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What Is Telemarketing: Pros and Cons For Your Business

8 min read

Virtually everyone has heard the term telemarketing, but have you ever wondered what it means? There is a bit more to it than most people think, and it has evolved over the years.

So, what is telemarketing really?

It’s a marketing strategy that involves contacting customers or potential customers over the phone to talk to them about products or services. It may also be called “tele-sales” or “inside sales.”

Telemarketing calls can come from various types of businesses. These days, digital marketing strategies are the most common form of marketing. However, there are a few industries where telemarketing is still quite prevalent, such as insurance, credit cards, and public service areas. Any of those calls you receive from political campaigns or companies urging you to change your cable service fall under the heading of telemarketing.

Some companies may think there is no value in telemarketing, but it can be beneficial for smaller businesses.

Let’s break down the ins and outs of telemarketing.

What is a Telemarketer?

So, what is a telemarketer? The answer may be obvious, as a telemarketer is someone who engages in telemarketing.

But let’s take a look at what a telemarketer does as part of their daily job. Before the digital age, telemarketers were limited to phone calls and fax messaging.

Nowadays, the practice can also include video conferences and online calling, which will most often be used for current customers.

What is a Telemarketing Call?

The most common form of telemarketing is cold calling, which is where potential customers are contacted for the first time. Hence the word “cold,” as the customer has no idea what is being marketed to them, so it is a cold lead.

However, this is not the only application for telemarketing, as it may also be used for the following reasons.

Follow-ups
Attendance confirmation for events
Lead generation
Surveying
Customer satisfaction evaluation

Telemarketing calls can be placed from a variety of locations. They may come from call centers hired to perform telemarketing services for a company, the company’s office, or from remote telemarketers.

Unethical Practices of Telemarketing

Telemarketing likely has a negative connotation in many people’s minds.

Many people generally find it annoying and risky to be randomly contacted by strangers. This is especially true when many companies use impersonal robo-calling services to contact potential customers. This is essentially a pre-recorded message that is blasted out to thousands of people in one campaign.

Overall, robocalling is not illegal, but it is frowned upon and considered unethical. After all, the whole point of a phone call is the personal contact, but robocalling eliminates that factor entirely.

Unfortunately, the telemarketing space is also full of scammers and fraudulent schemes designed to swindle unsuspecting people. These scams often target less tech-savvy demographics, such as the elderly. Scammers will use various techniques to con people, such as posing as loved ones, pretending to be a professional from a reputable organization, and much more.

Ultimately, the basic answer to what a telemarketing scheme is is any telemarketing designed to con people out of money or steal information. Although, this is a very basic summary of the problematic issue.

Effective Telemarketing Strategies

Even with the negative connotations around telemarketing, it can be an effective strategy for some companies, especially small businesses. It is a good way to connect with the early customer base and build relationships, which can potentially foster conversions.

When telemarketers are trained and do their job respectfully, it can produce a decent ROI.

The Skill of Telemarketing

Realistically, telemarketing is not for the faint of heart. Those working in this field or doing it for their own business should know that they will be hung up on or scolded by some people. As mentioned, many people are not fans of being called out of nowhere to be sold something.

Telemarketing can consist of dialing many phone numbers throughout the day, and if each rejection is weighing on the caller, it won’t take long before they are out of enthusiasm. However, those who don’t take this to heart and can bounce back to make the next call can find success.

It also helps to have some sales experience or training.

The Pros and Cons of Telemarketing

The reality is that telemarketing has its upsides and downsides. Firstly let’s look at some of the benefits of this strategy.

Advantages of telemarketing

Personal communication: The largest boon of telemarketing is that it allows for personal communication between the seller and potential customer. This can help to build a rapport for future relations.
Low cost: Compared to many other marketing channels, telemarketing can be a low-cost method.
Sort customer data: Telemarketing can be a good way to sort through the customer database. It helps to determine who is actually a potential customer and remove those who are no longer interested.
Extensive reach: Telemarketing offers a relatively easy way to contact many customers in a short amount of time. This can help to generate leads, qualify customers, and potentially make sales.

Disadvantages of telemarketing:

Intrusive and frowned upon: Many people do not like being contacted with information and a pitch they have not asked for. They feel it is intrusive and could leave a bad taste in their mouth.
“Do Not Call” list: There are numbers on Do Not Call lists that cannot be contacted with telemarketing services.
Training: It will take some time to ensure telemarketing agents are trained properly and convey a good company image.
Low early conversion: Early on, it is difficult to achieve a decent conversion rate for telemarketing. This is because it takes time to build up a customer database, which leaves cold calling as the primary option.

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Aug 25, 2023

About the author

Max has been working in the ecommerce industry for the last six years helping brands to establish and level-up content marketing and SEO. Despite that, he has experience with entrepreneurship. He is a fiction writer in his free time.