Telemarketing

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Telemarketing Telemarketing.JPG
Telemarketing

Telemarketing (sometimes known as inside sales , [1] or telesales in the UK and Ireland) is a method of direct marketing in which a salesperson solicits prospective customers to buy products, subscriptions 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.

Contents

Telemarketing is defined as contacting, qualifying, and canvassing prospective customers using telecommunications devices such as telephone, fax, and internet. It does not include direct mail marketing. [2]

Categories

The two major categories of telemarketing are business-to-business and business-to-consumer.

Subcategories

Telemarketing office Telemarketoffice.jpg
Telemarketing office

Service Styles

Procedure

Telemarketing may be done from a company office, from a call center, or from home. It may involve a live operator voice broadcasting which is most frequently associated with political messages.

An effective telemarketing campaign 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.

In business-to-business lead generation scenarios, telemarketing often targets perceived decision-makers who might be good prospects for a business product or service. The telemarketing approach is often combined with outreach via email or social media, typically referred to as a cadence. Calls are usually made by sales development representatives with the goal of this outreach being a subsequent meeting—often with an account executive at the vendor organization.

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 by receivers.

Telemarketing agent sitting in a cubicle. The brightly colored rebuttal sheets are used to answer most questions a customer might have. Telemarketerjohn.jpg
Telemarketing agent sitting in a cubicle. The brightly colored rebuttal sheets are used to answer most questions a customer might have.

Negative perceptions and criticism

Telemarketing has been negatively associated with various scams and frauds, such as pyramid schemes, and with deceptively overpriced products and services. Fraudulent telemarketing companies are frequently referred to as "telemarketing boiler rooms" or simply "boiler rooms". Telemarketing is often criticized as an unethical business practice due to the perception of high-pressure sales techniques during unsolicited calls. Telemarketers marketing telephone companies may participate in telephone slamming, the practice of switching a customer's telephone service without their knowledge or authorization.

Telemarketing calls are often considered an annoyance, especially when they occur during the dinner hour, early in the morning, or late in the evening. A common complaint about telemarketing has been that the calls are a nuisance and a distraction. In 1909, one target of the unwelcome calls declared "My telephone is far more of a nuisance to me than it is a convenience". [4] However, some companies have capitalized on these negative emotions. Since 2007 several forums have sprouted and act as complaint boards where consumers can voice their concerns and criticism. In response some telemarketing companies have filed lawsuits against these portals. [5] [6] [7] The current legal system in the U.S grants such forums a certain degree of protection through "Communications Decency Act, 47 U.S.C 230" and California's Anti-SLAPP law.

Robotic telemarketing and ringless voicemail

A recent trend in telemarketing is to use robocalls: automated telephone calls that use both computerized autodialers and computer-delivered pre-recorded messages in a sales pitch. Some can simulate a personalized phone call through personalized pre-recorded messages.

Telemarketing has recently been advanced to implement a programmed women's voice as the operator instead of hiring a real woman to perform the task (see example of Samantha West [8] ). This attempt has been shown to be unsuccessful. However, some scholars argue that such technological advancements reinforce commoditization of a woman's speech as a marketable entity and lead to "gendered hierarchy of communication". [9] : 186 

Others tactics, such as ringless voicemail, can directly deliver a voice message directly to a landline's or cellphone's voicemail. [10] [11] Its original purpose was to provide a nonintrusive method of delivering valuable messages. There has been debate on ringless voicemail causing issues relating to "hijacking" of the voicemail by companies, which would disallow family and friends to access the voicemail. [10]

Regulations

In some countries telemarketing is subject to regulatory and legislative controls related to consumer privacy and protection.

United States

Telemarketing in the United States of America is restricted at the federal level by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA) (47 U.S.C.   § 227) and the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR). The FCC derives regulatory authority from the TCPA, adopted as CFR 64.1200 and the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act, 15 U.S.C. 6101–6108. [12] Many professional associations of telemarketers have codes of ethics and standards that member businesses follow to encourage public confidence.

Some jurisdictions have implemented "Do Not Call" lists through industry organizations or legislation; telemarketers are restricted from initiating contact with participating consumers. Legislative versions often provide for heavy penalties on companies which call individuals on these listings. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has implemented a National Do Not Call Registry in an attempt to reduce intrusive telemarketing nationwide. Telemarketing corporations and trade groups challenged this as a violation of commercial speech rights. [13] However, the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the National Do Not Call Registry on February 17, 2004. [14]

Companies that use telemarketing as a sales tool are governed by the United States Federal regulations outlined in the TSR (amended on January 29, 2003 originally issued in 1995) and the TCPA. In addition to these Federal regulations, telemarketers calling nationally must also adhere to separate state regulations. Most states have adapted "do not call" files of their own, of which only some states share with the U.S. Federal Do Not Call registry. Each U.S. state also has its own regulations concerning: permission to record, permission to continue, no rebuttaling statutes, Sunday and Holiday calls; as well as the fines and punishments exacted for violations.

