Appointing a
telemarketing agency

If you decide to use an external telemarketing agency, make your selection carefully.

The agency you appoint should:

• Understand your target market. You will need to share your knowledge of your target sector with them
• Understand your industry. Ideally choose a company that has experience of working in your specific sector. This is important because the person making the calls is representing your company.
• Understand your company. As well as briefing the agency, you will need to provide access to company information such as brochures, leaflets or website so they can talk about you and your products with authority
• Know your objectives. Explain exactly what you want to achieve from the exercise. Is it appointments, renewal dates, validation of data, or actual sales?
• Work to an agreed budget. Some companies will quote a project fee covering all campaign costs whereas others will charge per result (i.e. there will be a cost for each decision maker contacted, each appointment made etc.). While the fee based approach lets you know what you’ll get in advance, there’s no guarantee of results. With the second approach the cost isn’t set but you only pay for real results (plus you can always ask the company to stop once they reach your budget limit).
• Keep you informed of progress and carried out regular reviews. A good company will provide regular progress reports and if not achieving the expected success rate, will advise on how you might want to change the campaign e.g. revising the script, reviewing the mail shot, focusing on a wider (or narrower) target.
• Be compliant. In some industries it may be necessary for the person making the calls to be compliant with industry regulations. For example, the moment a company speaks to someone about insurance – even if just to ask them their renewal date - they fall under FSA regulations. Any company used to working in your industry should be aware of such things.
• Provide you with the completed database at the end of the campaign. Whatever the success rate, the information collected by the telemarketer will be of considerable value to you. It will contain accurate contact records, comments on your offer (positive AND negative), renewal dates and information on where business is currently placed. All this will help ensure that future marketing activity is even more effective.

Cost considerations

Although an external telemarketing agency’s fee may seem expensive, you need to weigh this up against the costs involved by running an in-house campaign. These include:

• Script development
• Telephone expenses
• Telephone operators (if outsourced)
• Database development to keep client records up to date
• List rental with telephone numbers
• Training

As with all direct marketing you need to be aware of the legal issues. For example, it is illegal to communicate by telephone with anyone registered with the Telephone Preference Service if you do not have their permission first. A telemarketing agency should be fully conversant with these issues.

For help finding a telemarketing agency refer to the Direct Marketing Association's website.