Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Should You Outsource Telemarketing Services Locally Or Offshore?

Telemarketing firms have taken the marketing world by storm and have become a fundamental part of business to business environment that, without their services, several companies will struggle to move forward and develop the way they are. Teleservices providers used to operate within the confines of their own localities, but recently, lead generation and prospecting companies have largely expanded their operations offshore. This move gave birth to a more cost-efficient BPO structure that is widely preferred among business leaders and executives.

While telemarketing companies offer inexpensive solutions and other advantages, there have been reports about offshore telemarketing being detrimental in many situations. Some businesses prefer to hire local teleservices firms over offshore providers for a number of different reasons.

Lead generation has become so important for many businesses that most organizations will hire telemarketing companies at some point in their operations to support their marketing efforts. Lead generation refers to collecting data that will allow businesses get an idea about their target market and customers' thoughts, needs and wants. It helps businesses to come up with service and product offerings that will create more demand from consumers and prospects.

In order for telemarketing agencies to provide high-quality lead generation services, their phone representatives must be able to skillfully converse with people to generate interest. This becomes a challenge for those agents who do not have English as their first language.

Offshore call centers evidently have non-native English speakers who may have strong accents and use terms that western people are not accustomed with. This may confuse customers or prospects and may even jeopardize the company's image. There have been many instances that companies preferred hiring local telemarketing companies to avoid such a problem.

On the other hand, onshore telemarketing firms tend to be a bit more expensive than offshore providers, but they work perfectly well for teleservices functions that require customers calling in to be clearly understood. Local telemarketers can easily relate with the customers and avoid confusion or misunderstandings. Offshore telemarketing companies are well suited for handling after-hours or overflow calls and product/service inquiry management.

Offshore telemarketing firms have provided an avenue for developing countries to improve their employment rate. They have aided thousands if not millions of individuals to participate in such a diverse working environment and consequently, helped advance the economies of the countries involved.

When making the decision to hire a telemarketing company locally or offshore, it is best to consider what specifically needs to be done and what kind of teleservices functions will be handled by phone representatives.

1 comment:

  1. Telemarketing offers great opportunities for employment..but it is also true that decision of outsourcing should be taken as per the needs and the requirements..
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