September 1, 2009, FTC regulations banning most robocalls went into effect.

Since many telemarketing calls now originate offshore, beyond the reach of US legal or regulatory agencies, the National Do Not Call Registry is usually ignored, as well as FTC regulations, and every possible number is called in an area code block. Some automated services are sophisticated enough to analyze the audio from the answering party, and if it determines that a human did not respond, will call repeatedly until one does or a limit is reached. This may be coupled with a fake Caller ID display ("spoofing") to mislead the call recipient into answering, or even thinking it is a local number calling. These are not actions of legitimate businesses.

Telemarketing techniques are increasingly used in political campaigns. Because of free-speech issues, the laws governing political phone calls are much lesser stringent than those applying to commercial messages. Even so, a number of states have barred or restricted political robocalls.

The National Do Not Call Registry has helped to substantially curb telemarketing calls to landlines and has also helped with the increasing trend for telemarketers to target mobile phones. As a result, there has been a greater push for mobile applications to help with unwanted calls from telemarketers, like PrivacyStar. These companies have helped to log thousands of complaints to the DNC Registry, since the inception of the registry itself. [15]

Canada

Telemarketing in Canada is regulated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), an agency of the federal department Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. Canadians can register with the National Do Not Call List (DNCL) to reduce the number of telemarketing calls received. [16] Anyone who has received a telemarketing call which is in violation of one or more of the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules may file a complaint to the national DNCL. The national DNCL operator then forwards all complaints to the CRTC, which determines whether a complaint warrants further investigation, based on their initial assessment. [17]

Australia

Telemarketing in Australia is restricted by the Australian Federal Government and policed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). Australian Federal legislation provides for a restriction in calling hours for both Research and Marketing calls. [18]

In 2007 a Do Not Call Register was established for Australian inbound telephone numbers. The register allows a user to register private use telephone numbers. Australian Federal Legislation limits the types of marketing calls that can be made to these registered telephone numbers; however, research calls are allowed. Other exemptions include calls made by charities and political members, parties and candidates [19] however any organisation that is instructed by the recipient of a telemarketing call, not to call that number again, is legally obliged to comply, and must remove the phone number from the organisations calling list(s).

Inbound telemarketing is another major industry. [20] It involves both live operators and IVR—Interactive Voice Response. IVR is also known as audio text or automated call processing. Usually, major television campaigns and advertisers use toll-free telephone number that are answered by IVR service bureaus. Such service bureaus have the technology and call capacity to process the large amounts of simultaneous calls that occur when a toll-free telephone number is advertised on television.

England/UK

British police, after noting the high rate of pensioners affected, recommended use of do-not-call registry enrollment to enhance "phone security." [21] Specific mention was also made of calls from "overseas companies."

Restrictions

Telemarketing restrictions in the UK are in place to protect consumers from unwanted and intrusive marketing calls. The use of predictive dialers, which are computer programs that dial telephone numbers automatically and connect the calls to an available agent, can make compliance with these restrictions more challenging. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's independent regulator for data protection and privacy, has issued guidelines on the use of predictive dialers for telemarketing, which require explicit consent from individuals, clear information about the purpose of the call and the business making the call, an option for individuals to opt-out of future calls, and an accurate and up-to-date call list. Additionally, businesses must ensure that their predictive dialer does not generate abandoned calls at a rate higher than 3% [22] of live calls and must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) when processing personal data for marketing purposes. Failure to comply with these regulations can result in severe penalties, including fines and damage to a business's reputation.

Finland

In Finland, call centers employ an estimated 100,000 people, but most work with customer relations in larger companies. 10,000 people are working for companies involved with telemarketing. Telemarketing often is the first job young people get. But it is also a way out or back to the labour market for handicapped, immigrants and pensioners, In Finland, the profession has had a bad reputation because of work-related injuries. The strain on neck, shoulders, eyes and ears can be considerable. Health problems have however been reduced considerably thanks to lightweight headsets, ergonomic working stations and more tasks, like documentation, done automatically by computers. [23]

France

The ability to cause a French phone number to appear on a Caller ID display, when the call originates outside of France was removed by a law passed in July 2018; implementation was delayed until August 1 of the following year. [24]

History

The term telemarketing was first used extensively in the late 1970s to describe Bell System communications which related to new uses for the outbound WATS and inbound Toll-free services. [25] However, the practice of contacting potential customers by telephone originated in the late 19th century.

