An On Demand Call Center is a hosted call center offering from an ASP which includes services like Automatic Call Distribution, Interactive Voice Response, Predictive Dialing, CRM etc.

Compared with an on premise system, a business which buys an online subscription to such a service does not have to worry about technology, infrastructure and IT staff traditionally required to manage such functions in a call center.

On Demand Call Center services have not been widely successful, in the past, but it looks like VoIP Grids deployed as SaaS will change that by making them much more cost effective, customizable and flexible.

For business managers exploring the On Demand Call Center model, the key decision factors to consider are:

• Total cost of the service which typically includes setup costs, monthly costs and integration or customization costs.
• Time to setup: is it months, days, hours or minutes
• Security: How secure is the data: customer contact information, call recordings etc.

With business growing or requirements changing, how easy it is to customize or bring the same technology In-house with little changes and less training.

Posted: March 29th, 2008 under Call Centers, Telemarketing Services.
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CallCopy, Inc. and GMT Corporation announced a new partnership on March 28th, 2008, in Columbus, Ohio.

CallCopy, Inc. is a provider of quality management and call recording solutions for inbound call centers. GMT Corporation is a provider of workforce management (WFM) and workforce optimization solutions for inbound call centers.

The partnership brings together CallCopy’s “Discover suite” with GMT’s ”GMT Planetâ„¢” enterprise workforce optimization solution.

This provides organizations with a comprehensive call recording, WFM and quality management solution that can improve the quality and efficiency of their inbound call center operations.

Posted: March 28th, 2008 under Call Centers, Telemarketing Services.
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MarketingProfs Daily Fix released an article on how Top Biz Mags Rely on Telemarketing.   

The research was conducted by IQ Resource in May, 2007.

IQR collected and analyzed data from:

• BPA audited titles in the USA
• covering over 1,200 controlled-circulation titles
• a total circulation of over 34 million   

They found that an overwhelming number of subscribers were obtained through telemarketing efforts!

Why does telemarketing work so well?  Possibly because Magazine subscriptions are inexpensive and a snap decision for the purchaser, usually females. 

This is a perfect market for live telemarketers to call a prospect who is already familiar with the product, offer an exceptional bargain, and the phone call lasts as little as 5 minutes or under!

Posted: March 27th, 2008 under Telemarketing Services.
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The 2007 Entrepreneur of the Year Awards Gala, the Hispanic Business magazine event, was held November 8, 2007 at the Marriott Downtown in Los Angeles, and honored the achievements of U.S. Hispanic entrepreneurs.

Martin Worldwide was a major sponsor of the event for Hispanic Business, the magazine that features Hispanic business professionals and their companies.

“Martin Worldwide has a strong Hispanic client base. It was natural to partner with an organization like Hispanic Business magazine that not only chronicles the trends of the Hispanic business community, but is also an active participant. We are proud and excited to be a sponsor of an event that recognizes the contributions of the U.S. Hispanic entrepreneur.” said Johnny Guerrero, Major Account executive for Martin Worldwide.

Martin Worldwide is one of the largest and most successful data corporations in the nation, offering customized mailing lists, telemarketing lists and sales leads to small business and Fortune 1000 clients, including many in the Hispanic business community. Utilizing over a decade of experience, knowledge, and database acquisition expertise, Martin Worldwide possesses an extensive database of 290 million consumers and 14 million U.S. businesses.

Posted: March 25th, 2008 under Call Centers, Telemarketing Sales, Telemarketing Services.
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Telemarketing has the highest response rate of any direct marketing tool, such as print advertising or email. 

This is because it has the capability to target market specific prospects who fit the buyer profile, and it allows for interaction to answer objections.
 
Typically,  telephone calls made for sales or marketing are referred to as outbound telemarketing. Calls received for customer support, order processing or answering services are inbound.  In-house or outsourced services are available for businesses, with offshore services now increasing worldwide.

 The sheer flexibility is what allows  telemarketing to have such a high response rate.  No other medium can interact with the customer.  This feature allows a live contact to interact, overcome objections and give needed information.

