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OK how many have used it to grow their application biz and to what success.
Telemarketing
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Here is a quote made by Magland from this post telemarketing.
"We have the last 2 springs, and it does work pretty well. We have a company call to generate lawn estimates. They help qualify the leads to see how interested potential customers are in mowing or fertilizing. That saves a lot of time and money on our end for not doing a bunch of worthless estimates.
It does cost quite a bit. First you have to buy a name list, and that can be .05 per name, so 20,000 names would be $1000. Then the company charges so much per hour to call the names, like $20-$30 per hour.
It generates a lot of good estimates. Since all of these people were cold called, we offered special deals to help increase interest and sales. From what we have seen, you break even on the new customers in the first year. Meaning what we spent on the cold calling, we got back by the end of the season. So, the second year is your money maker on them. The key is keeping them around awhile to make it worth all your time and effort."
"We have the last 2 springs, and it does work pretty well. We have a company call to generate lawn estimates. They help qualify the leads to see how interested potential customers are in mowing or fertilizing. That saves a lot of time and money on our end for not doing a bunch of worthless estimates.
It does cost quite a bit. First you have to buy a name list, and that can be .05 per name, so 20,000 names would be $1000. Then the company charges so much per hour to call the names, like $20-$30 per hour.
It generates a lot of good estimates. Since all of these people were cold called, we offered special deals to help increase interest and sales. From what we have seen, you break even on the new customers in the first year. Meaning what we spent on the cold calling, we got back by the end of the season. So, the second year is your money maker on them. The key is keeping them around awhile to make it worth all your time and effort."
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No one else??????
That would be the way that I would think would be the most feasible. I've never saw the operation, and have NO idea how it works, as far as the software, the phone equipment, and such. There is a private co. around here that does quite a bit. He has around 9000 accounts, now, and is always growing. Alot of people will try to argue now, about them being on the "no-call" list. This is an overated, exaggerated service, since it does not even apply to local services. It applies to out of state calls, only. Now, if they tell you THEN not to call anymore, then that's different. It also exempts services which do business or have done business in the past with customers.
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Runner, to let you know, The Fedral do not call list applies to call from both in state and out of state companies. It did not apper to be that way to me ether but once you read in to it fully seperate laws by the FCC & FTC make it so it applies to both local and long distance businees, Also due to a court rulling in our favor none of it applies to anyone at the moment!
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According to there website donotcall.gov its still shut down for now -- we will see what happens havent heard any news as of yet
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Plus, you can only call those people who have used your service in the last 12-18 months. Otherwise you're SOL if they're on the do-not-call list up to a $11,000 fines by the FCC.
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I am personally using a telemarketing company. However there is a company called market share that will provide you with a list for a fee.
Hope that helps.
Hope that helps.
The link is www.donotcall.gov. The laws apply to both in state and out of state calls, Yes, the law is now in effect, and yes the fines are up to $11,000 per infraction.
Soupy,
you will need to go to the donotcallist.gov website and register to download the list from their site. Once you are registered which usually will take a day or so for it to go through, then you will have the opportunity to download those phone exchanges you wish to have numbers that are on the do not call registry. Once you have these numbers, what ever marketing list you have will need to be compared to it so that you may delete the numbers of those from your calling list. If you have any problems DON"T count on the FTC help desk that they list for much help, they are terrible at responding to problems and then getting a straight answer is similar to the process of the United Nations asking Saddam if he has any WPM. Good Luck, by the time you get what you need from them it will probably be spring, especailly all the hoops you'll have to jump through to make a phone call lol.
you will need to go to the donotcallist.gov website and register to download the list from their site. Once you are registered which usually will take a day or so for it to go through, then you will have the opportunity to download those phone exchanges you wish to have numbers that are on the do not call registry. Once you have these numbers, what ever marketing list you have will need to be compared to it so that you may delete the numbers of those from your calling list. If you have any problems DON"T count on the FTC help desk that they list for much help, they are terrible at responding to problems and then getting a straight answer is similar to the process of the United Nations asking Saddam if he has any WPM. Good Luck, by the time you get what you need from them it will probably be spring, especailly all the hoops you'll have to jump through to make a phone call lol.
we have done in house telemarketing and have hired a professional telemarketing company.
Few thoughts:
1) telemarketing can be a real drag. getting hung up on all the time stinks and can get depressing. I find it tough to keep an employee energized and encouraged to keep dialing. Good possibility of loosing a good employee.
2) the do not call list can be a good thing. The folks who sign up are the folks most likely to hang up on a telemarketer. So there may be a few less homes in any particular neighborhood you can legally call, the ones you can call are much more likely to be buyers.
3) when we figured the cost of buying a list, labor cost for in house calling and the cost of running the leads (not to mention working evening hours which nobody likes doing) for us it is more cost effective to hire a company. and with the do not call list, its there responsibility to comply.
we use a company that charges 27.50 per hour. they average 2.5 leads per hour and we will close on 50%. Doing it in house we were paying just about the same 27.50 per hour (two callers) and getting 1.5 leads per hour and we averaged 40% close rate.
