UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, December 10, 1996
58
Telemarketing taps job, business market
By Stephanie Fite
Kansan staff writer
To some it is necessary, to others it is evil.
Telemarketing, a fast-growing business that grosses nearly $4 billion a year in solicitation, is becoming the most effective way to target sales.
"Telemarketers have more information than a door-to-door salesman," said Kissan Joseph, assistant professor in the business school. "They have to know their prospective market. They know if you have a 10-month daughter in the house and that you buy diapers."
"Through telemarketing, businesses can focus their efforts on a targeted segment with a lot of accuracy. With lists of information about the demographics of each household, telemarketers can target specific households for specific sales," Joseph said.
On an average, a telemarketing company makes 19 calls to every household a year. There are more than seven large-firm telemarketing companies like MCI and Sprint, and several smaller companies like ITI Telemarketing based in Omaha, Neb., that provide outgoing and incoming calls.
Telemarketing is the most efficient and effective way to sell niche and mass interest products and information, Joseph said. Telemarketing is fast-growing because calling is more efficient than visiting every prospective client face-to-face.
Visiting consumers used to cost businesses more than $300 a visit, Joseph said. Now, it is less than $1 for every five visits.
Marcia Olberding, Seneca second-year law student, said she had been drawn to phone sales because she
Most telemarketing firms have a high turnover rate because a lot of people find it difficult to... take rejection. However, I had a really good experience."
Marcia Olberding
Seneca second-year law student
needed the money. More than three-quarters of the telemarketers were college-age students and Olberding said she enjoyed working with her friends.
"All you had to do was call people and read from a script," she said. "Most telemarketing firms have a high turnover rate because a lot of people find it difficult to sit in front of a phone all day or take rejection. However, I really had a good experience."
Olberding worked for four years as a phone solicitor, first as a direct-sales caller and then as an assistant supervisor of ITI Telemarketing in Emporia. Although she had enjoyed the job and would like to work at Idelman Telemarketing in the spring, Olberding said the only drawback was that telemarketers received little or no respect.
"People hang up on you because you are a telemarketer. If you say you are a telemarketer, people looked down on that," she said. "When I get calls from telemarketers, they don't irritate me. When they call, I try to treat them with respect, the way I would want to be treated."
Although telemarketing is a growing business and an opportunity for
many college-age students to earn money, it still is an unwelcome interruption.
"Telemarketers are a pain and a nuisance because they call at dinner time and other times when it is inconvenient," Joseph said.
Playing by the rules
The Federal Trade Commission has set specific guidelines for telemarketing. Under these guidelines, telemarketers must:
- Say that they're making sales calls
Identify the seller
If the call is about a prize promotion, say that purchase or payment is necessary to win
Telemarketers cannot:
Telemarketers cannot:
■ Call a consumer who has asked the company to not call again
■ Call a consumer before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.
Withdraw money from a consumer's bank account without express, verifiable authorization
Make a false statement of any kind to induce payment, regardless of the payment method
Seek payment until after credit repair services, recover-room service or advance fee loan/credit services have been rendered
LAWRENCE AUTOMOTIVE DIAGNOSTICS
842-8665 2888 Four Wheel Dr.
A FILM BY TIM BURTON JACK NICHOLSON GLENN CLOSE ANNETTE BENING PIERGE BROSNAH DANNY DeVITO "MARS ATTACKS!" MARTIN SHORT
SARAH JESSICA PARKER MICHAEL J. FOX ROD STEIGER TOM JONES LUKAS HAAS NATALIE PORTMAN JIM BROWN LISA MARIE SYLVIA SIDNE
Music by DANNY ELFMAN "MARS ATTACKS!" Based on TOPPS Screen Stars and Scenography by JONATHAN GEMS Produced by TIM BURTON AND LARRY FRANCO Directed by TIM BURTON
PG-13 PARENTS STRONGLY CAUTIONED CARE OF THE BEST PRESENTS www.marsattacks.com
FREE
SNEAK PREVIEW
from Warner Bros. & VISA
Tuesday, December 10, 1996 • 8:00 P.M.
Dickinson Theater/ off-campus
Get free student tickets at:
Business Office at the Univ. Daily Kansan or Terraplane
Limit two per student. First come, first served basis.