The scientific method is an organized way of testing a theory or a hypothesis by adjusting variables and measuring results against a controlled condition. If you take a look at it, a telemarketing campaign can also be a form of hypothesis. Every telemarketing firm has the hypothesis that a certain calling approach will yield the best results to sell a product or service.
And just like any hypothesis, a campaign is conceived as an “educated guess” and, through a chain of tests as the campaign goes along, that guess can be reduced to a more “proven” claim of a better telemarketing method.
Using the scientific method, telemarketers can spark improvements to a campaign:
- Look at previous campaigns to set benchmarks. Success or failure can be more accurately measured within the structure of the campaigns before the current one. Past experiences can serve as the “control” scenario and succeeding efforts can serve as opportunities for adjusted variables or trialing.
- Do experimentation on the script. A campaign has the luxury to consider using more than one verbal approach. Using the scientific method, one can“refine” the script by trying out several script ideas.
- Track and offer inputs towards the individual telemarketer performances. Telemarketers themselves are variables that could be measured. When a particular agent is ineffective, he could be subject to evaluation (again, through scientific methods) and find out what new changes can be made to improve his work.
- Play with different calling schedules. Campaigns can also start out trying a assortment of timetables for calling, and then measuring them to see if there is a significant difference in results as far as availability and receptivity are concerned.
- Tweak the calling list according to reaction statistics. The scientific method could also be used to make adjustments in the pipeline, particularly on the contact details and grouping. If the response is high, marketers need to expand the reach and make the most out of it through segmentation and analysis.
- Execute campaign “tests” to rule out product issues versus approach issues. It’s either the telemarketing approach is not effective, or the product itself is not selling. To make an accurate distinction, marketers can apply similar methodologies to different products (or vice versa). This helps in finding out whether a certain approach needs to be modified, or a certain product or service needs to be repackaged.
This content originally appeared at Be Scien-terrific: B2B Telemarketing and the Scientific Method