Why is TELEMARKETING a thing?

Question

This is an honest question, as I fail to understand how this method is a viable marketing strategy? Why pay countless people to cold call when in most cases it fails to make a sale and just makes your company appear desperate for work? Think of it this way. If you were shot in the foot, you would not wait for a Doctor to call you and ask if you needed a bullet removed. You take the initiative and call the doctor. If I want SOLAR PANELS, FINANCING, or a TRIP TO JAMAICA... would I not take the initiative to make that happen? Is the money spent on these employees making calls really warranted? Does it really turn enough of a profit from these calls to justify making them? Anyone with info please let me know (plz answer here --- don t call me to tell me all about how lucrative it is... lol)

? · Accepted Answer

Because it provides endless hours of amusement to us folks that the telemarketers call, because they can't just hang up on us if we are not cussing and abusive.

My favorite is the "Hold on for a sec"
  The telemarketer calls, and starts talking.  You say "that's very interesting, I want o know more, but hold on, my doorbell is ringing..  then you let them sit for 2 or 3 mins while you do something them you come back and listen for a moment and ask a question.  As soon as they start to answer, you scream "NO! FIDO NO! and you say 'hold on my dong just went # 2, but I want to hear your answer so hold on...  then you go away and do something.....

You can drag this on all day with progressively longer waits.

I once went out to lunch and when I came back I saw my phone off the hook and remembered that I'd left the HVAC telemarketer holding...and he was STILL THERE!

So I transferred him to the 'Head of Maintenance' (The girl in the cubicle near the window) and she kept him on the line until she went home.

Hey...if they didn't bother me while I'm working, I wouldn't bother THEM while they are working!

Steve D · Answer

About 8% of cold call telemarketing calls make a sale.  About 12% of telemarketing calls to existing customers make sales.  That is why it is a thing.

Doug Freyburger · Answer

Telemarketers are paid because they make enough sales to be profitable.

The first contact has a small percentage for sales, but the 2nd contact has a higher percentage and so on.

Telemarketing is advertising for brand name recognition - Paid advertising.  That sometimes generates a sale.

me · Answer

because its easy to fire telemarketers that don't make sales, so can avoid paying benefits, overtime, raises, etc. They also relay those calls to existing customers for customer retention

Why is TELEMARKETING a thing?

4 Answers