What is telemarketing?

There are more than 5,000 telemarketing centers across the United States that vary in size and service offerings. Most of the telemarketing business, though, is concentrated within the 50 largest contact centers. Contact centers can be classified by location, such as offshore vs. near shore vs. onshore. They can also be categorized by brick and mortar vs. at home, as well as inbound, outbound, or mixed.

Telemarketing is ideal for a variety of business needs, including mailer follow-up, customer satisfaction surveys, account activation, customer win-backs, and cross-sell / upsell, among other uses. Since telemarketing is a form of phone sales, contact centers need to monitor and measure metrics such as talk time, call handling time, and agent idle time, adjusting procedures along the way in order to derive the maximum benefit from the campaign.

This white paper will explore the following:

• Telemarketing business practices
• Key performance indicators
• How to select the right telemarketing center
• Campaign monitoring and reporting