A 1903 report documented using the telephone for local marketing by a dry goods store, which reported that it was more effective than "sending clerks or errand boys" to inform potential clients about buying opportunities. [26] In 1909, a department store's "general solicitation", made by telephone to over 1,000 prospective customers, promoted "a carnival of values... an offering of exceptional qualities at prices we have never before been able to make". [27] A year later, an electric power company's practice of calling potential customers at home, noted that "Regarding time of calling it is suggested that between 8 and 9 is preferable, owing to the fact that the head of the house is generally in at that time and a sufficient length of time has elapsed after the evening meal". [28] By 1912, the practice was established to the degree that a reviewer outlined fourteen specific ideas for soliciting and securing orders by telephone. [29] Telephone solicitation also developed political uses, including in 1908 "get out the vote" calls, [30] and recorded political speeches played for prospective voters. [31]

Telephonists

Telephonists, or switchboard operators, were a trans-cultural hiring of switchboard operators (mostly women) which became especially popular in North America throughout the 20th century, partially due to popularity gained through advertising. [9] : 183–184  After the shift from public switched telephone network to computer-based electronic switching system, the job of switchboard operators gradually diminished. However, with the rise of advertising and with the popularity of the telephone use, new jobs, including telemarketing jobs, were created.

Women in telemarketing

Telemarketing, as was the case with telephone operators, is one of the fields known to be occupied mostly by women. [32] The central reason for hiring women operators lay in the fact that women's work was considered a form of cheap labor: female telemarketers earned about one-half to one-quarter of men's wages. [9] : 183  Women were also considered as more polite and well mannered than male operators. [9] : 183  Moreover, the calming, more delicate nature of a woman's voice was considered to be women's natural quality, although no scientific evidence supports this statement. [33] This naturalization led to normalizing the perception of women as telephone operators and consultants, which is currently reflected in the telemarketing industry.

Technology

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Call centre</span> Office dealing with a large volume of enquiries by telephone

A call centre or call center is a managed capability that can be centralised or remote that is used for receiving or transmitting a large volume of enquiries by telephone. An inbound call centre is operated by a company to administer incoming product or service support or information inquiries from consumers. Outbound call centres are usually operated for sales purposes such as telemarketing, for solicitation of charitable or political donations, debt collection, market research, emergency notifications, and urgent/critical needs blood banks. A contact centre is a further extension of call centres telephony based capabilities, administers centralised handling of individual communications, including letters, faxes, live support software, social media, instant message, and email.

Caller identification is a telephone service, available in analog and digital telephone systems, including voice over IP (VoIP), that transmits a caller's telephone number to the called party's telephone equipment when the call is being set up. The caller ID service may include the transmission of a name associated with the calling telephone number, in a service called Calling Name Presentation (CNAM). The service was first defined in 1993 in International Telecommunication Union – Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) Recommendation Q.731.3.

The National Do Not Call Registry is a database maintained by the United States federal government, listing the telephone numbers of individuals and families who have requested that telemarketers not contact them. Certain callers are required by federal law to respect this request. Separate laws and regulations apply to robocalls in the United States.

Telephone slamming is an illegal telecommunications practice, in which a subscriber's telephone service is changed without their consent. Slamming became a more visible issue after the deregulation of the telecommunications industry in the mid-1980s, especially after several price wars between the major telecommunications companies. The term slamming was coined by Mick Ahearn, who was a consumer marketing manager at AT&T in September 1987. The inspiration for the term came from the ease at which a competitor could switch a customer's service away from AT&T by falsely notifying a telephone company that an AT&T customer had elected to switch to their service. This process gave AT&T's competitors a "slam dunk" method for the unauthorized switching of a customer's long-distance service. The term slamming became an industry standard term for this practice.

The TeleZapper is a device designed to reduce the number of telemarketing-related phone calls a household receives by imitating the tone signal normally played by a phone company to indicate a line has been disconnected. The Telezapper was created by Privacy Technologies.

