The Challenge of outbound call centres

Individuals are inundated with thousands of marketing messages and images on a daily basis.  Outdoor, electronic, and print media deliver advertising messages to us wherever we are. 

Seemingly nothing is off limits. The grass at the cricket ground is sprayed with the sponsor’s logo and in the sky above an airship hovers in the sponsor’s livery.  The scoreboard shouts at us the brand of beer to drink, the car to drive and the bank in which to deposit any spare cash. 

It is little wonder that some consumers find it all quite exhausting.

We retreat to the sanctuary of our homes where we can take control and turn off the radio and television and recycle the newspapers.  Peace and quiet at last.  But then the telephone rings. 

Herein lies the root cause of public anger vented towards outbound call centres.  The random, scattergun approach of many call centres has damaged the reputation of the entire telemarketing industry.

The sheer volume of unsolicited or cold calls to residential telephones has sky-rocketed over recent years. 

Consumer complaints have led to the formation of the Australian Government’s “Do Not Call Register”.  The Register is aimed at protecting the privacy of individuals and gives them the power to nominate not to receive certain unsolicited telemarketing calls.  It is expected to be operational in May 2007.

The new legislation poses a challenge specific to outbound call centres.  Well trained outbound callers need enthusiasm and warmth in their voice.  They need to be well scripted, with a flow of open ended questions to involve the prospect in the conversation.  They need perseverance to scrape themselves off their desk and soldier-on after repeated hang ups or abuse.

But the most important tool the outbound caller needs today is a call list sourced from a database of exceptional quality.  Companies need to ensure their lists contain true current prospects who are likely to have an interest in the product or offer.

The greatest risk to outbound callers from May is losing the prospect forever with a request to be placed on the Do Not Call Register.

Then after the Do Not Call register is launched, telemarketers will risk a hefty fine if they breach the legislation.  They may face civil penalties and the courts can impose fines ranging from $1,100 to $1.1 million for each breach.  Telemarketers’ compliance can be aided by submitting their lists to the Register operator to have them checked against telephone numbers on the Register.

Certain callers, such as charities, government bodies, educational or religious organisations and registered political parties will be exempt from the new law.  Further exemptions are when an individual has given express consent to receive a call, or consent can be inferred by the individual’s business relationship.  Australian businesses engaging the services of overseas call centres will also be held accountable under the law.

Without doubt, outbound callers face greater challenges in the future.  The key to their success will lie in the quality of their prospect database and the ability to gain ‘consent to call’ as marketers build new prospect lists.  Outbound telemarketing is about to enter a new era of governance.  Community sentiment indicates the Do Not Call Register will be a very long one.