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Telemarketing is a cost-effective marketing vehicle that is popularly utilized by many organizations for sales and market research activities. With the telephone as the medium of communication, telemarketing companies offer inbound and outbound services for their clients. Telemarketing services are usually outsourced as a cost-effective alternative.
An effective telemarketing company can contribute substantially to your organization's bottom line. On the other hand, there have been complaints aplenty from consumers being besieged by telemarketing calls, early in the day, late in the evening ...encroaching on your personal time and privacy. Read about the laws enacted to enable your name to be removed from all telemarketing lists.
Telemarketing services
An advantage of using telemarketing services is that you can plan and adjust your strategy as you go along for better results. Telemarketing gives you an immediate response in that you get a captive audience as soon as the phone is answered. A telemarketing service allows you to conduct surveys, register for seminars, raise funds or generate leads.
Telemarketing allows you to target new customers, independent of geographical considerations. Telemarketing companies set up large-scale call centers and capitalize on the economies of operations. Investment includes phone lines, sophisticated telecommunications and information systems, furniture, computers, telemarketing software and trained staff.
It is preferable though to choose a telemarketing service provider with experience in your industry as it reduces training time and cost. Effective telemarketing services reduce the costs of sales and enhance sales productivity. It is imperative that the telemarketing services include detailed reporting to evaluate the efficiency of the service. Data security is yet another critical parameter when selecting a telemarketing service provider.
- Collecting information on a company's current as well as prospective customer base
- Gaining insight into the efficacy of a company's distribution channels, advertising and promotional efforts
- Telemarketing services can be adapted to many functions ranging from announcement of special offers to qualify leads or even check credit.
Outbound telemarketing
Outbound telemarketing services involve making telephonic calls for generating leads, scheduling appointments, verifying information and cleaning lists. Outbound telemarketing services are geared primarily towards selling products or services to customers, potential or existing. When a person is called for the first time, sans any prior relationship with the organization, it is called a 'cold call'.
A cold call can often lead to a lead generation. Outbound telemarketing services are ideal for informing customers about innovations in a product or discounted rates. Outbound telemarketing services are a boon for organizations who want to set up sales appointments and carry on an outbound calling campaign.
Inbound Telemarketing
Inbound Telemarketing services involve answering calls from prospects, answering queries about product or service and fixing appointments with sales representatives. Inbound telemarketing is resorted to by hotels, banks, airlines and merchants. Home Shopping Network is one of the largest inbound telemarketing services in the US handling nearly 200,000 calls daily. Dissemination of information and customer service are the focus of inbound telemarketing services. Inbound telemarketing calls are customer initiated.
Telemarketing list
Telemarketing lists are names of consumers or business houses that can serve as a database to kick start your marketing campaign. Telemarketing lists grouped on geographical specifications make it easier to target particular areas where the product or service is more likely to be popular. You can target potential consumer lists by age, income and occupation. Telemarketing lists can be sourced from list brokers.
These brokers have up-to-date telemarketing lists that can even be chosen for a selected area. In fact, telemarketing list compilation has become a job in itself. There are companies that compile and sell lists to telemarketing companies. Typically telemarketing lists cost around $35 to $45 per thousand. Sometimes you may want a specialty telemarketing list - list of automobile owners, list of people with bad credit, list of persons with school-going kids.
In case you have been besieged by many telemarketing agents, you can choose to have your name excluded from these lists. You can register to have your name permanently removed from telemarketing lists. Laws to regulate telemarketing are also in place. The TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act) specifies that you must be taken off the telemarketing lists, should you ask them to do so.
The Do Not Call (DNC) Registry has had millions of people signing up. Those who have been relentlessly pursued by telemarketers have a choice about whether to receive telemarketing calls at home.
Charities, banks, telephone companies and intrastate telemarketers are regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rather than the FTC, and would thus be exempt from the proposed regulations. Commercial fund-raising companies working for charities would, however, be required to observe the national "do not call" list.
Telemarketing jobs
If you are looking for a telemarketing job, you must posses a clear and fluent telephone voice and a confident tone and manner of speaking. It is necessary for you to be able to key in data and speak simultaneously. As with all marketing jobs, a telemarketing job involves persuasion and sales pitch. Most telemarketing companies provide the requisite training and product information. Typically a telemarketing job involves working for about 40 hours a week. Part-time and work-from-home telemarketing job opportunities are also on the rise. Telemarketing companies provide the telemarketing personnel with a prepared sales script.
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