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When to Bring Telemarketing In-House

Telemarketing

When to Bring Telemarketing In-House

Outsourcing your telemarketing is easy, but it may not be the best business move. Here are some tips about knowing when it's time to bring your telemarketing activities in-house.

Telemarketing can be an effective part of a larger sales strategy.

While some companies use telemarketing to augment other sales and marketing activities, others depend on telemarketing as a primary tool for reaching and converting customers.

There are a couple of different approaches to telemarketing. The most common approach is to outsource telemarketing activities to a third-party provider. Telemarketing firms specialize in serving a range of clients and have usually perfected the process. If you're new to telemarketing and want a well-oiled machine from Day One, outsourcing is definitely the way to go.

But in certain situations it might make more sense to bring your telemarketing activities in-house. In-house telemarketing units can be challenging - but when it comes down to it, so is outsourcing. Whether you know it or not, there's a lot riding on your decision. Here are some indications that it might be time to bring your telemarketing unit back into the fold.

Management issues. When companies begin to have management issues with their telemarketer, it's a sure sign that a move to bring telemarketing in-house is on the horizon. Even though the reality is that some telemarketers are more responsive to their clients than others, a bad management experience with a telemarketing firm can be enough to convince business owners that they need to regain tighter control mechanisms over their telemarketing unit.
Existing team. The most significant prerequisite for in-house telemarketing is the existence of a competent call center. Companies that already have an in-house call center for customer service and other functions find it relatively easy to retool the unit to perform telemarketing functions as well. Since you may already have the overhead required for in-house telemarketing, it just makes sense to avoid paying someone else to do an activity you could perform yourself.
Fast response. In-house telemarketing units have the ability to respond to new products and sales campaigns much more quickly than outsourced providers. If you're working with a telemarketing provider, you'll need to coordinate the new campaign with the provider, and then wait until the provider brings their people up to speed. In-house telemarketing cuts out the middleman and reduces the time requirements for rolling out new products or services.
Quality control. No doubt about it, business owners have significantly more control over in-house telemarketers than they do over telemarketing units that may be located halfway around the world. If call quality is a persistent problem, it may be time to reexamine your approach and consider creating your own telemarketing unit.