Stressful and abusive lives of telemarketers

You are taking a nap or are in the middle of a meeting or enjoying a quiet lunch or desperately looking for change to pay the cabbie. Your mobile rings. "We would like to offer you a lifetime-free credit card...," says a tentative voice on the other end.

Depending on your personality and the time of day, you may use a four-letter word, dangerously lower your voice, make some sarcastic Smart Alecy observations about the caller's rehearsed language, or politely tell him off. You go back to your life after grumbling about the failure of the National Do-Not-Call registry.

The telemarketer has no choice but to shrug off the slamming and move on to his next call. There are targets to be met, a job to be done.

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Telemarketing guidelines: help or hindrance?

The telemarketing guidelines from the Office of the Insurance Commission (OIC) for the sale of life insurance products are certainly creating a significant level of excitement among players in the industry. The leading question is whether the guidelines will help or hinder the industry.

The answer to this question will vary among organisations but in the minds of consumers, it will be perceived as a proactive measure to enhance the environment within which telemarketing is conducted, by a regulator who has the consumer's best interests at heart.

For those organisations that are currently conducting telemarketing in a less than professional manner, the new guidelines will be of concern as they will need to change the way they conduct their business. On the contrary, those organisations not too perturbed by the proposed guidelines are those with "best of breed" telemarketing practices in place.

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Telemarketing Basics Can Lead to Call Center Success

While call centers have evolved into multi-channel contact centers with various initiatives and technologies, telemarketing is still a basic concept within many of these centers. For those conducting outbound calling, there are certain “basics” that never change, and if followed can help to generate successful practices.

TeleResources (News - Alert), Inc. recently published the white paper, “Understanding Telemarketing: A Quick Start Guide to Telemarketing Success.” In this report, the company provides key basics that are important for every call center that performs outbound or telemarketing services.

One of the first things to consider when designing a call center that will perform telemarketing services is the design. This is not to say the design of the building, but the design of the center.

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IBM And Genesys Develop Call Center Solution For China

BM (NYSE:IBM) and Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories are expanding their presence in the market for call center systems in China using a jointly developed "Call Center in a Box" solution, according to the two companies. If successful the vendors may tailor the solution for other markets.

IBM and Genesys, an Alcatel-Lucent company, have been developing, marketing and deploying call center solutions together for eight years and have more than 300 joint customers around the world, including in China, said Brig Serman, IBM vice president of strategic alliances. But the new Contact Center in a Box solution is designed to expand both companies' presence in China, Serman said.

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Don't call or email - phone and internet users are locking out advertisers

BY THE end of November 2 million Australians will have logged their phone numbers with the Do Not Call Register, blocking any commercial telemarketing efforts.

It's an impressive number for just six months work from the Australian Communications and Media Authority, which launched the register in May.

With the help of some Federal Government funding, the authority has tripled the number of Do Not Call registrations the industry body, the Australian Direct Marketing Associationhad on its books until May. To be fair, though, the association's annual budget of $20,000 to manage 600,000 names is laughable compared to the $30 million allocated to the bureaucrats to do the same job.

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6.5 m mobile users register for ‘Do Not Call’

Within just one month of launching the Do Not Call service, nearly 6.5 million mobile subscribers have registered their telephone numbers to escape receiving unwanted calls from telemarketers.

The DNC registry will come into effect from October 12 after which telemarketers will be penalised if they call mobile subscribers who have put their numbers that have been put on this list.

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Do-not-call: Only 8,000 telemarketers log in

Even as all telemarketers were asked by the telecom regulator to register with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) by August 31, only 8,000 telemarketers have registered as of October 1, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). There are a total of around 30,000 telemarketers in the country.

Registered telemarketers can only make calls or send SMSes to those phone users, who are not registered with the National Do Not Call (NDNC) registry, or those who don’t mind receiving unsolicited commercial communication. Technically speaking, unregistered telemarketers can continue to send unsolicited calls and SMSes, till official complaints are lodged against them.

