What To Know About Telemarketing

A form of direct marketing, telemarketing makes use of telephone as a promotion medium. It is also seen as a response vehicle where telemarketers can receive response calls from customers, donation pledges and inquiries. It is also a form used to answer customer’s concerns, to provide information about a certain offer and to verify an order. The primary goal of telemarketing of for-profit enterprises is to sell products or service through a telecommunication voice-based medium. Charitable organizations and other nonprofit organizations also utilize this direct marketing method to solicit donations. Meanwhile, research firms may also this method to conduct a survey.

Outbound telemarketing and inbound telemarketing are two kinds of this marketing method. The calls of the former are initiated by the salespeople to businesses or homes. The inbound telemarketing answers to responses, concerns and inquiries of customers. Inbound calls are made by the customers.

Outbound telemarketing is a strategy implemented by salespeople to generate leads. Gathering customer information can be made through outbound calls. There may reduction in the cost associated with a personal contact to generate a sale. Sales calls are also a characteristic of outbound telemarketing.

Inbound telemarketing, on the other hand, retains the level of personal interaction between the salespeople or telemarketers and customers who respond to certain advertisements or placing an order from the products in a catalogue. This may be effective in the sense that businesses can gain sales from the telecommunication interaction wherein the customers initiated the calls. Inbound calls are also designed to answer inquiries that can potentially lead to making a sale. Telemarketers also deal with inbound calls from customers expressing complaints.

Telemarketing is a sales method utilized by many companies. It is deemed as a preliminary action of outbound salespeople or brokers prior to making a sales transaction with potential customers. It is also employed in call centers. This can be done in an office or in a home.

How do telemarketers know about prospective customers?

Companies and telemarketers make use of directory to generate leads. Others purchase the database of another company while others may have obtained a list from public archives. Telemarketers also refer to their database, which is developed based from previous transactions with customers to make outbound calls.

Telemarketing has two categories: business to business telemarketing and business to consumer telemarketing.

In business-to-business telemarketing, the transaction is between the telemarketer and another company. This is mostly undertaken when a company wishes to become a supplier of another company. This marketing method is participated by manufacturer and distributor or by manufacturer or retailer and contractor.

Meanwhile, business to consumer telemarketing is a voice-based transaction of telemarketers and consumers.

History of Telemarketing

Telephone has become a marketing tool since the early 1900’s. However, outbound telemarketing was not fully realized by businesses until wide area telephone service or WATS came to materialize in 1960. Sheraton motel chain initiated the concept of toll-fee inbound telemarketing system in 1967. The refinement of telemarketing techniques during the 1970’s is the factor telemarketing was incorporated as a marketing tool in a business.

Spending on telemarketing has reached more than a billion dollars. Sales generated using telemarketing has reached more than 40 billion dollars. This marketing tool is a concept used in the call center industry. Many companies outsource their telemarketing functions to contact centers.

Criticisms and negative perceptions about Telemarketing

Many individuals and potential consumers find telemarketers to be annoying. Telemarketers involved in direct marketing have also been perceived by customers to be pushy and untimely.

Telemarketing has also been negatively associated with many frauds and scams leading to its increased negative perception among consumers.

This marketing method is still in existence even today. Sales generated from telemarketing could continue to move upwards as more and more people opt to shop at home and many people want to place their orders using the telephone. However, this marketing tool competes with the internet marketing which is the fastest growing marketing technique.