Telemarketing is the method by which a salesperson solicits a prospective customer to buy products or services either other the phone or through newer technologies such as email, fax or web conferencing scheduled during the call. Outsourcing of telemarketing services can help an organization augment their existing customer relationships.

Telemarketing can increase and enhance an organization s revenue by effectively closing sales through competent inbound/outbound telemarketing functions by creating sales leads.
The two major categories of telemarketing are Business-to-business and Business-to-consumer.

Business-to-Business (B2B) is defined as trade or commerce conducted electronically. This model of commerce is solely indented to be a point-to-point business without any third party involvement. Business involving individuals or end-to-end customer is referred to as Business-to-Customer or B2B. Many organizations conduct trade via Business-to-Business and Business-to-Customer however an organization may choose to specialize in just B2B or B2C.

There is no limit or restriction in trade as to what a B2B or a B2C unit can do. The boundaries are endless. Units may choose to offer services in products, core competencies, services, marketing, to name a few.

Telemarketing includes but is not limited to
-Inbound
-Outbound
-Lead Generation
-Sales
-Customer Support
-Surveys
-Consultancy Services

Means used for telemarketing include
-A good telemarketer
-A manual or auto dialer. The later being preferred
-Automatic Call Distributor
-Customer Relationship Management
-Predictive Dialer
-Lead List
-Scripts

Telemarketing services can either be run onshore or offshore. Offshore telemarketing services are generally outsourced business functions which are governed by set rules and regulations and business ethics along with market dynamics.

Telemarketing is available 24x7 / 365 days a year which is why it has several advantages and has been enjoying its fair share of success. With this kind of flexibility, telemarketing allows issues and concerns to be addressed, questions to be answered and the ability to overcome any concerns in an appropriate timeframe. Telemarketing is also a dynamic model that allows for adjustments and tweaks to be made real-time to have a winning strategy to bear fruitful results. An example would be constant script(s) and sales pitch changes and real time training updates. The end objective is to achieve end customer satisfaction and client deliverables.
 

Source: Peter Korte