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Checking unsolicited calls

Register, Centre tells telemarketers

Legal Correspondent

In order to put a check on unsolicited business calls or SMS to mobile phone users, the Centre has made registration for every telemarketer compulsory with a provision of fine up to Rs 50 crore for violation of the telemarketing licence agreements.

Detailed guidelines formulated by the Department of Telecom (DoT) on the direction of the Supreme Court, were placed before the apex court with a commitment that a three months’ time had been given for mandatory registration.

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Globe telemarketing campaign unethical--NTC

An official of the National Telecommunications Communication said it was unethical for telemarketers representing Globe Telecom to call up subscribers of rival operator Smart Communications and offer them to switch to their service.

“The practice is not ethical,” said NTC Deputy Commissioner Jorge Sarmiento in a text message.
He said the NTC will be looking into the matter.

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Indian law frees users from telemarketers

INDIA--The community of over 230 million telecom subscribers in India will be able to seek relief from unwanted telemarketing calls as the country's Do Not Call directive kicks into action tomorrow.

India's telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in June unveiled the "Telecom Unsolicited Commercial Communications Regulations 2007", putting in place a mechanism to curb unwanted telemarketing calls.

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Base One Appoints Broadsystem to Manage Outbound Lead Generation Project

British Gas Business (BGB) has appointed integrated multi-channel communications company Broadsystem to undertake a lead qualification telemarketing campaign targeting local authorities. The project, was awarded to Broadsystem following the successful completion of a similar project for British Gas Business in 2006.

Broadsystem will undertake outbound calls for a period of three weeks in order to gather data from British Gas Business (BGB) prospects in the Local Government sector. The lead generation exercise is primarily aimed at procurement managers within Local Authorities within the UK.

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Do-not-call registry to hit small telemarketers

With the Do-Not-Call (DNC) registry kicking in from September 1, 2007, the domestic outbound telemarketing industry expects about 25% slowdown in hiring and turnover growth. In the next few months, an estimated 20-25% reduction in calls (3-4 lakh calls per day) is also expected.

But here is the real impact for the industry. Small shops are expected to close but larger telemarketers (greater than 1000 people) stand to gain as large customers have started migrating processes to them. It would also lead to large scale consolidation as many small telemarketing shops which have failed to register are willing to be acquired.

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Telesales menace: Hang up on hot air!

Imagine this: you are in a movie theatre, deeply engrossed in the film’s climax, when your mobile suddenly begins ringing.

You don't recognise the number. Yet you answer the call, even as you feel the angry glares piercing you, through the darkness. At this point, if you hear a telemarketing agent say, “Sir, would you like to go for our credit card?”. You feel furious and wonder: is there no escape from telemarketing agents?

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Web-based software links 'home agents' to call centers

SEIZING on two trends that businesses use to cut costs — outsourcing work and leasing software off the Web — a San Carlos firm has created what you could call a homey offering. And it just might preserve some local jobs.
Contactual Inc. designed a Web-based software to link "home agents" — or employees working from home — into call center operations, replacing the need to physically be at a call center.

With its OnDemand Contact Center software, some clients are choosing to outsource customer service, technical support and telemarketing work to American employees' living rooms rather than to India or Ireland.

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Egypt wants bite of Indian call center market

CAIRO: Egypt has set its sights on grabbing a share of the multi-billion dollar Indian-dominated call center market and is looking to an unexpected corner for a helping hand - India. As it makes its pitch to the world, touting a multilingual workforce over India's English-speakers, a time zone shared with Europe and proximity to the US, Egypt is marketing its edge over India to India itself.

Its government has sent a high-level delegation to India to convince the IT giant to sub-outsource its outsourcing to Egypt. BPO Services is at booming satge in India.

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The Most Common Mistakes in Telemarketing

Telemarketing is concerned with making sales over the telephone. These telephone calls go both ways, meaning that there are situations when companies initiate calls in order to sell their products and/or services, and there are situations when consumers are the initiators of such calls, with the purpose of purchasing something. The request on the part of the consumer to make a purchase may come as result of a form of advertising that he or she has encountered, such as mailings.

