My interests in college where philosophy, history, and psychology (although I took a last-minute detour in to computer science).

Fresh out of college, I got my first taste of telemarketing back in 1991 as an independent legal services representative. Working from my home office, I used the White Pages and a telephone to set appointments for myself to close sales face-to-face. Despite several harrowing experiences with oddball prospects (I feared for my life in one instance), my efforts started to pay off- just as the company I represented closed its doors. Having decided I enjoyed sales, particularly telesales, I set out to learn more about the industry (as well as pay my rent!).

I went on to work for several telemarketing outfits; some were borderline questionable in terms of ethics and at least one,  I later learned, was an outright scam. Exposed to the seamy underbelly of the telemarketing industry, I came to understand why this profession was viewed with such a mixture of suspicion and disdain.

Telemarketing Boiler Room Blues

I found my way to Time Life Books and Videos. At least here, I thought, I will be working for a real company.

Within a month or two I established myself as the top producer (by far) in a room of over 80 agents. Before I knew it,  navigating my apartment became a challenge because of the pillars of books and videos I won in daily sales competitions. Even my friends and relatives got tired of all the books and videos I tried to pawn off on them.

One thing became clear though, I was not going to pay off my college loans with books and videos. The only upward path was to become a supervisor or manager.

One day, while watching my supervisor run up and down the aisles with a copy of “Fix-It-Yourself-Plumbing” held high above his head, yelling, cajoling, and all but begging us to close more sales to win this oh-so-precious tome of plumbing wisdom (of which I already owned 3 copies), I decided it was time to move on.

B2B Telemarketing Training Years

Fortunate to be one of just two selected from a group of over 25 applicants, I found myself telemarketing for a reputable B2B agency.

What a difference! Not only did they have a dress code, but I got my own cubicle and computer! I learned that telemarketing did not have to mean being sandwiched between four other agents with questionable hygiene and barely being able to hear yourself talk. Most of the other agents with my new employer had also worked in boiler room settings.

A top producer on almost every campaign I worked on, I collected many awards and letters of appreciation from clients during my nearly three-year stay with this B2B agency. One of the highlights of my years there was selling technical training to engineers as an Amdhal Education representative, closing at least $40,000.00 to $60,000.00 a month in sales before Amdhal quit the technical training business.

I Start My Own Telemarketing Company

Having paid my dues, it was time to strike out on my own.

I taught myself to build computers and computer networks, write my own software, and manage databases. With the high-tech boom still in full swing (1993), I had clients within weeks of making my first cold call to promote my telemarketing company.

Since then, I have managed hundreds of telemarketing campaigns responsible for millions of calls, thousands of leads and appointments, and untold millions in sales. My clients included the who’s who of the technology industry as well as many smaller companies in a variety of industries.

One of my more notable achievements was managing a cold-calling project for Oracle where my team closed nearly a million dollars in sales within a month- $2,000 at a time.

My main strength as a telemarketing consultant is a willingness to experiment and come up with new solutions.  I am quick to admit mistakes, make amends and improvements, and learn my lessons. I am not afraid to ask “dumb” questions or question “dumb” assumptions. Our success is more important than my ego.

If you think I can help you with your marketing efforts, please contact me for a free consultation.

After receiving thousands of complaints from consumers, the Federal Communications Commission clamped down Wednesday on unwanted robo-calling by approving sweeping changes to its telemarketing rules for wireline and mobile phones.

Even with the national Do Not Call Registry in effect — the initial effort to block those pesky calls — telemarketers have found ways around the rules. But the FCC’s latest effort is “closing a loophole,” said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center.

See more here - 

New FCC rules curb automated telemarketing calls

Visit site:
Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Telemarketer Abuse Cases

Read more here:
Daily Report: Can You Trust Caller ID?

Continue Reading:
Who’s on the Line? Increasingly, Caller ID Is Duped

This comes to me from Frank, the owner of a successful call center in the Philippines- and almost the victim of this scheme.

The Setup

Frank gets a call from an Indian call center manager (“the Indian”). They need a call center partner to take overflow from a large project.

The Hook

The Indian gives the name of the client… a multinational, deep-pocket company known to outsource telemarketing.

The Indian talks a compelling story and is highly convincing.

He gives the URL to his call center’s website. It’s legit looking.

