Business Articles

Telemarketing companies have now embarked to the trend of hiring home based appointment setter. Debates on the advantages and disadvantages of this unique approach have been discussed here and there. But the most practical question that all business owners should ask is: How do I know my home based appointment setters are working?

The following are various triggers to keep things in check among home based appointment setters, in order of importance

RESULTS

Simple yet effective.  If you know your campaign's result averages, keep your fingers on the pulse.  Keep daily, weekly and monthly averages to be able and detect variations in results.  Tracking conversions, dials, emails and other incremental progress allows for deeper and faster detection of a problem.  End-of-day and end-of-week reports are very helpful signals.

GOOGLE DOCUMENTS

Google has done it again, another "game changer".  We are able to post an Excel spreadsheet in Google Documents, share with client and agent allowing for live access to information. All clients are able to see as agents of our telemarketing services are updating comments real time.  Read: IN REAL TIME. Spot checking will help ensure appointment

SKYPE

Documentation of every call in Skype is the key.  Skype allow for 50 outbound phone calls per day.  $2.95 per month is the cost of unlimited (or 50 outbound phone calls) to US and Canada.  Our clients set up 2-3 accounts for the agent at a whooping $8.85 per month allowing full control.  Client's can access the account to review number of dials and duration of the call in account history.

GOOGLE TALK

Instant communication for telemarketing services made accessible.  Every agent is responsible for being on Google Talk for the duration of the shift or he/she must provide an explanation for the absence or being idle.  Although our team is monitoring Google Talk status during the day (we review status every 15 min) we ask our clients to install Google Talk Messaging on their desktops or mobile devices to open instant communication with your agent.  Being involved with you agent's activities helps to detect any issues at an early stage.

SCREEN GRAB

This is the final monitoring control.  Technology allows for us to install a screen monitoring software and randomly grab screen shoots from your agents' pc and send them to our clients at the end of the day.  Although agent knows this software has been installed, they are not able to control it or know when it takes place.  Although it is time consuming, this step absolutely assures compliance.

INTUITION

We talk about using our gut a number of times in telemarketing companies.  If you feel your appointment setter is not delivering 100% every hour of every day, stop.  Even if all steps are being followed. Your appointment might be working, but is your campaign working?

At the end of the day, as a business owner, you need to make sure your virtual appointment setter is working and not slacking.