Telemarketing is maybe one of the most controversial ways of marketing, simply because just as they are many legitimate businesses conducted in this way, there are also many cases of abuse, when con artists take advantage of unsuspecting individuals. The amount of money that fraudulent telemarketing supposedly robs consumers off annually has reached $40 billion. But although fraudulent telemarketers are those breaking the law, it is after all the consumer’s responsibility not to buy a product that seems suspicious, because no one can force another person via the telephone into making a purchase.

Telemarketing, in its broader sense, is not a complicated process, as it involves no more than three components. These are identifying the customer, executing the call, and follow-ups. The last component is the most critical of this entire process, as it determine whether or not telemarketers have reached their goal. There is no doubt whatsoever that the systematic use of the telephone was once a very good sales and marketing strategy, as it offered probably the most direct way of reaching potential customers. However, there is a very thin line between convincing clients to try your products or services and irritating them. This is the main reason why telemarketing laws are more strict now than they used to be a couple of years ago.

The huge mistake that telemarketers made was to call just about any number on any list, hoping to achieve something, instead of carefully targeting individuals who would have been most likely to make purchases. The job of a telemarketer is now all the more difficult, as any campaign must fulfill two important conditions in order for companies to get results. The conditions are that the campaign be professional and highly targeted, otherwise the risk of damaging your business reputation and wasting resources is very high.

In the United States for instance, the restrictive telemarketing laws go as far as forbidding calls between 9 pm and 8 am, giving consumers the possibility of registering with a national do-not-call list and of suing telemarketers when they have broken these restrictive laws.

It is extremely important that your business be in the hands of telemarketing companies or callcenters whose service capabilities are proven and who are reputable. This is an essential condition when it comes to the prosperity and reputation of your own business.

As you well know, telemarketing companies operate based on a callcenter. Its management is vital to the success of a business because no caller wants to wait for hours before having his problem solved or finding the information he or she is looking for. In order to maintain high service quality, sufficient staff must be provided. However, staff costs are sometimes too high, which leaves the management with two options. One refers to minimizing the number of staff present., while the other is concerned with acquiring cheaper labor. This, in fact, was one of the most controversial strategies in the telemarketing industry, because at a certain point callcenters were installed in prisons. You can imagine the violent reaction of potential customers at hearing their names, addresses and phone number were in the hands of convicted criminals!

Fortunately, this is not the case with reputable telemarketing companies, and the services they provide are excellent for both businesses and consumers.

Article Source: http://www.1articleworld.com

If you want to find more useful information about Telemarketing or about Callcenter visit this links. For the Danish version please visit Mødebooking.

Now, Telemarketing Calls Will Not Trouble You

Register yourself with National Do Not Call Registry and bid goodbye to unsolicited calls.

Thursday, June 07, 2007: For every unsolicited call or SMS to the unsuspecting customer registered with the National Do Not Call Registry (NDNC), telemarketers will be fined Rs 500. They also stand to lose their telephones connections if they make such calls for the third time, announced TRAI.

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At what extant the call center services are helpful for your business ?

is a centralized office used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone. Nowadays, a client will normally expect to be able to contact a company representative more or less twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, either by phone, fax or email. So now a new word is emerging and most of relevant call centers using the service web-based customer support solutions. Moreover, the quality and scope of outgoing calls remains important, as global competition for clients is fiercer than ever.

Call centers design specialty software that is customizable for a client company’s sales, marketing or any other telecommunications application. One of the first steps that a call center takes when contracted for a job is to ask their client a series of specific questions that will assist the call center in tailoring their software solution to meet the client’s specific needs.

Here are just some of the services that inbound and outbound call centers need to provide to be competitive in today's business world. Agents must be able to take orders, process transactions, respond to requests for services and information, and provide effective help for clients who are having problems with the company's products.

