In today’s eccentric world, the usage of technology is continuously increasing; there is an electronic solution to nearly everything we can imagine.
From communication to gathering information, and to further purchasing items. Everything can be done through electronic means, and such has led to a market for businesses, to fine-tune their working to the public of today.
The people of today are so busy in their daily lives; they often can’t find the time to go to different stores and evaluate the best option. Many are prioritizing their ease of use over the quality of their desired product. With the boom of E-commerce in the recent years, it has been made possible for consumers to skip at going to a traditional store altogether and purchase their desired product from the comfort of their home. Marketing for businesses remains as crucial as ever. However, companies are needing to be more flexible with their marketing to attract more customers.
Telemarketing is one such way of marketing; providing a secure and reliable source for the business to market their product, while at the same time allowing people to purchase from the comfort of their home. The basic gist of telemarketing is that business promotes their products and their business through telephone calls, to potential customers.
In the past, Telemarketing was frowned upon as the black sheep of marketing. As people often complained about receiving calls about products they don’t care. However, unlike the past era, Telemarketing has proven to be viable and an effective means of increasing business.
Some examples of industries that rely on telemarketing to carry on with their business are as follows:
- Cable services
- Internet services
- Security systems
- Private organizations.
Telemarketing is much more than a simple telephone conversation. It is not used just for the promotion of products anymore, as it can also be used to conduct surveys and other similar jobs.
Before we delve into benefits and drawback of telemarketing, first let us know about telemarketing itself. There are two strategies of telemarketing, and their names describe their overall approach. They are Inbound Telemarketing and Outbound Telemarketing. Their description is as follows;
Inbound
Inbound telemarketing is a strategy, which involves directing the customers to make the first point of contact. For example, say you saw an ad about a magazine subscription, and you were interested in their services, there will generally be a phone number attached that you can contact on to know more about their services. That phone number is the inbound call centre, where a telemarketer is waiting to accept your call. The customer could also be called due to some previous conversation that your salesman had with the customer. They may not have been sure about the product at that time, and they could be calling possibly with the intention to purchase your product. The staff should be professional enough to try their best to explain your product and the benefits compared to similar competitors. Ethnically, it’s a good practice to train the staff not to bother the customer too much if they aren’t interested in buying.
Outbound
Outbound telemarketing is a strategy we are all too familiar with and would have come across at some point in our lives. This approach requires an agent to directly call you with the objective of getting to explain the product and possibly sell you on it.
Next, we will look at how businesses can make use of telemarketing. There are two ways you can make use of telemarketing; either you set up a team to do it yourself or you can outsource it to other providers. Generally, doing it yourself is referred to as ‘In House Telemarketing’ and outsourcing is referred to as ‘Outsourced Telemarketing.’
Finally, we will talk about the benefits and drawbacks of both.
Benefits for in-house telemarketing:
- You create your telemarketing team and know that your workers are according to your needs.
- It is easier to check that is your workers are following the rules and regulations.
- You can create and modify campaigns according to your needs.
- Your sales and marketing team will be more comfortable with one another, which can solve many complications.
- You won’t have to continually contact someone else or go somewhere to see the progress.
- You are more likely to get along with people you picked which will make telemarketing easier.
Drawbacks of in-house telemarketing:
- It will be costly to prepare the whole set-up including the cost of the place and equipment required.
- It will require more time to hire the staff, conducting interviews, checking their profiles and so on. Time is money and much time would be misspent.
- The salary of the team and maintenance of equipment will take a toll on your budget.
- Both your sales team and telemarketing team might get competitive with each other, and this can arise many problems.
- You will have to monitor everything.
- To conduct telemarketing campaigns on a regular basis can get tiring.
Benefits of outsourcing telemarketing:
- You are safe from all the headaches and confusion of whom to hire.
- You won’t have to go through the trouble about finding an official agency.
- You won’t have to monitor anyone as the agency will do so.
- The expenses are significantly lower as you only have to pay the agency a fixed amount.
- You don’t need to rent a place or buy equipment and look after them.
- Professional experienced in this trade will do your work.
- Your staff can do a better job because telemarketing responsibilities will be on the agency’s head.
- Drawbacks of outsourced telemarketing:
- You will have to go through a long search to find an official agency that will fulfil your requirements.
- If you pick a wrong agency, who isn’t well versed about your industry than it will be your loss.
- You won’t be able to control or change the direction of the campaigns.
- The shackles of contract bind you.
To cut the discussion short, both have their advantages and disadvantages. It’s up to you to choose according to your needs.