The Job Description of a Telephone Salesperson
Telephone sales people are commonly referred to as telemarketers. Telemarketers often work long hours and have extremely sedentary jobs. Some employers will provide benefits while others will not. Individuals can be hired as telephone salespersons without a college education or degree.
Other People Are Reading
-
Responsibilities
-
Telemarketers deliver prepared sales scripts that describe products or services to customers, according to Myplan.com. Telemarketers are also responsible for obtaining customer information such as names and addresses. Recording customer reactions to different sales scripts is another important part of the job. Telemarketers can use these reactions to determine which sales pitches work best. Some telemarketers can make up their own sales scripts, according to Stateuniversity.com. Telemarketers often ask potential customers to take surveys at the end of phone calls.
Types
-
Some telemarketers work for nonprofit organizations and make phone calls seeking donations, according to Myplan.com. Some telemarketers concentrate on outbound calls while others take inbound calls. Outbound calls involve calling potential customers from a list of telephone numbers. Telemarketers that take inbound calls answer telephone calls from interested customers who are calling their company. Other telemarketers call customers who have already purchased products to conduct surveys.
-
Considerations
-
Telemarketers need to be computer literate to be able to record and track customer data, according to Myplan.com. Jobs for telemarketing positions are often listed as telephone sales, marketing research or marketing services. Approximately 415,000 people worked as telemarketers in 2004, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. The National Do Not Call Registry allows people to place their name on a list that prevents telemarketers from calling them. This has caused the employment of telemarketers to decrease, according to Stateuniversity.com. If companies call individuals on these lists, they are fined heavily.
Education
-
Telemarketers are not required to have any specific college degree, according to Stateuniversity.com. Training is typically provided to new employees by the company providing the job. Employers are looking for individuals with superb communication skills and good telephone personalities.
Employment
-
The median salary for telemarketers in November 2009 was $32,302, according to Salary.com. The top 75th percentile made $38,966 and the lower 25th percentile made $25,711. Telemarketers usually work in groups, usually in an office dedicated to telephone sales, according to Stateuniversity.com. Telemarketers are sometimes required to work evening shifts, often extremely late. However, some telemarketers are only required to work during the daytime. Telemarketers are often required to meet monthly sales quotas, which adds pressure to the job. Some telemarketers are paid a commission for each sale they make. Telemarketers can progress within a company to managerial positions.
-
References
Resources
- Photo Credit telephone image by Vasiliy Koval from Fotolia.com
