Telemarketing

Telemarking Companies In Australia and Offshore

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 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 companies that can help improve the odds of your telemarketing 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 telemarketing company 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:

1. The value proposition of the product or service (the best telemarketing company in the world can't sell water at $100 per litre)
2. The skill of the call centre agent
3. The script (or lack of one)
4. 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 if you'd like to learn more > 

Search Telemarketing companies below:

Below you'll find a list of telemarketing companies who'll be happy to walk you through the various options. Just choose the country you'd like the telemarketing company in from the drop-down list below. You may also want to search for Lead Generation specialists as well if you are looking for suppliers to specifically book appointments for you.