Posted: March 20th, 2008 under Call Centers, Telemarketing Services.
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In general, the larger your telemarketing project, the lower your rate per call.

Usually domestic inbound call centers charge from 50 cents to $2.00 per call. Call packages are sometimes offered that include a certain number of calls, or minutes of phone time, for a flat fee.

Outbound telemarketing services in the U.S. charge $20 to $40 per hour, with a $1,000 to $1,500 minimum per project.

Off-shore call centers: charge range from $10 to $20 per hour, with a $5,000 minimum per project.  These charges are significantly lower than domestic costs so if your company has a huge project, it’s even more cost effective to go offshore.

Whichever option you choose, high response rate and generally low rates are what fuels telemarketing as it continues to outpace all other types of direct marketing.

Posted: March 19th, 2008 under Call Centers, Telemarketing Services.
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With all the recession talk and indicators showing that business will have to tighten up financially to stay afloat,  one area reaping the benefits is the offshore telemarketing and call center industry.

With a 50% to 75% lower cost for telemarketing and call center services, what was already a popular and growing industry is now booming.  As US companies need to reign in expenses to balance the downtrend in the financial market, lowering expenses is part of the equation.

Offshore call centers and telemarketing services have already been a big hit due to the sharply lower costs.  Now it looks even better to American companies.

Recently Avon Corporation signed a big contract with an offshore call center to take over Avon’s big customer service centers.  Thousands of call per day are now streaming offshore from Avon representatives and customers.

Avon hopes to lower its expenses since much of its business is conducted over the phone to its customer service departments.  Manpower has been a huge expense for them.

Avon plans to continue this program and save significantly.

Posted: March 16th, 2008 under Call Centers, Telemarketing Services.
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In general, the larger your project, the lower your rate per call.

Usually domestic inbound call centers charge from 50 cents to $2.00 per call, says a recent report.  Call packages are sometimes offered a certain number of calls, or minutes of phone time, for a flat fee.

Outbound telemarketing services in the U.S. charge $20 to $40 per hour, with a $1,000 to $1,500 minimum per project.

Off-shore call centers:  charge range from $10 to $20 per hour, with a $5,000 minimum per project.  And they are generally 50% to 75% cheaper overall.

Domestic call centers are not all easily replaceable by offshore services despite the cost savings. 

Posted: March 14th, 2008 under Call Centers, Telemarketing Services.
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Some businesses are so aware of how effective telemarketing is with appointment setting, that they spend as much as 90% of their marketing budgets to have telemarketers set appointments for their salespeople.  Getting their sales reps in front of the right decision maker increases the liklihood of a sale, and businesses know it!

That’s because the sales person is able to have an uninterrupted and exclusive time with the prospect.  This undivided attention gives a good sales person the chance to present the features and benefits of the product, answer objections and close the sale.  It’s much harder for the prospect to say “no” when they are face-to-face with the presenter. 

In fact, it increases the sales rate dramatically and businesses know this.  Cold calling is a drudgery compared to having a standing appointment already set for an in-person meeting with the decision maker.  Telemarketing is used to set appointments and businesses have found it to be worth the expense. 

Posted: March 13th, 2008 under Call Centers, Telemarketing Services.
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Over 50% of all businesses have some kind of inbound call center! 

Trained representatives receive calls from people who automatically qualify themselves as a “prospect’ by calling the call center.  This is the beauty of the inbound call center! 

The incoming caller is usually motivated to call by an advertisement, catalog, website, yellow pages, or other outside information that provides this telephone number for some type of response  So this prospect is already prepared to make a purchase, or learn more about a product that they can buy now.

The key to success with this type of marketing and sales is the right placement of advertisements that provide a phone number to call.  It should fit the profile of the typical buyer. 

For example, a product for babies would be well positioned in a magazine or newsletter with the focus on infants. Ideally, the advertisement provides enough information so the caller  will  be prepared to buy immediately. 

In this case, the call center representative does not have to sell the product.  And usually they will only need to inform the prospect about basic features and benefits.

Many businesses like this form of advertising/call center response because there is no cold calling involved.

Posted: March 5th, 2008 under Call Centers, Telemarketing Services.
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