How Does Telemarketing Work?

Telemarketing takes place in either a call center or from a home office. Most telemarketers work out of a call center. Each telemarketer is given a cubicle and a phone. When a telemarketer calls you, you can often hear the other telemarketers in the background. Because of the noise some companies opt to have their employees make calls out of their home office. This creates jobs for moms who want to stay at home, or for disabled individuals who have trouble leaving home to go to work.

Telemarketers are given phone numbers of prospects to call. These phone numbers are either received in response to some type of survey, bought from another company, or found in your every day phone book. The telemarketers must make a certain number of calls per day to stay above their quota. Telemarketers are also now using automated voice messages to pre-screen prospects since most individuals hang up on telemarketers. If the individual wants to hear more and speak to a representative they can just press one. Then the telemarketer would get on the phone and proceed with their sales pitch.

The main reason for telemarketing is to sell some type of product or service. Sometimes it is to get more information about your buying habits. Many telemarketers work on commission so they are pushy when you answer the phone. They don't take no for an answer because they know they can sway some individuals in to buying their product. Telemarketers are not left to call the individuals without a sales pitch. It is all pre-written for them. They might have some training as to how to handle any questions that may come up, but primarily they stick to their script.

Charities and some political parties also participate in telemarketing. They are calling the general public to seek donations to their programs. They usually resort to this method when their funding is low or if they feel they still have a lot of work to do to get their message out. These types of telemarketers are not as pushy and generally more well received than a telemarketer who is just trying to sell you something.