What is Telemarketing?

Let me try to keep telemarketing clear and understandable. Telemarketing or telesales in UK is simply the process of generating leads, making sales, or gathering marketing information through the use of telephone. It is more valuable than personal selling because it saves time and money, but offers closely the same benefits in terms of direct relationship with customers. It may not only mean selling anything, for it could be conducting market research, setting appointments , generating prospects or making a customer follow up call after purchase.

Telemarketing to discuss further is either inbound or outbound in scope. Inbound telemarketing refers to the handling of incoming telephone calls. It means taking customer service and sales calls from customers looking to make contact with the company. The idea of fielding calls from customers that pre-qualify themselves can seem like simple sales work, but the real key is that this type of telemarketing serves as desk to accommodate all customers' queries, meet their objections and educate them if necessary. Telemarketers working in this type of telemarketing program normally do not need as much training as outbound reps because the customer already has shown an interest by calling in.

On the other hand, outbound telemarketing refers to the use of telephone to follow-up on inquiries, to sell products or services, to clarify or upgrade an order, or to gather information about consumers or other aspects of the market. Unlike inbound telemarketing, outbound telemarketing calls work by demanding immediate attention from customers. Representatives working on this side of the industry generally need more training and product knowledge because actual selling often involves more complex tasks.

Telemarketing, whether inbound or outbound, is many things to different people in different countries, but generally it works for the following goals:

• To find new customers or generate interest in brand, product or service by taking the information directly to customers.
• To identify excellent potential leads for business team to close.
• To create more reliable source of data for one's business, rather than buying the data.
• To drive great telesales campaigns
• To remove the need for large periods of cold calling.
• To reduce training costs and other related expenses.
• To professionally present brand, product or service to potential customers.
• To canvas existing customers to reveal buying trends, or the potential for new business.
• To turn simple requests for information into solid sales leads.
• To conduct market research activities that can also produce leads.
• To provide a stream of appointments.
• To provide customer satisfaction and often exceeds the needs of the customer.

However the success of telemarketing doesn't depend on its nature itself. It should be manned by professional telemarketers. The people who will do the telemarketing should be equipped with full knowledge about the products or services that they are marketing; should be prepared when bombarded with questions by the customers; should have the capacity to generate good level of results and permanence by doing the telemarketing right.

One can acquire the above set of people by outsourcing to telemarketing call centres. Any business can take advantage of their staffing, language, and infrastructure capabilities in order to reach potential customers more easily. Their telemarketing service has more to offer than just plain selling, they can use it for lead generation, setting appointments, and collecting information most businesses want to see. Although there are still negatives that can be associated to it, including its being more expensive than direct mail, it tends to be more efficient in closing sales and thus provides a greater chance to increase revenue.