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Telemarketing is the direct marketing of goods or services to potential customers over the telephone, internet, or fax. Telemarketing may either be carried out by telemarketers or increasingly by automated telephone calls or “robocalls.”
The intrusive nature of telemarketing, as well as reports of scams and fraud perpetrated over the telephone, has spurred a growing backlash against this direct marketing practice. Telemarketing may also be referred to as “telesales” or “inside sales.”
However, this technique has many other applications, including:
- Generating leads
- Confirming attendance at events
- Post-sales follow-up
- Evaluating customer satisfaction
How Telemarketing Works
Telemarketing is the practice of contacting, vetting, and approaching potential customers. It does not include the use of direct mail marketing methods.
Telemarketing may take place from a call center, an office, or, increasingly, a home. Many times, telemarketing can involve a single call to assess interest or suitability, and then follow-up calls to pursue a sale. Various data may be used to narrow down large databases of names to a small number of higher-probability customer prospects.
Telemarketing is used by for-profit businesses, nonprofit charities, political groups and candidates, surveying, donation solicitation, marketing research, and other kinds of organizations.
Types of Telemarketing Activities
The act of telemarketing can be divided into four subcategories:
- Outbound: Companies actively reach out to customer prospects and existing customers via outbound telemarketing calls, also known as “cold” calls.
- Inbound: These telemarketing calls are based on inbound inquiries about products or services as prompted by advertising or sales efforts. These are considered “warm” calls as customers will typically have submitted an interest form online or already be familiar with the company.
- Lead generation: This is the collection of intelligence about the profiles, interests, and demographic data of potential customers.
- Sales: Telemarketers who are trained salespeople engage in this persuasive activity. They aim to close a deal on the phone.
Telemarketing may entail a variety of activities, such as surveying, appointment-setting, telesales, database maintenance and cleaning, and providing a call to action.