The need for a warm and fuzzy guarantee for everything you purchase has become common place in many of today's product and service markets. This is all fine and dandy if you are buying a car, blender, television or any other physical product. When did businesses and consumers start thinking that everything you purchase automatically comes with a guarantee? In the outsourced sales and telemarketing arena, service providers are approached with this mentality far too often. Let us take a moment and clarify why intangible services such as marketing (Lead Generation, Appointment Setting, and Tele-Sales) simply cannot have a guarantee on the "outside of the box".



When anyone purchases an automobile for example, the recipients are typically awarded a power train warranty or some other form of guarantee that the vehicle will do well by the consumer. Why is that? The reason is because it has been tested, crashed, driven, altered, revised, scrutinized and evaluated from every angle. It may have even taken several years to accomplish that task. Telemarketing is similar in many aspects. You have to formulate an idea, embrace processes, follow proven methodologies, add a little vision, test some approaches, fine tune the messaging and evaluate the results to find out what is working and what is not. Do you think the automobile industry would even put a vehicle on the car lot and slap a guarantee on it without the aforementioned testing? Of course not! What makes you think your outsourced telemarketing partner should have the ability to know the results before testing your products and services appropriately? Why do so many people think they can predict how the person on the other line will react before actually testing it? Even if similar telemarketing has been done for companies comparable to yours there are still so many variables and unknowns that need to be tested for your specific program. What size businesses are most receptive to our sales message? Who is the decision maker? What is the sales cycle for a large or medium business versus a small business? Are we calling in the South or Northeast? What verticals truly need this new product or service? Is there a different value proposition and approach for a CFO compared to a Director of IT in the software industry? What will their objections be? Is the price point reasonable? Did I procure the right database? You now see the point.

What we really need is one of those crystal balls to see exactly what will happen. Telemarketing companies could just pretend to have no shame in telling people whatever they wanted to hear to bring in new business and close more sales for more profit. Wait a minute, many do just that! These are the same companies that turn and burn their clients for a quick buck with no focus on long term partnerships. They are telling people what they want to hear. Fortunately there are some, not many, but some that are very professional with integrity focused on keeping you as a client for the long run. These are professionals who know that honesty is best for client longevity and trust. When a company can accurately level set a prospective client, it can formulate reasonable expectations. The fact is that any type of marketing comes with risk. If there were guarantees on results in marketing, then all businesses would be successful and prosperous. No one knows the outcome for certain. If a company can guarantee you a sales appointment for ever hour of the calling effort and does not deliver, not only will they lose you as a client but they will have damaged the reputation of their company. It is disheartening to see how many people place more value on an arbitrary number or "guaranteed" result over conducting an actual test to determine and learn "the things we magically should have already known." Every healthy, strong and long lasting business relationship requires honesty and trust. Do not fall for any marketing company that makes Guarantees.

Copyright (c) 2008 Grindstone Inc.