Hiring Telemarketers?

[chp]

Couple of questions for all of you who use/hire telemarketers.

What do you pay them per hour?
Do you hire them full time or part time?
Do you let them work from their home, or your home/office?
How many leads do they average per day or per hour?

I am using a predictive dialer, and have tried to hire telemarketers in the past, with good and bad results.

Lets say I hire one full time and start them at $10/hour, and they get me 10 leads a day. (I do not want them to set appts, just generate leads). Doesn't this sound better then buying shared internet leads? If I can get an "exclusive" lead from a telemarketer for an average of $10 a lead, that sounds better then buying $80 worth of internet shared leads, correct? Thoughts?

Can any of you share a script that you have your telemarketers use?

Any thoughts/advice on this subject will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

Depends. What are we generating leads for?

 

[chp]

Sorry, should have been more clear. I sell individual health. I just bought all of SC, small businesses, and have a little over 40K numbers loaded into a dialer.

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

Sorry, should have been more clear. I sell individual health. I just bought all of SC, small businesses, and have a little over 40K numbers loaded into a dialer.

If it were me, all I would do (and have done) is determine whether they even buy individual health insurance.

After you've got it weeded out, market to your "list" of people who actually buy what you sell - like crazy.

When the timing is right, if you've done it right, they will come to you.

 

[ABC]

Interesting topic.

So you would hire a telemarketer to call on the 40,000 businesses? So they are to get a prospect that shows interest and then you call them back?

Since you are marketing to businesses will you be selling group health also?

From my own experience with cold calling for group health.
I would say I have about 6-7% interest.
Out of that I close maybe 10%.
400 cold calls 24 contact of interest and I might pick up 2-3 new group clients.

Now I have never done any telemarketing for Individual policies.

 

[chp]

Bottom line is this. I hate, no actually HATE to cold call. I have tried every possible short cut to avoid it, from buying leads to trying to hire a good telemarketer. I know there are no shortcuts, but trying to find a way to get leads, which I do not mind calling at all. Not sure if I am going to do the telemarketer route or shared internet leads.

My neighbor was working with me about two months ago. He has sinced moved, but he was calling all day from a dialer, (three lines at a time) and would generate anywhere from 8 to 15 leads a day. All he was doing was asking if they have individual health insurance, and see if there was an interest. I would call them back, follow up and make the sale. It was a good system while it lasted, but he ended up moving short notice, so I am trying to figure out the best plan to get a new telemarketer.

My questions are from the original post, what do you guys pay per hour, how many "leads" per day etc.

I do not sell group...yet. We did get a decent amount of clients who were looking to replace their current group plan, but I was only interested in individual sales, so did nothing with them. My target is the mom and pop, self employed market looking for individual health. I will learn to sell group in the future, once I get a good system up and running.

Thanks again for all your answers, and I would love to hear more on this topic!

 

[Slim]

I did my own calling from approved list this week for first time in many years . Approved script.
I made 7 sales 170 miles from my home. The number of appts
compared to number of people I spoke to was high %.
I have had good appts set for me before but none any better than what I got for myself. I would use the pros when they get going again w/
phone center but not until then .
My advise for what it's worth :
don't focus on cost first. Focus on value of solid lead and sale.
My first day ,Tues calls resulted in 5 appts.
2 sales. One no show.
Wed calls 4 sales and 5 appts.
Thurs calls no appts.
Fri calls 1 appt 1 sale.
All calls were for next day or same day appt.
Friendly list of less than 150 people.
Focus on the list and get a good telemarketer . Since you
only want leads, then you can follow up on phone and close sales why not pay what you have to and train lead caller
how you want them to perform on phone. Train them to intro
you and your service . Buy a strong list. Maybe you already have one.
Slim

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

Wow, impressive. Congratulations on a nice week. I guess it once again proves the point: spend a little to make a lot!

 

[Bitnis]

Slim, you mentioned having a "friendly" list and a "strong" list. I guess a friendly list could be a group of people you have something in common with. How do you qualify a "strong" list?

You said you have an approved list and an approved script. Does that mean you work as something other than independent?

Congratulations on a great week.

 

[mickeyma]

I quit using telemarketers because of bad experiences. IMO, the only good appt is the one I set. I talked to the prospect so I know there is no BS.