Hayley Hyams had always worked in the financial sector, so when she was unfortunately made redundant whilst pregnant with her second child, she was able to put her significant experience into finding a new job. Hayley joined a telemarketing company on a freelance basis, and she soon realised that not only did she enjoy the role of speaking to people directly by phone, but she was actually very good at it. She started thinking about setting up on her own, and after the birth of her daughter, Sophie, she put this plan into action.

Her company, Appointment Marketing, based in Borehamwood, offers clients across various sectors including IT, Office Supplies, and Education a way to target customers to create direct sales opportunities for their products and services. By identifying key potential business across both B2B and B2C companies, she is able to generate leads for her clients using the telephone, which she describes as “a powerful business tool when used correctly.”

Hayley works closely with companies to understand their needs in terms of the customers they hope to attract. She helps them to create a guide for her to use whilst speaking to prospective customers, which is not so much a script, but more bullet points to ensure that key points are covered. She is then provided data through brokers which she uses to target relevant potential customers.

As well as using the data supplied to her, Hayley also likes to think outside the box, and she is often influenced by the world around her to reach out to new companies.

“Recently, I was in my kitchen, and there was a jar of peanut butter on the side. I thought, why not contact the company and say that I had enjoyed their product so much that I wanted to reciprocate and share a great service with them? So I did, and I asked if they were considering reviewing their cleaning suppliers in the near future. As luck would have it, they were actually looking for a new contract, and I managed to secure a significant amount of business for my client. All on a whim!!”

Selling is obviously very much in her blood. Her father, David, used to be a salesman in the more traditional door-to-door way. When he unfortunately lost his job during a recession, Hayley, aged only 12 years old, took the initiative to get in touch with everyone in her dad’s black book and managed to find him a new job.

It is this same love of helping people that is the basis for her company and part of what she feels stands her apart from other telemarketing companies. She offers a personal touch to clients, working primarily as the main contact on behalf of each company she represents.

Hayley feels that it is important to be honest and open when dealing with potential customers and to be clear about the reason that you are calling.  “Often people don’t like sales calls and feel that it is an invasion of privacy, so it can be difficult to gain people’s trust on the phone. Rather than make it a sales call, I make it a conversation, and people seem a lot more receptive to this.”

Part of the job that Hayley really enjoys is securing the appointments on behalf of her clients, even though she admits it can be hard work at times to get the results. “It can be a real rollercoaster, and every day is different. Some days I can secure a lot of appointments and it’s not even lunch time, and other times it can take a bit more perseverance to book something in, but I never give up.”

Once the appointment is secured, she then passes the details on to her client, and hopefully they will then go on to secure the deal in a face-to-face meeting. For Hayley, this is the most rewarding part of her job. It makes all the hard work worthwhile,” she says, “and it means that I have helped them to grow as a business. I really care about the companies I am working for and want them to be able to make money.”

With almost a decade of experience in running her own business, whilst also raising a family, she hopes that she can inspire other women considering starting out on their own. “Even though sometimes it might seem difficult along the way, it is definitely worth it,” she says. “Be determined and just keep going. Running my own business and making my own money gives me a real sense of worth, and I hope it will encourage other women to do the same.”

It is this sense of worth that she is also passing on to her daughters, Jessica (10) and Sophie (8). She wants them to understand the value of working, and that when they grow up they can have their own careers.

“My daughters know that their mummy works and that this money pays for nice holidays, new clothes and will also pay for their future. I want them to grow up to be able to be independent, and with an understanding of what hard work can achieve.”

If you would like to discuss a way that Appointment Marking can help your business, please contact Hayley on 0843 289 8536 or hayley@appointmentmarketing.com.

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