Telemarketing

Telemarketing is defined as contacting, qualifying, and canvassing prospective customers using telecommunications devices such as telephone, fax, and internet.

In business-to-business lead generation scenarios, telemarketing often targets perceived decision-makers who might be good prospects for a business product or service.

Calls are usually made by sales development representatives with the goal of this outreach being a subsequent meeting—often with an account executive at the vendor organization.

Telemarketing techniques are also applied to other forms of electronic marketing using e-mail or fax messages, in which case they are frequently considered spam by receivers.

Telemarketing is often criticized as an unethical business practice due to the perception of high-pressure sales techniques during unsolicited calls.

[5][6][7] The current legal system in the U.S grants such forums a certain degree of protection through "Communications Decency Act, 47 U.S.C 230" and California's Anti-SLAPP law.

A recent trend in telemarketing is to use robocalls: automated telephone calls that use both computerized autodialers and computer-delivered pre-recorded messages in a sales pitch.

Telemarketing has recently been advanced to implement a programmed women's voice as the operator instead of hiring a real woman to perform the task (see example of Samantha West[8]).

However, some scholars argue that such technological advancements reinforce commoditization of a woman's speech as a marketable entity and lead to "gendered hierarchy of communication".

The FCC derives regulatory authority from the TCPA, adopted as CFR 64.1200 and the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act, 15 U.S.C.

[12] Many professional associations of telemarketers have codes of ethics and standards that member businesses follow to encourage public confidence.

Some jurisdictions have implemented "Do Not Call" lists through industry organizations or legislation; telemarketers are restricted from initiating contact with participating consumers.

[14] Companies that use telemarketing as a sales tool are governed by the United States Federal regulations outlined in the TSR (amended on January 29, 2003 originally issued in 1995) and the TCPA.

Some automated services are sophisticated enough to analyze the audio from the answering party, and if it determines that a human did not respond, will call repeatedly until one does or a limit is reached.

Because of free-speech issues, the laws governing political phone calls are much lesser stringent than those applying to commercial messages.

British police, after noting the high rate of pensioners affected, recommended use of do-not-call registry enrollment to enhance "phone security.

The use of predictive dialers, which are computer programs that dial telephone numbers automatically and connect the calls to an available agent, can make compliance with these restrictions more challenging.

Health problems have however been reduced considerably thanks to lightweight headsets, ergonomic working stations and more tasks, like documentation, done automatically by computers.

[23] The ability to cause a French phone number to appear on a Caller ID display, when the call originates outside of France was removed by a law passed in July 2018; implementation was delayed until August 1 of the following year.

[24] The term telemarketing was first used extensively in the late 1970s to describe Bell System communications which related to new uses for the outbound WATS and inbound Toll-free services.

[26] In 1909, a department store's "general solicitation", made by telephone to over 1,000 prospective customers, promoted "a carnival of values... an offering of exceptional qualities at prices we have never before been able to make".