General Procedure of Telemarketing

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.

(Wikipedia)

Telemarketing started in 1970s and was introduced for the purpose of easing the process of marketing for businesses. It can be started from any place, whether it is an office cabin, home or a call center. It requires a computer with the data base information about the customer, a dedicated phone line and either an agent who can call up people or even an automated recording.

The automated recording is generally a pre recorded message of a sales pitch and is mostly used by government organizations. It is important to make at least two calls per customer to have an efficient telemarketing campaign. In the first call usually the agent gets the information about the needs of the customer and in the second call is made to convince and motivate the person to buy the product.

The potential customers are gathered by either lead generation or by purchasing a data base of customer’s information from other companies from which the customers have already purchased in the past. These can also include information about the person’s credit limit, purchase history and other personal data.

It is also very important to have a good telephone line and a properly trained agent who is well informed about the product for which he is about to pitch to people.

The Kind (Type) of Telemarketing

There are five types of telemarketing services businesses use to market their product. Each type has a different purpose, so it is important for a business to choose one (or more) that fits its telemarketing needs.

1. In-bound telemarketing

Publish, display and mention your phone numbers in catalogs, direct mail, emails, faxes, print ads, on websites and in TV/radio spots to generate orders and leads. Receive calls when customers see your phone numbers in catalogs, direct mail, emails, faxes, print ads, on websites and in TV/radio spots to generate orders and leads. Your telemarketing call center will receive these calls, answer questions, and sell your product. Cross-sell/up-sell callers to boost revenues. Make your CRM strategy gain results by presenting targeted offers on inbound telemarketing calls.

2. Out-bound telemarketing

Call customers and prospects to sell products and services, generate and qualify leads, prompt them to visit stores and showrooms and set appointments. Give existing buyers heads-up on hot deals. Turn outbound customer care calls into outbound telemarketing calls by cross-selling/upselling targeted offers. Your telemarketing call center can also notify current customers of special sales and promotions.

3. Business to Business Telemarketing

Use outbound telemarketing to acquire customers, qualify prospects and pass hot leads to sales reps and deal closers. Rely on inbound telemarketing to acquire and qualify buyers for followup by your sales reps, close sales, process orders and cross-sell/upsell offers. Your telemarketing call center can keep other businesses aware of your latest products and services.

4. Business to Consumer Telemarketing

People depend on your outbound telemarketing and inbound telemarketing programs to buy goods and services. Present attractive, special offers, and targeted offers to prospects and existing customers with outbound telemarketing calls. Get the most out of print ads, DRTV and infomercial inbound telemarketing with cross-sells/upsells.

5. Automated Telemarketing

Automated telemarketing, using interactive voice response (IVR) is an effective, inexpensive way to process large numbers of inbound telemarketing calls. Outbound telemarketing using IVR delivers offers quickly at low cost, generating inbound telemarketing leads and sales.In both cases, special equipment contacts customers or receives calls from customers without any live staff needed.

Telemarketing (or telesales) has proven effective for businesses of all types and sizes. Any of these five types of telemarketing may be used separately, or in combination, to provide the optimum results for the sale of your product.

The Rules of Telemarketing

Telemarketing refers to the use of telecommunications facilities to make solicitation (permission) of the selling or promoting of a product or service, or the soliciting of money or money's worth, whether directly or indirectly and whether on behalf of another party.

These rules apply to all unsolicited calls for the purpose of solicitation. They apply to business-to-business telephone solicitation and calls from businesses to existing customers.
These rules do not extend to calls where there is no attempt to advertise a product, offer a service; for example, calls for emergency purposes, calls to collect overdue accounts, calls for market or survey research, and calls to schedule appointments.

Telephone Calls:

1. Callers must identify the person or organization they represent.
2. Callers must provide the telephone number, name and address of a responsible person the called party can write to, upon request.
3. Callers must display the originating calling number or an alternate number where the caller can be reached.
4. There are no calling hour restrictions on live voice calls.
5. Sequential dialing is not permitted.
6. Names and numbers of called parties must be removed within 30 days of the called party’s request.
7. Calls are not permitted to emergency line or healthcare facilities.
8. DO NOT CALL lists are to be maintained by the calling party and remain active for three years.
9. Random dialing and calls to non-published numbers are allowed.

Faxes:

1. Calling hours are restricted to weekdays between 9AM and 9:30PM and weekends between 10AM and 6PM. Restrictions refer to the time zone of the called party.
2. Must identify the person or organization on behalf of whom the fax/call is made, including the telephone number, fax number and name and address of a responsible person to whom the called party can write. This rule also applies to organizations sending unsolicited fax calls on behalf of another organization.
3. Must display the originating calling number or an alternate number where the call originator can be reached.
4. Names and numbers must be removed within 7 days of the called party’s request.
5. Sequential dialing is not permitted.
6. DO NOT CALL lists are to be maintained by the calling party and remain active for three years.
7. Fax calls are not permitted to emergency line or healthcare facilities.

(Source)

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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