A team of customer service operators takes inbound calls from customer contact telephone numbers and the Internet site of clients. Call Center Services manages the operator resources to ensure callers get through first time to fully trained operators answering and acting as skilled customer service staff of the client company.

Outbound telemarketing outsourcing has become a viable option for many businesses in recent years. Generally, when customers call a business that they have received a service or product from, they have questions regarding that service or product. It’s crucial that the company you rely on for call center outsourcing understands your product.

Telemarketing companies need to evaluate the telephone disposition of each of their telemarketing representatives. This should be done before the individual is hired, but also after, while they are actively working for the firm. The first element appraised should be whether the telemarketer has a positive approach. Being knowledgeable is certainly important as well, but if the telemarketing representative is unpleasant, it makes no difference how knowledgeable they are on the product or service they are selling.

Conference calls have become the new way to have conversations with more than one person at a time when needed. Conference calls pricing, however, can range from a small amount for three-way calling to a large amount for adding in phone lines that can be connected to each other for conference calls.

Today, call centers handle a high volume of calls and depending on the ease and helpfulness of service, a customer will feel comfortable coming back to use these services. The service helps to save money, as well as increase the potential profits of a business or company. The best way to find a great call center it is know the services that they offer. Each call center is likely to operate under different rules and regulations; therefore, it is safe to assume that different call center services will be offered at different companies. call center services are likely to vary from call center to call center. However, there are common call centers services that are offered by most companies. One of the most common call center services is that of sales.

Mridhu is the author of call center services. She was inducted into this profession just three years back.

Source : http://www.articleblotter.com/

CRTC plans crackdown on telemarketing

Regulator releases rules for `do not call' registry

After enduring years of delays, Canadians are one step closer to hanging up permanently on annoying telemarketing calls.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission released its long-awaited rules yesterday for a national "do-not-call" list that promises to slash the number of unsolicited calls that invariably disconnect people from their dinners.

"Once an operator has been selected and has taken the necessary steps to put the list into operation, Canadians who prefer not to receive unsolicited calls will be able to add, at no charge, their numbers to the database," the commission said in a release.

"Telemarketers will be prohibited from calling consumers who are registered on the list."

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Call Center Operators Begin To Work At Home

If you ask any answering service owner what the biggest challenge that they face today almost all would answer employees. For a number of years employers have tried a number of methods to find a desirable employees to work in what is sometimes less than desirable circumstances. Today technology has delivered these answering service owners a new alternative; the stay at home operator.

Thanks to VoIP services it is very easy for an answering service operator to log on and work off premise with the same advantages as an operator has in the war room of the call center. There are several advantages to such technology and call centers who have implemented these advances are seeing major changes. Some of these answering services virtually had to beg for employees and the pickings were slim. Now these same businesses actually have a waiting list for employees, with highly qualified candidates.

Another advantage to the stay at home operator is that it allows the answering service to be able to fill peak time periods and cover absenteeism more efficiently. The answering service now has alternatives when there are weather related emergencies as well as filling those difficult to handle shifts. There are offices that will staff overnight shifts with work at home operators.

Still other offices have been slow to embrace this type of technology while other offices reluctantly use this technology only for emergencies or supervisory tasks. There is a general misconception that these operators are more difficult to supervise and that the only way to run a call center is from a centralized location. With the advanced statistical reporting capabilities that most answering services possess, coupled with voice recording technology these employees are as easy to supervise as they would be in your office.

As the answering services that utilize at home operators continue to flourish, others are following their lead. At home operators now make up the fastest growing segment of employees in the answering service industry. In addition this new trend seems to be an alternative to overseas outsourcing. With the advantages offered to work at home operators, answering service owners and the industry as a whole, stay at home agents seem to be the trend of the future.

About the Author: Todd Cardin is the east coast marketing team leader for Specialty Answering Service.http://www.specialtyansweringservice.net

Article Source: http://www.iSnare.com