The Close

The Indian shares details of the project, and provides the outlines of a referral agreement.

Next, he sends an email with a lengthy and detailed contract.

Commission fee for the referred business is $10,000- paid up front (by bank wire).

Negotiations ensue. The Indian brings in reference accounts and more executives from his company.

A full-court press was on.

Where It Fell Apart

Frank almost pulled the trigger; but, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on stayed his hand. On a whim, he decided to call the supposed client directly to confirm some details.

While the contact was legitimate, he had never heard of the Indian or his call center. The jig was up.

While Frank escaped by the skin of his teeth, other Philippines call center owners probably weren’t so lucky.

See the original article here:
Rewriting the Law on Automated Cellphone Calls

Philippines Call Centers – No Middle Ground

Two classes of call centers exist in the Philippines: large and small. The larger call centers typically have 1,000+ seats, while the smaller ones have 30 or less.

The large call centers will not typically consider taking on new projects starting at less than 50 to 100 agents. The smaller call centers can accommodate projects requiring 5 to 15 agents (depending on availability), but you will not have room to expand your project.

The smaller call centers are also less likely to have technology and processes in place to support projects requiring a a higher level of sophistication.

Philippines Call Centers Prefer Inbound Telemarketing

This is actually true of most far-shore telemarketing services.

Inbound telemarketing projects support a more stable revenue stream. Agents can be cross-trained and put on multiple inbound projects so they face less risk of downtime. They’re also easier to recruit and train for since many of the projects are transaction processing oriented.

Outbound Telemarketing In The Philippines

Experienced outbound telemarketing staff for lead generation, appointment setting, and sales are harder to come by in the Philippines.

The entire telemarketing outsourcing industry there is less than ten years old; so, finding agents with more than 2 or 3 years of experience that haven’t already been promoted to manager level takes time.

Combine requiring years of experience along with needing expertise in a particular industry, and the challenge of staffing your project becomes even harder.

Telemarketing Compensation Requirements

Telemarketing agents in the Philippines are hired as employees, not contractors. Their laws and cultural mores also require that agents be given every chance to redeem themselves if they’re under performing on a project.

I’ve also found all the Philippines call center owners and managers I’ve talked to there are risk-averse. So, if you’re looking for a call center willing to work on a commission basis, you’re better off looking elsewhere.

That is not to say that offering incentives for successes won’t work- just that, at a minimum, you have to be prepared to pay a base.

But, how do you distribute that calling time across an 8 to 12-hour workday?

Borrowing a page from Tony Buzan (inventor of Mind Mapping), I recommend a pattern of 30 minutes calling followed by 5 minutes rest. You should use your rest break to move your body a little. No only does this have beneficial health effects, but it gives your mind a chance to rebuild its energy reserves. We can only concentrate for so long before our minds begin to lose focus.

Commit to completing at least 3 30-minute blocks of calling at a time. Most experienced telemarketing agents will tell you that it takes time to get your engines revved up when you start your calling. If you take very long breaks between 30-minute calling blocks, it’s like having to re-start your engine every time. You want to keep your momentum going for at least 90 to 120 minutes.

Once you’ve completed your 3 or 4 30-minute calling blocks, take a 15 to 30-minute break… or longer if you need the flex time to take care of other things before coming back to calling.

Start each 30-minute calling block with a quick review of what you learned in your last 30 minutes of calling. What new prospect scenarios did you come across? What new objections did you hear? Could you have improved your responses? Take notes. Discuss your new ideas or discoveries in sales training calls.

By looking at your calling time as a learning experience and then actively processing the new information, you avoid the trap of telemarketing becoming boring. If telemarketing becomes boring to you, your prospects will hear it in your voice and your results will suffer and you will burn out.

Experiment with work patterns that suite you best. You may find that longer work periods are better for you. The key is to track your results and how you feel.

The next few highest-scoring factors include decision-making authority, need, budget, and time frame. That odd-looking factor of “expressed needs in various categories,” I think, relates to what I call “fit”- there’s a fit between what the prospect needs and what the merchant provides.

All in all, there are no surprises here. The B2B marketers surveyed here know their stuff.

Where many get lost, in my experience, is in writing prospecting scripts that get bogged down in minutiae and irrelevancies before establishing the big picture.