Telemarketing

Telemarketing

Telemarketing, as a phenomenon, is hard to miss. Rare are those who never received a call at home or on their cell phone, from someone trying to survey or sell something. Many people’s reaction is annoyance, even exasperation in the face of persistence. Other persons are more puzzled with how the caller, or their employers, obtained the telephone number. Notwithstanding, “telemarketing is an effective business tool” (Bateman, 2007; p.84).

Perhaps largely because of unpleasant emotions likely associated with the trade, telemarketers are always sought for, even without any experience or training, to judge by local (Montreal) free (Voir, Hour, Mirror, Metro, 24H) and non-free (The Gazette, Globe & Mail, Journal de Montreal, Le Devoir) newspaper publications. The salaries promised are competitive, training is paid and almost no credentials are required. Students and retirees are welcome. So what is holding people back? The inquiry path taken to answer this question leads to some pearls from the literature. Before we proceed, telemarketers do not perform the exact same functions as customer service agents. Conducted by telephone, telesales are the traditional method, but today’s telemarketers employ, albeit indirectly, e-mail and social media platforms.

In the turn of the millennium, state and federal level legislation was passed, prompted by privacy concerns among things, regulating telemarketing. As Bateman (2007) narrates, the U.S. National Do Not Call List counted 122 millions consumers in April 2006. Paradoxically, despite that volume of calls directed at those registered has decreased according to them, the industry is healthier than ever. Also, what about a company’s right to business? The author points out that soliciting the people on the list, unless the telemarketing firm is a charity, results in a fine.

A lot of marketing majors work in banks. Not in any way to say that marketing and telemarketing is the same thing, telemarketers also work in financial institutions. Reputation is crucially important in banking, so a bank may not want to be associated too closely with the trade if it makes consumers uncomfortable.

Telemarketers must find amazing ways to attract attention to their merchandise. Photo by Elena

A common urban legend warns of the never quitting telemarketer. In the horror story, a woman leading a busy life, unwittingly gets trapped by a solicitor into a contract, that once agreed to, cannot ever be cancelled after the first year.

Klein & Newman (2006) confirm that the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act (FSMA) rules on private information versus convenience and business operation regulations. As mentioned in the introductory paragraph, information sharing between businesses for the purposes of the telemarketing has been very problematic and has been largely outlawed except in cases of clear consent and for the company’s own products. As often is the case, it appears that perhaps a few troublemakers ruined it for everybody. Certain firms may have behaved unethically, and thus provoked the complaints that set the whole avalanche in motion.

Other areas of dissatisfaction sometimes mentioned are when people answer a call and there is no response, as well as telemarketers hanging up on them. In late 2010, in Montreal, there was an epidemic, with what is quite frankly most likely a fraudulent spambot. The only relation to telemarketing is that it probably involves some of the initial outbound data collection. In any case, a person would receive a call on their personal line that told them that they won an X amount of reward points on Air Miles. To accept, one was asked to press 1. At that point, most Montrealers got disconnected. Perhaps feeling a bit roughed up, they still got the better end of the deal. Apparently, those who got through were asked to disclose their credit card number. Air Miles has explicitly posted on their website that they had nothing to do with, do not endorse, and wish to be dissociated from, the action.

References:

    Bateman, C. R. & Schmidt, J. (2007). Do not call lists: A cause for telemarketing extinction or evolution? Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, 11 (1): 83-111.

    Klein, G. D. & Newman, C. M. (2006). Call from peerless bank: A case consideration of telemarketing and ethics. Journal of the International Academy for Case Studies, 12 (3): 103: 120.