In the last few days, I came across two interesting blog entries about telemarketing. t Darren Rowse in his Problogger wrote:
"Yesterday I had the ‘pleasure’ of receiving three calls in 10 minutes from a tele-sales company where the callers (3 different ones) started their calls (where they were trying to sell me a mobile phone) with these three lines:
1. ‘Hi, who am I speaking to?’
2. ‘Hi, Do you have a mobile phone?’
3. ‘Hi, Can I ask how much you earn?’
…………………………………………
Now I do sympathize with the task that the people making the calls had - they are probably working for minimum wages in some other country and have been given the impossible task of selling phones to people on the other side of the world over the phone - but the approach that they had been trained to use didn’t go down to well with me. To say that I became more irate with each call would be an understatement!"
(Source: http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/06/17/cold-call-blogging-and-effective-selling-on-blogs/)
Then in Panda Place I found this about Panda's experience in a telemarketing job:
"I never enjoyed my time as a telemarketer. The only part I liked was that I could sit down and read a book between calls. But it was humiliating work, no matter how you slice it. Telemarketers need a thick skin to work in that profession, because let's face it, no one likes to be called at home to hear a sales pitch. I could have been selling chocolate, and it wouldn't have mattered. No one likes a sales pitch on the phone."
In both of the blog entries you can easily understand that telemarketing is not exactly the most cherished job in the western world. However, for India it is a booming business and according to a report in TMC Net, "For many people in America and Britain, outsourcing to India is synonymous with telemarketing and call-centres that try their patience."
For thousands of young and educated IT workers in India, telemarketing is like a dream job as the salary is good compared to the Indian standard. Before they start their job, they receive training to speak with an American accent and often they change their real name and adopt a common American name. Because of the time difference between America and India, these workers often have to start their work after sunset and work until sunrise. It's a tough job but most of these workers are happy to get a monthly salary of $250 or a bit more. And since more and more people in USA like Panda are not interested to work in telemarketing, the industry is going to flourish even better and more quickly in India. However, I feel that Indian government and IT industry leaders should pay more attention about this matter. Of course, I am not suggesting that India should stop taking telemarketing works as if Indian companies do not accept them the jobs will go elsewhere. However, I wish to see Indian government and NASSCOM comes forward and do two things: they prepare a set of code of conducts for Indian companies who are involved in telemarketing (may be they already exist and I do not know or could not find in Internet search) and implement them. Secondly, they should start a media campaign to give the message that India is not about telemarketing.
I am interested to write about this issue more in the coming days. As for the time being, I wish that both Darren and Panda can enjoy their days without having unwanted phone calls while on the other hand, I wish the Indian telemarketers all the best in their work.
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Telemarketing nowadays are very much useful in such that they can call out for clients to avail their services or products. It is very much to have this kind in a business so that they can get clients.
Posted by: telemarketing | March 26, 2009 11:02 PM | Permalink to Comment
In my experience UK companies are still a little cautious about allowing their data to go off-shore. It's normally okay if the marketing company has a UK subsidiary - then at least they feel they can have some control if the data is used outside the contract.
So, if there are Indian marketing companies that want a genuine relationship (not just taking on the work) then they need to speak with UK companies offering telemarketing services. - Contact me if you would like to discuss.
Posted by: John | August 7, 2011 4:34 PM | Permalink to Comment