Phone fraud, or more generally communications fraud, is the use of telecommunications products or services with the intention of illegally acquiring money from, or failing to pay, a telecommunication company or its customers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Direct marketing</span> Model of communicating discounts and other sales offers

Direct marketing is a form of communicating an offer, where organizations communicate directly to a pre-selected customer and supply a method for a direct response. Among practitioners, it is also known as direct response marketing. In contrast to direct marketing, advertising is more of a mass-message nature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991</span> U.S. federal law

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA) was passed by the United States Congress in 1991 and signed into law by President George H. W. Bush as Public Law 102-243. It amended the Communications Act of 1934. The TCPA is codified as 47 U.S.C. § 227. The TCPA restricts telephone solicitations and the use of automated telephone equipment. The TCPA limits companies or debt collectors from calling clients or prospective customers using automatic dialing systems, artificial or prerecorded voice messages, SMS text messages, and fax machines. It also specifies several technical requirements for fax machines, autodialers, and voice messaging systems—principally with provisions requiring identification and contact information of the entity using the device to be contained in the message.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cold calling</span> Form of business solicitation

Cold calling is the solicitation of business from potential customers who have had no prior contact with the salesperson conducting the call. It is an attempt to convince potential customers to purchase the salesperson's product or service. Generally, it is an over-the-phone process, making it a form of telemarketing, but can also be done in-person by door-to-door salespeople. Though cold calling can be used as a legitimate business tool, scammers can use cold calling as well.

The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) is the United Kingdom's official do not call list. It allows businesses and individuals to opt out of unsolicited marketing calls.

Voice broadcasting is a mass communication technique, begun in the 1990s, that broadcasts telephone messages to hundreds or thousands of call recipients at once. This technology has both commercial and community applications. Voice broadcast users can contact targets almost immediately. When used by government authorities, it may be known as an emergency notification system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caller ID spoofing</span> Phone caller faking the phone number sent to the recipient of a phone call

Caller ID spoofing is a spoofing attack which causes the telephone network's Caller ID to indicate to the receiver of a call that the originator of the call is a station other than the true originating station. This can lead to a display showing a phone number different from that of the telephone from which the call was placed.

A robocall is a phone call that uses a computerized autodialer to deliver a pre-recorded message, as if from a robot. Robocalls are often associated with political and telemarketing phone campaigns, but can also be used for public service, emergency announcements, or scammers. Multiple businesses and telemarketing companies use auto-dialing software to deliver prerecorded messages to millions of users. Some robocalls use personalized audio messages to simulate an actual personal phone call. The service is also viewed as prone to association with scams.

Telemarketing fraud is fraudulent selling conducted over the telephone. The term is also used for telephone fraud not involving selling.

A nuisance call is an unwanted and unsolicited telephone call. Common types of nuisance calls include prank calls, telemarketing calls, and silent calls. Obscene phone calls and other threatening calls are criminal acts in most jurisdictions, particularly when hate crime is involved.

TeleBlock is a software program that automatically screens and blocks outbound calls against available federal, state, wireless, third party, and in-house Do-Not-Call (DNC) lists. Designed for use in telemarketing and outbound call centers, TeleBlock is applied to a subscriber's telephone carrier, provided voice lines, or delivered through their predictive dialing and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. The system triggers all predetermined outbound calls to query a proprietary customer specific DNC database in real-time.

Cramming is a form of fraud in which small charges are added to a bill by a third party without the subscriber's consent, approval, authorization or disclosure. These may be disguised as a tax, some other common fee or a bogus service, and may be several dollars or even just a few cents. The crammer's intent is that the subscriber will overlook and ultimately pay these small charges without challenging their legitimacy or inquiring further.

Interruption marketing or outbound marketing is promoting a product through continued advertising, promotions, public relations and sales. It's the opposite of permission marketing. It is considered to be an annoying version of the traditional way of doing marketing whereby companies focus on finding customers through advertising.

In computer telephony an automatic dialler is a computer system that makes outgoing calls from a call centre to customers from call agents based upon a loaded list of contacts. Whereas automatic call distribution (ACD) distributes inbound calls to a call centre amongst its agents, an auto dialler makes outbound calls and comes in several forms. Auto diallers are responsible for providing management information to call centre operators, including how many outbound calls each agent has handled. In more sophisticated computer telephony systems, a single system handles both ACD of inbound calls and dialling of outbound calls, allowing agents to be switched between the two as traffic volumes require.

STIR/SHAKEN, or SHAKEN/STIR, is a suite of protocols and procedures intended to combat caller ID spoofing on public telephone networks. Caller ID spoofing is used by robocallers to mask their identity or to make it appear the call is from a legitimate source, often a nearby phone number with the same area code and exchange, or from well-known agencies like the Internal Revenue Service or Ontario Provincial Police. This sort of spoofing is common for calls originating from voice-over-IP (VoIP) systems, which can be located anywhere in the world.

