What Are The Keys To Handling Difficult Marketing Calls?

The most important aspect of a marketing campaign is that it is designed around the specific needs of the sector and the customer base within it, and in the case of more specialised sectors, this typically requires an expert, personalised form of telemarketing.

Unlike other forms of telemarketing, which can for somewhat broad marketing campaigns rely on a somewhat scattershot and somewhat structured approach more likely to frustrate and annoy than to lead to a successful call to action.

By contrast, specialist telemarketing is about creating a dialogue between the business and the potential customer, particularly since in relatively small industries, businesses and individuals will often be selling components, instruments and services to each other.

However, much like how not every meeting, project or day-to-day conversation is entirely frictionless, some calls can be more difficult than others, and the response to these complex enquiries needs to be tailored not only to the type of issue but built around the future relationship the company wants to have with the customer.

Avoid Defensiveness

It is a somewhat natural reaction to get defensive when faced with anger or difficult situations, but much as you cannot fight fire with fire, it is important to avoid returning or mirroring aggression as that can often lead to the escalation of a situation.

This is a concern not only in handling consumer relations or complaints but also in response to initial inquiries.

Active listening, a consistently calm demeanour, mirroring concerns back to a customer to ensure they have been heard and even slight moments of silence if they are being interrupted and are unable to respond can all help to work through the initial emotions and work towards a beneficial solution.

Because a holistic approach to marketing means that many people making outgoing marketing calls will build up a relationship with customers, they should also be trained in de-escalation skills to ensure that the best possible solution is found to any issues.

Lead With Expert Knowledge

The greatest skill a marketing team has is clarity, and this means that the more that the team knows about a given product, the easier they will find it to think of solutions to potential problems on the spot and to ascertain if they are in the market for a better solution.

Having a strong knowledge of the market already gives you an advantage but it also allows you to ask the right questions and quickly progress a lead into a potential customer and part of a network of important contacts.

Empathy

Dehumanisation is the biggest concern on both sides of the telephone, and one of the benefits of a specialist marketing campaign is that there is the space, time and energy to dedicate to every person to ensure that they know they, their business and their insight is deeply valued.

Our marketing team relies on a conversational approach for this reason; whilst there is a focused methodology to any contact with potential customers, such as the identification of needs and pain points, much of this information is gathered through meaningful, enthusiastic conversation.

Not only is there a moral and ethical case for entering any discussion with empathy, understanding and careful consideration, but there is also a far better economic case to do so, given that it aids mutual understanding and can help both customer and business to meet their respective goals.

Trust And Honesty

An important factor that will determine the difference between defusal and escalation is trust, which sometimes needs to be built in less-than-ideal circumstances.

Expertise helps with this, as it helps to prove that a marketing agent or representative is knowledgeable about the sector and genuinely interested in finding the answer to a customer’s particular needs rather than simply attempting to push a product.

Many people have experienced a cold caller or even a marketing enquiry they had opted into out of curiosity.

The first portion of this call is often somewhat tense as they try to ascertain the motivations of the call and whether it is worth proceeding further or if it would be better for everyone involved to simply hang up.

It is best to be honest, upfront and clear in this early stage about the company, the service being sold and why you think this will help a customer’s needs.

This refreshing honesty can help establish trust as the nature of the discussion becomes clear. In many cases in the life sciences, being able to talk about the industry, particular needs and particular issues can be refreshing compared to form emails or letters.