Does Tele-marketing Work?

[M.D. Holloway]

Question came up over the weekend between some friends - does tele-marketing work? Everyone agreed that it is a pain in the arse to get that phone call at dinner time for some lame resort.

Granted, it is a cheap way to get the word out and getting at least 2% of all calls to hit may prove profitable (considering they most likely don't pay these people anything). Still, is it a viable form of selling? I do not know anyone who has ever (or at least admittly) bought anything from a tele-marketing effort.

Thoughts?

[artplumber]

I guess it must work somewhat, they keep doing it after all...

I've never even listened to the complete sales pitch - annoying IMO.

[legion]

I see people who buy from telemarketers in the same camp as those who think they're going to be able to keep the $2,000 a rich deposed Nigerian prince gave them for their troubles, and those that buy from QVC...

[svandamme]

it must work, or else why is it such a big business?
guess those suckers that were born every minute for some reason are smart enough to hold a job, make a living and then get suckered into spending it...

i personally do not buy from telemarketeers, they just don't have the great deals i'm looking for

[Tervuren]

Yes, it just depends on how broad your target is. I know a few people who work in call centers that specificly target certain things, and have a high success rate.

In the case of telemarketing to homes, a lot of it is junk or scams that I wonder how it can even exist.

[RallyJon]

Business to consumer? No, at least, never to me.

Business to business? Absolutely.

And as Tervuren says, the big problem is that it's poorly targeted. It's like commercial e-mail. If I got well targeted spam e-mail from Pelican and other Porsche vendors, I wouldn't mind a bit. It's the penis enhancer and stock tip e-mails that annoy me.

Likewise, 99% of telemarketing is so badly targeted that it colors any worthwhile offer badly.

[M.D. Holloway]

So, as far as personal items go it is far less successful than a business to business call? Interesting.

So, what calls have you recieved at work that resulted ina sale on the other end?

[RallyJon]

So, what calls have you recieved at work that resulted in a sale on the other end?

Printing, mainly. We used to do a lot of brochures and sale sheets. That sort of thing is very price competitive so we'd give new printers a try all the time.

It works much better if it's not totally cold, of course. "I saw you were at the XXX trade show and I think we can help you because..." at least gives a frame of reference rather than, "I'm calling every incorporated company in the U.S."

Also, unless the service/product is amazingly new and unique, you pretty much have to have great introductory pricing/association discount/kickback/hookers/etc.

[svandamme]

depends on the business i think

i could imagine that auto parts retail stores have product managers who will listen to your pitch, if your pitch is about a new product that could get sold in that store, it is their job after all to find out about new stuff...


construction companies on the other hand, for instance concrete specialists, i would think are rarely in dire need of the latest development in concrete mixing equipment...they tend to call if they need it when they need it

[RallyJon]

One more thing--I really hate b-to-b telemarketing without a reason.

For example, every quarter or so, a cheery woman from Fedex calls and talks me up on their latest new incentive. Would a digital NFL FedEx wall clock make you use us more? How about a points reward program? If you double your shipments with us, you could win a George Forman grill!

I'm not sure what's more disturbing: that a very bright Kellogg MBA probably thought that up, or that it actually works on some companies?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Same. Four beautiful, lovely words that make my heart go pitter-patter: "DO-NOT-CALL-LIST". Almost as good as the most beautiful three-word combination out there: "UNLISTED PHONE NUMBER".

The only things that'd make the do-not-call list better would be if:
(1) it could be expanded to allow businesses to add themselves to it.
(2) it could be expanded to protect people from getting calls from political advertisers and campaigners (currently exempted and frankly, more annoying than the telemarketers)
(3) it could be expanded so you didn't have to renew your "do not call" status every three years as you currently do (it'd be nice if it was a permanent/lifetime "opt out").

But to answer the question, yea - it's like spam. If one idiot in 100,000 responds to the crap, it's profitable for them and thus, the problem persists. The only permanent solution is for people to get collectively smart enough to stop responding to it to the point it's not longer profitable, or for the costs of delivering the message to increase to the point it's no longer profitable based on the success rate. Since people seem to be getting collectively stupider, rather than smarter I won't hold my breath for that to happen. Probably the only thing that'll make the problem go away is for wages in India to go up, at which point the telemarketers will simply be replaced by robots who work for free. . .

