costs

You have a telesales or telemarketing team at the moment and you want to develop them quickly to capitalise on any upturn in the market. But hiring in an interim for a set number of days per month gives you the strong focus you need, without you having to pay them ‘turning up money.’

Interim or temporary or short term contract telesales or telemarketing managers can be highly effective solutions for Cambridge in any business to business or industrial environment such as packaging, healthcare, industrial, electronics, automotive components and accessories, mobility products, marketing agencies, IT consultancy, print, plastics, building and construction suppliers.

If you feel your Cambridge team lacks focus and the right set up, process and organisation, talk to us on 01858 461148. We may be able to help.

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Posted in Independent audit of telemarketing team, Telemarketing management, Telesales team assessment, benchmarking telesales teams, telemarketing, telesales, telesales team management | No Comments »

Experienced telesales or telemarketing manager in your company for a fraction of the usual cost

Monday, September 14th, 2009

There is a way to get an experienced telesales or telemarketing manager in your company for a fraction of the usual cost.

Many companies are facing a current situation where they want to provide strong leadership and telesales or telemarketing management for their team, but without wanting to commit to spending the £50,000 to £60,000 that it would normally cost.

Get your team to the next level with some interim management

Get your team to the next level with some interim management

An alternative is to hire somebody on a freelance basis to do an agreed number of days per month for you. Say you set up an agreement with someone to do 5 days per month. The required investment will be less than half what it would cost to employ someone.

You may additionally get around the need for a lengthy contract and so if your business changes shape or your needs change, you can wind up the agreement. Alternatively you can also use the exercise as a great test bed for trying out a potential telesales or telemarketing manager. Also your freelance manager should be able to help you spec up what you need. No company car, or pension or healthcare either so  you have access to quality management and leadership at a fraction of the normal fee.

Many organisations are talking to us at the moment about such an arrangement as it gives much more flexibility and a lack of heavy investment and cost at a time when business conditions are volatile.

Consider the idea of an interim manager for your team. They can help set up or develop KPIs for your team, can help with benefits selling, objection handling and even sales call structure. It could be the best thing to help train, develop and build a telesales or telemarketing team whether you are in Leicester, Northampton, Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Cambridge, Peterborough, Birmingham, Coventry, Derby or Nottingham or anywhere across Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, or the East or West Midlands.

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Posted in Independent audit of telemarketing team, Telemarketing management, Telesales team assessment, benchmarking telesales teams, sales development training, telemarketing, telesales, telesales team management | No Comments »

How to build your telesales – without spending big sums on a manager

Saturday, May 16th, 2009

Some ideas on how to build your telesales – without spending big sums on a manager. A current hot topic in telesales and telemarketing management is the idea of hiring an interim telesales manager or someone for a fixed or variable term. It offers you great flexibility and could be just what you are looking for.

Short term telesales manager to raise your team's performance

Short term telesales manager to raise your team's performance

Instead of committing yourself to a fixed spend you can buy some quality management that can finish as soon as the job is done.

So how might they help you ? You can expect a good quality short-term contract telesales manager to help you in many areas managing your team. They should contribute ideas across a broad number of fronts. 

Let’s look first at each person’s call pot. Also any effective team needs KPIs – key performance indicators. You probably know what each member of your team produces in terms of results but that is only 1 of the 4 key measures. Getting the team to produce more involves understanding how they achieve their results.  They each have a results profile. Do you know what it is ?

It is also a good idea to have the phone team working to support your campaigns. These might be based around product lines you want to promote, or products and services that are more lucrative to you. How well integrated is  the phone team currently with your marketing campaigns ? A good manager will help you set this up and provide you with ongoing monitoring.

Incentivising the team is key too. If they WANT to do well, they will. So you may want advice on levels of commission. Also understanding the balance between commission, bonuses and incentives is important. What do they each do, and how do they fit together ? A good quality top drawer telesales or telemarketing manager will be able to help you with this.

If you’re based in  Leicester, Northampton, Market Harborough, Corby, Wellingborough, Kettering, Lutterworth, Cambridge, Daventry, Coventry, Rugby, Melton Mowbray, Uppingham, Oakham give us a call on 01858 461148 and we can discuss how you can achieve all these things by hiring a short term or interim telesales manager to run your team. They should be able to set up processes and management systems for you, which they then leave as their legacy !

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Posted in Independent audit of telemarketing team, Marketing, Telemarketing management, Telesales team assessment, benchmarking telesales teams, interim telesales manager, telemarketing, telesales, telesales team management | No Comments »

Do you really need a full time telesales manager ?

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

A question for you. Do you really need a full time telesales manager ? 

As you know recruiting someone to run your team can be an expensive and time consuming business. You may not even get the right person !

Clearly you want the best quality telesales or telemarketing manager you can afford even if you’re a small company because you want to improve sales. Also we can take it as read that you want someone who will bring in more profit than it costs you to employ them.

Interim telesales manager - a more flexible approach

Interim telesales manager - a more flexible approach

The difficulty then is to recruit someone who you know will make these returns. And what do you do if they don’t ? Send them packing I guess. As soon as you agree a contract with them you’re committed to spending a defined sum of money. You’ve got ;

  • Salary (probably likely to cost £25,000 – £40,000 depending on what you want)
  • Pension
  • Social costs (N.I. contributions etc.)
  • Car (do you provide a car – or money in lieu of a car ?)
  • Other on-costs such as furniture, coffee ! heat, light, power etc.

As an alternative have you considered hiring an interim telesales manager on a short term contract ? This offers many advantages.

It will cost you less as they’ll be doing less days. Admittedly their day rate will be higher. Nevertheless if you get a top notch manager, you should get more quality and therefore at least equal results.  You are no longer paying turning up money, you only pay them for what you need. There may even be no fixed contract, so you can end it at any point.  This keeps them focused on achieving results for you.

If this is an idea which interests you, we can advise you on how to set it up, and the sorts of things a good manager should be able to help you with. Drop us an e-mail to info@tomarket.co.uk

This idea will help you whether you are a finance director, a business owner, an owner manager, or someone running a small business in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Leicester, Northampton, Market Harborough, Corby, Wellingborough, Kettering, Lutterworth, Cambridge, Daventry, Coventry, Rugby, Melton Mowbray, Uppingham, Oakham

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Posted in Independent audit of telemarketing team, Telemarketing management, interim telesales manager, telemarketing, telesales, telesales team management | No Comments »