Telemarketing-Direct Marketing By Phone

Telemarketing is a method of direct marketing in which a salesperson uses the telephone to solicit prospective customers to buy products or services, either over the phone or through a subsequent face to face or Web conferencing appointment scheduled during the call.

Telemarketing can also include recorded sales pitches programmed to be played over the phone via automatic dialing.

Telemarketing may be done from a company office, from a call centre, or from home. It may involve either a live operator or a recorded message, in which case it is known as "automated telemarketing" using voice broadcasting. "Robocalling" is a form of voice broadcasting which is most frequently associated with political messages.

An effective telemarketing process often involves two or more calls. The first call (or series of calls) determines the customer’s needs. The final call (or series of calls) motivates the customer to make a purchase.

Prospective customers are identified by various means, including past purchase history, previous requests for information, credit limit, competition entry forms, and application forms. Names may also be purchased from another company's consumer database or obtained from a telephone directory or another public list. The qualification process is intended to determine which customers are most likely to purchase the product or service.

Charitable organizations, alumni associations, and political parties often use telemarketing to solicit donations. Marketing research companies use telemarketing techniques to survey the prospective or past customers of a client’s business in order to assess market acceptance of or satisfaction with a particular product, service, brand, or company. Public opinion polls are conducted in a similar manner.

Telemarketing techniques are also applied to other forms of electronic marketing using e-mail or fax messages, in which case they are frequently considered spam.

From Wikipedia

Telemarketing is one way that businesses can advertise their products and offer their services. They will often use professional telemarketers or call centres to make telephone calls and send faxes to potential customers on their behalf.

To generate funds, charitable organizations will sometimes contact potential donors directly or through a telemarketing firm using unsolicited telephone calls or faxes.

You may also receive a telephone call where no one is on the other end. It can be annoying and frightening. These calls are often the result of something called "predictive dialing". Some telemarketing organizations use automatic dialers to place telephone calls or send faxes. A "dead air" or "hang up" call will occur if a telemarketing representative isn't available when the call is answered. Generally, companies allow sufficient time between calls for a representative to be available; however, if the telemarketing representative is on another line longer than expected, the result is "dead air".

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