So the problem is (unfortunately) here to stay. Junk mail/spam/telemarketing - it's all the same crap. Just don't respond to it and "opt out" wherever possible. That's about all you can do.

[RallyJon]

Well how about this: Let's say there was a new idea or concept that you'd never heard of, that had been productized and was just now available at a price you would pay. How would you prefer that that information get into your head?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Conventional advertising or word-of-mouth. Let's face it, how much stuff do you buy as a result of advertising efforts versus word-of-mouth recommendations?

Virtually ALL my purchases are based on recommendations by others and advertising efforts have little, if anything to do with it.

I could care less about the rationalizations for the activity - it's unwanted, offensive and frankly I'm LESS inclined to patronize any business that resorts to such tactics.

"Don't-call-us-we'll-call-you" are words that people and businesses need to learn to live by. If I want their product, I'm resourceful enough to find them. Pushy marketing and salesmanship almost always draws a very negative response from me. I've literally walked out of stores and people have lost some very high-dollar sales by me because their pushy attitude pissed me off. No joke. This stuff is really that annoying.

[legion]

Originally posted by Porsche-O-Phile
Conventional advertising or word-of-mouth. Let's face it, how much stuff do you buy as a result of advertising efforts versus word-of-mouth recommendations?

Virtually ALL my purchases are based on recommendations by others and advertising efforts have little, if anything to do with it.

I've always wondered why companies can get away with spending millions of dollars for a few seconds of air time during the Superbowl. Surely the cost outways the sales gains.

I wonder how companies (like airlines that stop serving meals and pretzels instead of peanuts) can justify sponsoring sporting events and other "name recognition" forms of advertising?

[M.D. Holloway]

I am a believer that the Ad Agencies come up with the stats on how and why advertising is successful. I love the Bud commercials during the Super Bowl but will not and have not bought Bud because of them. The Black Velvet ads as well, love those ladies but have not had nor will I drink it.

Sponsorship and advertising must work or else companies would not spend money on it right? Well, I think it is a collective rationalization (sorta like trade shows). If you don't do it they feel people may wonder why they don't. For the cost of it I am not sure the return is there - but some Harvard MBA thinks it is worthwhile so it must be the way to go.

I know from experience that we have grown considerably without it and if we grew much more in the next 12 months we will be beyond our present mfg capacity untill the new plant is finished. Maybe its good we didn't sponsor a NASCAR!

[kach22i]

For the last month or so I've had intermittent problems with my phone and phone lines at work. I had the phone line fixed, and replaced the phone system - both had problems. Good thing I got it all fixed, because I've had four tele-marketers contact me already this morning.

I'm thinking about getting rid of the phone now, so I can get some work done.

[RallyJon]

One thing a phone call does do, and that's make sure the person is at least aware of the concept. No other approach can guarantee that.

Suppose there's a buyer who needs your product and would jump on it in a second. All you have to do is get the idea in front of him somehow. You send him a nice letter and brochure and it ends up on the mailroom floor. With a senior executive market for our products, that happens to us all the time.

What are you supposed to do?

[M.D. Holloway]

Networking seems to be the best - get an e-mail out to the folks you meet and set up a good website. The energy it takes to rain down on the masses could be better served by being smarter, more strategic?

[widebody911]

Originally posted by RallyJon
One thing a phone call does do, and that's make sure the person is at least aware of the concept. No other approach can guarantee that.

So you think your product is sooooooo special that I should drop everything to listen to your pitch? The problem is, there's 100,000 others just like you who also want to get some ear time.

How do you decide?

You don't - fuck 'em all. The hucksters have basically ruined it for everyone.

If I really need something, I should be able to find it, and I feel that living without it for the time being is a small price to pay for not being hasselled.

I have no qualms messing with telemarketers. If they get tired of the abuse, they'll quit, and eventually the cost of hiring people willing to take the abuse will go up and drive up telemarketing costs.

[coldstart]

Three magic advertising words: Name brand recognition

You supposedly (a) you use a brand that you trust and that you know-- ads make the product seem trustworthy and familar. For instance, I JUST bought JB cold weld for my muffler (total came to exactly $9.11). It was double the price of the other brand (Permaflex?). Why did I buy it over the $4.99 alternative? It was recommended by other users on this board and I was familar with the brand name.