We have recently touched upon the subject of maybe using telesales to our existin clients, and contacts database, (and cold calling!), to up-sell our products. We are medium sized firm of chartered accountants incorporating a technologies department (providing hardware & software), we have just recently been accredited with MOUS (Microsoft Office User Specialist), and are offering courses in MOUS, and Sage Training (accounts package). On the accounting side of things we offer: Audit services, financial services, outsourcing (payroll etc..), trust management, tax services, forensic accounting, banking services, general accounting services, corporate finance. We also have trade specialists, law, agriculture, retail. The services we offer here, and the way they are conducted, it surprises me, as an employee, why everybody isn't a client, or hasn't used at least one of our services. I am currently looking for ideas to enable me to set up a small telemarketing/callcentre department, and possible script guidelines that incorporates the above information, or a way in which we could politely ask at the beginning of the conversation to get a feel for the future clients needs. I would be very grateful for some ideas, as looking at some of the replys to some of the questions posted on this forum, you all seem very intelligent and dedicated. Thank you for your time.

Looking at you product range I would suggest that you break down into a number of key areas. eg, Financial/Account services, corporate Services, Specialist trade services and Training.
Inbound - These streams could then either be sent to the specific departments or to a small group who could handle an initail query. The main issue I see is that you have a very specialised product ranges the callers are going to want information about from specialists not from generic call centre people, so the call centre would be limited to simply taking contacts and weeding out who would be the best person to handle the query, seting up appoint ments and maybe progress reports on certain types of business.
Outbound - Not sure about cold calling, I would have though that anyone who wants accounting services already had an accountant.
Upselling is a differnt matter, choose a product and contact those you think might be interested, be careful however and focus on a specific product or two and don't try to sell and inappropriate product to the wrong company.
Regarding finding out what your customers want/need why now kick off with a survey, call all customers and speak to your contact about the services you currently offer and what would be benificial to them as a customer. Structure it carefully and keep it to a specified timelimit, these are busy people. If required book a date and time to carry out the survey and call them back to do it.
If you can't write this then there are proffesionals out there who can help or why not get a specialist call centre to help out, many do this type of thing all the time. I'm sure someone on here can help further.
Hope this helps
A

The survey idea for existing clients sounds very good.
You are so right about the outbound calls, re people already having accountants, yet to me it seems, from personal experience, that sometimes it takes a little pushing for people to see through the fog, and realise that their current accountants, are not really all they are cracked up to be. Even if they are not happy with their accountants, they tend not to speak about it, or look for other avenues. Maybe with a little "outbound Call" push, these clients could be obtainable. I think we are looking more at blanketing contacts i.e 1 in 100, and not the usual 1 in 10, it's just a matter of getting the initial pitch right. Also, it would be nice if anyone has any ideas as so far as a system for following up prospects, and what are the best times to call a company. Lastly, does anybody know anything about the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), as I have been informed that I should do a little prospecting on this topic, before making outbound calls

Thank you

Damian

Hi Damian,

We can offer outsourced services to help you target your customers and also software that will allow scripting and dialling capapbilities to ensure a healthy response

Please let me know if you are interested

Regards

Shaun Sen
Director
Tel: 01923 264142