Telemarketing

Telemarketing can be a powerful way to grow your business that typically involves calling customers via the telephone to introduce a product or service with the intention of a sale.

Typically telemarketing works by obtaining a list of potential customers that you would like to sell a product or service to. The list of potential customers can be purchased by specialist list suppliers, or it might be an old list of your own customers or even a current list of customers you already have and are actively engaged with.

Types of Telemarketing

Call centre telemarketing is normally defined using three key terms:

Cold Calling

Cold calling is when you don't have any prior relationship with the customers.

Warm Calling

They may have been a previous or existing customer so there will be some awareness of your brand when the call centre agent makes contact.

Hot Calling

This is best defined as when a customer has specifically requested contact with the intent of learning more about the product or service or to purchase.

Is Telemarketing right for your business?

There is no question that cold calling telemarketing can produce results but it's also not easy with a range of factors that can contribute to a successful telemarketing campaign including the quality of the customer data, the skill of the agent, the perceived value of the product or service.

But rest assured there are specialist call centre telemarketing businesses that can help improve the odds of your campaign being a success.

Just a word of caution though - many businesses seeking telemarketing solutions are looking for a 'commission-only' model where the telemarketing provider will only be paid on sales. Unfortunately, this is a very high-risk strategy for the telemarketing business and most will require a trial period first on a fixed-price model to determine the expected conversion rates before agreeing to the commission-only models.

Best Locations for Telemarketing companies

With call centre resources significantly cheaper overseas (e.g. Philippines, South Africa etc) one of the decisions you need to consider is do you engage a telemarketing company in Australia or do you use one overseas?

There is no blanket rule and it ultimately comes down to what you want to achieve for your business. Some key points you may want to consider:

Data is expensive so you need to make the most of it.
There are also different quality levels of data - ringing random phone numbers will provide a far lower conversion rate than a highly-targeted telemarketing list.
Whilst offshore call centre labour is cheaper, ultimately the conversion rate will determine the best result and as a general rule, when customers speak to customers in their local area the conversion rates are higher.
Telemarketing doesn't always provide a good Return on Investment. As a general rule, if the product you are sell is low in value and has a limited profit margin, it's harder to achieve a ROI.
There is no industry average on conversion rates.

How much do Telemarketing companies charge?

An Australian based outsourcer will look to invoice around $450 - $600 per agent, per day at a minimum, assuming you’re working with an hourly rate model. If you were looking at a commission-only model, they will be seeking a lot more money (as it’s higher risk). Overseas options are of course, cheaper. There are many ways telemarketing companies charge for their services including:

Straight hourly rate
Lower hourly rate with a higher commission
Higher hourly rate with a small commission
Commission only
On-costs can include call costs, provision of data, script development, supervision, agent training, compliance checks, quality checks etc.

What is a typical conversion rate?

Ultimately the conversion rates typically come down to four things:

The value proposition of the product or service (the best telemarketing in the world can't sell water at $100 per litre)
The skill of the call centre agent
The script (or lack of one)
The quality of the data

Typically, as a rule good telemarketing conversion rates vary between 2% and 7%.

You can download our free cost guide to call centre outsourcing in 2020 if you'd like to learn more >

Below you'll find a list of call centre outsourcers who are telemarketing specialists - give them a call and they'll be happy to walk you through the various options. If you'd like some free help, just contact us on 03 9008 7287or send us a message and we'll provide you with a shortlist of recommended suppliers who can best meet your requirements.

You may also want to search our list of Lead Generation specialists as well if you are looking for suppliers to specifically book appointments for you.