Telemarketing services are growing in popularity; however, it is safe to say that there are more and more telemarketing programs that are also failing to meet expectations. Following are 10 (OK, maybe 12) of the most common reasons that telemarketing programs fail.

Not establishing a goal. More people are returning to the telemarketing services industry to capitalize on a direct marketing tool with a proven rate of success. However, many do so without first really looking at what their ROI needs to be and how many sales or leads they need to generate to hit their ROI. Understanding these numbers is absolutely key to any and all telemarketing campaigns. One of the secondary problems is designing the program around untested goals, or goals that may essentially be too high — resulting in a poor test period. It is important to make sure that your goals are realistic and that telemarketing service providers can meet these expectations.

Not understanding the data. Telemarketing services can be one of the most intensive forms of data-driven direct marketing. Using telemarketing services also means that just by calling potential customers, agents are going to gather massive amounts of data. Outside of just the leads generated through telemarketing services there are numerous amounts of non-sales data that can be extremely valuable when looking at what can be successful with customers. One simple example is adding a refusal list to every calling campaign. Look at it this way: there are 8-50 different refusals per sale, depending on the difficulty of the offer. Each of those refusals has more than likely provided agents with a reason for their decline. These reasons can vary greatly, but they offer an opportunity to understand what potential customers are looking for as well as an indication of how to remarket certain leads.
Selecting a telemarketing service provider based only on price. Cost can be everything, and every dollar spent is a dollar taken off of the overall profit. The extra money being spent is only a problem when it does not improve the overall results of the telemarketing services campaign. Lower-priced telemarketing services providers often lower their costs so they can recoup them in other areas.
Moving the program overseas. This is not just coming from someone who works in the telemarketing services industry; this is coming from a person who is constantly frustrated by inbound and outbound telemarketing service efforts from people whom I cannot understand. At this point there is general understanding about offshore telemarketing service agencies, “If you can lose the customers, save the money.”

Relying completely on scripting. The telemarketing services industry has a large number of diversified employees doing the same thing hundreds of times over and over each day. They should be pretty good at it, but there are shortcomings from time to time. In addition, because telemarketing services rely solely on the communication between two people, and people can be as unpredictable as they are predictable, it can be nearly impossible to have a proper response for every situation that arises. Telemarketing services customers can often have two very different approaches to the idea of scripting. One customer may prefer scripting everything. Others may look to train agents in the hopes that they are prepared to give the correct response in certain incidents that may arise on the phone. The best practice for this process is a combination of both.
Choosing only regional vendors. This is a problem that can often lead to choosing a vendor that is less qualified simply out of proximity. The reality is that being close to a telemarketing service provider is not going to make the program any more effective or productive.

Not visiting the service provider. Sometimes a quick look at a telemarketing vendor that you are considering can make all the difference. Are they really running with a 10:1 agent to supervisor ratio? Do they really have agents who are older and mature who have made a career out of the telemarketing industry or do they have high school students ready to call your customers? Also, this is a great chance to look at the environment where the calling is being done.
Improper set-up materials. The telemarketing services provider needs to have the right materials in order to design your program for telemarketing. Making sure the program is ready from day one is one of the best ways to ensure that the program will have the best success.

Not taking the time to understand the IT department. Call it what you like, IT, IS computer geeks, it does not matter, just make sure you know they what they do, and how they do it. From late reports to poor dialing algorithms, an incompetent IT department can significantly reduce the success of a telemarketing campaign.

Not following do-not call. At this point, it is most likely an obvious statement to say that it is important to make sure your telemarketing program is compliant with all federal and state do-not-call laws. Make sure to research the legalities of your telemarketing services program before it is dialed.

Not paying attention to quality assurance. Make sure to have a clear understanding of the goals and practices of the quality assurance department. QA processes can make or break the backend of a program. Quality assurance should ensure each sale made or lead generated is verified for accuracy and acceptance. In addition, it is important to see what QA is doing to improve the sales results by working with agents.

Not watching the results of the backend. Many groups that use telemarketing look only at the front end of a program and what the telemarketing group generated in sales or leads. However, they often ignore the payout rate of these customers or the dropout rate. Sometimes they even ignore the conversion rates with sales agents when generating leads. The bottom line here is that companies need to watch the results of what happens to the generated sales.

There are thousands of ways a telemarketing campaign can fail. Choosing a quality telemarketing services provider should be the most important part of the telemarketing process. Even choosing a good consultant to help with the telemarketing campaign may be a more profitable way to ensure success. CiS

For more information, visit the Telemarketing Services Channel on TMCnet at www.tmcnet.com/1696.1