About Telemarketing
Telemarketing is the process of using the telephone to generate leads, make sales, or gather marketing information. Telemarketing can be a particularly valuable tool for small businesses, in that it saves time and money as compared with personal selling, but offers many of the same benefits in terms of direct contact with the customers.
Telemarketing is especially useful when the customers for a small business products or services are located in hard-to-reach places, or when many prospects must be contacted in order to find one interested in making a purchase.
Although some small businesses operate exclusively by telephone, telemarketing is most often used as part of an overall marketing programme to tie together advertising and personal selling efforts. For example, a company might send introductory information through the mail, then follow-up with a telemarketing call to assess the prospect’s interest, and finally send a salesperson to visit.