References

  1. ↑ Marshall, Judith J.; Vredenburg, Harrie (1991). "The roles of outside and inside sales representatives. Conflict or cooperation?". Journal of Direct Marketing. 5 (4): 8–17. doi:10.1002/dir.4000050404.
  2. ↑ "What is telemarketing? definition and meaning". BusinessDictionary.com. Archived from the original on 2018-03-22. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
  3. ↑ "Telemarketing - Appointment Setter Telemarketing Services". appointmentsetter.net.au. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  4. ↑ "Housekeeper Objects to Telephone Advertising", Telephony, February 20, 1909, page 227.
  5. ↑ "GDS Publishing Provides a Timely Reminder of Why We Needed the Libel Tourism Law (CL&P Blog)" . Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  6. ↑ "Lawyer Attempts End Run Around CDA 230, Finds a Stronger Defense Than He Expected" . Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  7. ↑ "Once Again: Do Not Send Legal Threats To Companies Because You Don't Like What A User Says". Techdirt. 9 July 2008. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  8. ↑ "Samantha West The Telemarketer Robot Who Swears She's Not a Robot - TIME.com". Time . 10 December 2013. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Rakow, Lana F. (1988). "Women and the telephone: the gendering of a communications technology". In Kramarae, Cheris (ed.). Technology and Women's Voices: Keeping in Touch. doi:10.4324/9780203221938. ISBN   9781135795016.
  10. 1 2 Tara Siegel Bernard (3 June 2017). "No, Your Phone Didn't Ring. So Why Voice Mail From a Telemarketer?". The New York Times . Retrieved 4 June 2019.
  11. ↑ "VoiceLogic". VoiceLogic. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  12. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-07-09. Retrieved 2006-07-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ↑ Miller, Jacqui Brown. "Mainstream Marketing Services, et al. v. Federal Trade Commission: Resources and Legal Analysis." ReclaimDemocracy.org. January 20, 2004.
  14. ↑ Text of the case and the decision. FindLaw.
  15. ↑ Matt Brownell, The Street. "http://www.thestreet.com/print/story/11439016.html." March 1, 2012. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
  16. ↑ National DNCL.
  17. ↑ (CRTC), Government of Canada, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. "Canada's National Do Not Call List". DNCL. Retrieved 2018-08-20.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. ↑ Telecommunications (Do Not Call Register) (Telemarketing and Research Calls) Industry Standard 2007 Archived 2007-11-29 at the Wayback Machine ACMA.
  19. ↑ Do Not Call Register FAQ Archived 2007-08-30 at the Wayback Machine ACMA FAQ.
  20. ↑ "Outbound Vs. Inbound Telemarketing" . Retrieved 2018-08-31.
  21. ↑ British Crime Survey; callpreventionregistry.com or .. freephone .. 0800 652 7780. "Beat nuisance phone calls". Daily Record (Scotland) . August 25, 2013.
  22. ↑ Schotel, Spencer (February 3, 2023). "Telemarketing Restrictions in the UK with a Dialer". XL Marketing. Archived from the original on February 27, 2023. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
  23. ↑ Lindén, Carl-Gustav Lindén (October 9, 2013). "Call centres: young people's entry into working life". Nordic Labour Journal. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  24. ↑ "Law Toughened against Telemarketing Calls". August 8, 2019.
  25. ↑ "Telemarketing: Overview". September 15, 2003. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
  26. ↑ "Advertising by Telephone", Dry Goods Reporter, March 14, 1903, page 77.
  27. ↑ "Retailing by Wire" by Lynn Sumner, System, March 1909, pages 279-280.
  28. ↑ "Canvassing by Telephone", Electrical Review and Western Electrician, December 10, 1910, page 1192.
  29. ↑ "Selling by Telephone" by Marshall Jewell Bailey, System, April 1912, pages 396-402.
  30. ↑ "Telephone Help Election Day", Telephony, June 1908, pages 373-374.
  31. ↑ "Campaign Speeches by Telephone", Telephony, October 3, 1908, pages 338-339.
  32. ↑ Belt, Vicki; Richardson, Ranald; Webster, Juliet (2000). "Women's Work in the Information Economy". Information, Communication. 3 (3): 366–385. doi:10.1080/13691180051033315. S2CID   144267029.
  33. ↑ Dykema, Diloreto, Price, White, Cate Schaeffer, Jennifer, Kerryann, Jessica L., Eric, Nora (Jul 2012). "ACASI Gender-of-Interviewer Voice Effects on Reports to Questions about Sensitive Behaviors Among Young Adults". Public Opin Q. 76 (2): 311–325. doi:10.1093/poq/nfs021. PMC   4079084 . PMID   24991062.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

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