Posted on 03/14/2005 8:26:05 AM PST by Bobalu
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
It's ok. It's the free market. I'm sure most around here will eagerly welcome the enterprising foreign telemarketers!
Looks like the telephone will be the next great wasteland. If I have to deal with dozens of telemarketing calls a day I'll just unplug the damn thing and go back to writing letters.
"According to Cohen, the solution is to educate people not to buy things over the phone, a process that's harder than it sounds."
That, and leave the caller on hold, to raise his costs.
I need a drink...
I've been saying this for years - DONT ENCOURAGE THEM !
If nobody buys the stuff they're selling, they'll stop selling it this way.
Did I understand this article correctly? Are only people who use VoIP potentially affected, or is he saying that telemarketers will use VoIP to spam even those with traditional phone lines?
They would use VoIP to make the calls for next to nothing. Instead of using an overseas circuit, the VoIP firms use the internet to transmit the call to the local exchange and the traditional phone network for the "last mile". So yes, even traditional phone lines will be targeted.
The good news is that even though the call rates are cheap (or free), they still have to pay for the connection to the local phone system and they also have to pay the people making the call.
But the sound of a whistle blown loudly into the phone will still apply to overseas markets.
Unless the buyer initiates the call.
Cripes. Pour me one too, while you're up. Make it a double.
Outsourcing is the big evil at FR, but as a small business person, the cost reductions in terms of production, marketing and sales makes it all possible.
Be careful about the economics of this.
Remember, it costs virtually nothing to bother people and make them hate you. Making them pay attention and buy is the tricky part. And while you might be able to engage 10% in conversation, I think closer to 5% of those will buy -- not 50%.
One problem with this is that the Indians and others I've talked to speak barely comprehensible English.
From a strict business point of view, people will ask "Are you from India?" and slam down the phone.
If you can find people who can speak genuinely good English, it would probably work. Otherwise it will be a disaster, even though you won't lose all that much money because salaries are so low.
I read an article in The Economist the other day about Europeans who wound up working in India for Indian telemarketing firms. Maybe you can find some good English speakers among them ...
D
Ah, we have met the enemy and he is us! In the words of that famous philosopher Pogo
"Oh great! We finally get a break from all the solicitation calls and now VoiP is going to bring them back with a vengance :-("
Not to worry. The VoIP spammers still need to connect to the PSTN at the last mile to get to you. As such, if you have subscribed to (As I have on all my lines) the Nat'l do not call list, you are covered and should not be subject to these un-solicited phone calls.
In addition to the horrible personal implications of this, it might have military applications.
Any way you look at this, it ain't good.
You'd be surprised how many IT guys who have been displaced by outsourcing are looking into utilizing these very same overseas resources as they consider starting their own businesses.
That's the key - it's bad enough for inbound calls, but for outbound calls, it has to be perfect. Still, the cost differential (especially from somebody doing business in Calif) is so great that it's not really an option. If India doesn't work out, then I just won't do it.
Imagine the risk of hiring/apying someone even for a few months stateside. Before you know it, you could be in for $10K vs a few hundred overseas.
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