I think hiring a company is the way to go. they have employess that get paid insentives for getting leads. doing it in house you have employees who need to get leads tonight and run them tomorrow, much less insentive for them to generate quaility leads.
If you're a one person show...you aint gonna be able to make enough calls to generate leads, plus go out and run the leads...it will burn you out quickly.
one more thing...if you cant run the lead within 2 days of getting it you can pretty much forget about the sale. Idealy you get the lead today and run it tomorrow!
Few thoughts:
1) telemarketing can be a real drag. getting hung up on all the time stinks and can get depressing. I find it tough to keep an employee energized and encouraged to keep dialing. Good possibility of loosing a good employee.
2) the do not call list can be a good thing. The folks who sign up are the folks most likely to hang up on a telemarketer. So there may be a few less homes in any particular neighborhood you can legally call, the ones you can call are much more likely to be buyers.
3) when we figured the cost of buying a list, labor cost for in house calling and the cost of running the leads (not to mention working evening hours which nobody likes doing) for us it is more cost effective to hire a company. and with the do not call list, its there responsibility to comply.
we use a company that charges 27.50 per hour. they average 2.5 leads per hour and we will close on 50%. Doing it in house we were paying just about the same 27.50 per hour (two callers) and getting 1.5 leads per hour and we averaged 40% close rate.
I think hiring a company is the way to go. they have employess that get paid insentives for getting leads. doing it in house you have employees who need to get leads tonight and run them tomorrow, much less insentive for them to generate quaility leads.
If you're a one person show...you aint gonna be able to make enough calls to generate leads, plus go out and run the leads...it will burn you out quickly.
one more thing...if you cant run the lead within 2 days of getting it you can pretty much forget about the sale. Idealy you get the lead today and run it tomorrow!
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Hello Mrs Johnson may name is James Cormier, I m calling from Old Stone lawn Care. We are a local lawn service company and we will be on your street tommorow doing some free lawn estimates. All we do is walk around and measure your lawn to get the sqft. When we are done we will put our brouchure and price estimate in door. Theres no cost or oblegation Could I leave one of these for you? ( i know my spelling sucks)
At anytime she says no not interested, I say "thank and sorry for bothering you"
Then move on to the next call.....its all a numbers game the more you call the more sales you get....dont waste time trying to convince someone thats trying to say no. That's what ruined the telelmakerting business.
At anytime she says no not interested, I say "thank and sorry for bothering you"
Then move on to the next call.....its all a numbers game the more you call the more sales you get....dont waste time trying to convince someone thats trying to say no. That's what ruined the telelmakerting business.
scottt, I would definately rethink having a professional telemarketer use your script.
(let me quailify that statement, i am assuming that the company you hire specializes in the green industry...if not, then yes i would agree that your scipt may be wiser...but if they do not specialize in the green industry you should rethink hiring them)
Heres why I say that: I have an accountant do our taxes, why?...because thats his specialty, he does it often and does it well.
I tell a potential customer that, sure, they can fertilize their own lawn...but a professional company that does this day in and day out will know the optimum timing, rates, etc. etc.
We use a telemarketing company that specializes in the green industry. They have a track record of knowing what works well, what not so well and what not at all. This is what they do day in and day out, while we only do it a couple of months per year. They have a script, insert our specifics (company name, services, blah blah blah)
I consider myself a handyman around the house...my wife has a different opinion,lol...some things I can fix, other things are best left for the specialist.
anyway, good luck with your marketing campaign.
(let me quailify that statement, i am assuming that the company you hire specializes in the green industry...if not, then yes i would agree that your scipt may be wiser...but if they do not specialize in the green industry you should rethink hiring them)
Heres why I say that: I have an accountant do our taxes, why?...because thats his specialty, he does it often and does it well.
I tell a potential customer that, sure, they can fertilize their own lawn...but a professional company that does this day in and day out will know the optimum timing, rates, etc. etc.
We use a telemarketing company that specializes in the green industry. They have a track record of knowing what works well, what not so well and what not at all. This is what they do day in and day out, while we only do it a couple of months per year. They have a script, insert our specifics (company name, services, blah blah blah)
I consider myself a handyman around the house...my wife has a different opinion,lol...some things I can fix, other things are best left for the specialist.
anyway, good luck with your marketing campaign.
Along with the do-not-call list, i would start with also buying a city directory. They list potential customers by streets,lists their incomes, and if they'd like to not be solicited over the phone. Pretty handy,but exspensive.Call your local better business Bureau or gov. bldg. and ask for a city directory of the city residents. It's just information that you give them when they are doig census'. But it's been a couple years since we used to cold call. It worked pretty good for us. Alot of hang up's ,but alot of leads too.
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