The Decline of Telemarketing in Today’s Marketing Technology Landscape

Trying to get new business is ever increasing challenge. Telemarketing is a marketing strategy that involves connecting with customers through phone or more recently web-based video conferencing. It is one of the common methods of contacting potential customers. We can reach more customers by phone more easily than in-person or by going door-to-door. It is often said that people buy from people yet more business is being done online.

Despite the sales value the telemarketing offers, it is associated with negative images

• Customer reactions are not always very friendly, as bad experiences with telemarketers contribute to the negative stereotype.
• Some customers find calls quite annoying or wary of scams.
• Customer lists are expensive to purchase and may not be up-to-date.
• At the same time, there are many laws and legal issues we need to be aware of when dealing with telemarketing.
• More people are using technology to screen out unwanted callers, particularly telemarketers. Personal data protection act promises an end to annoying telemarketing disturbances for people who register their numbers with it. Millions of people have registered on the opt-out register to avoid unwanted sales calls.
• For the telemarketing, we may need to hire professionals to create a well crafted and effective script and if it is outsourced to an outside firm, it can be extremely expensive.

Figures suggest that business data decays at much faster rate. That means people change jobs, leave and get promoted. Companies close and merge as well as change their phone numbers.

So is telemarketing dead? Probably the biggest threat to telemarketing is not only the growth of online or digital marketing. Rather it is the lack of differentiation or compelling proposition. How often have you been called by a telemarketer offering you a better price or an unbelievable product or service you may or may not be interested in? Now compare that to the last time you were looking for a product or service online by using Google, Bing or Yahoo. Chances are you were far more likely to purchase a product or service online than by answering the call of a random telemarketer. Telemarketing has become a thing of the past.

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