Tele-marketing: new rules of the game

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Over 230 million telecom subscribers in India now have the option of opting out of tele-marketing calls and apparently more than six million, predominantly urban users, have already taken up the offer.

The new directive that allows subscribers to list their landline and mobile numbers under the National Do Not Call (NDNC) database and opt out of receiving any unsolicited commercial communications (UCC), including SMS (short messaging service) has found many takers.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has disclosed that 14,750 tele-marketers having around 4.5 lakh telephone lines have put in their applications for registering with the government to comply with the NDNC registry guidelines. Registered tele-marketers not complying will face fines and even severe punishments.

This has changed how the $240 million tele-marketing industry that generates more than 10 billion calls a year will need to engage the customer. Buying lists from service providers or anyone else will not have the same charm. No more can a caller just try his luck with a random number hoping it would be his lucky break. It’s a totally different ballgame that promises to separate the men from the boys. The following scenarios may emerge:

Use of contextual marketing and sophisticated modelling: Technology is likely to play an important role in understanding whom to target at what time. Customer databases will be constantly mined and tracked to figure this out. For example, if a bank is able to monitor a person’s salary hike at the beginning of the financial year, it will be able to target its new mutual fund scheme as an investment to that person increasing the odds of sale significantly.

If a retailer gauges the monthly purchase pattern of a loyalty customer, he could use that information to specifically market substitute high-margin products. If a marketer can mine credit card customer data and on realising that the customer spends more than 80% on restaurants in a particular area could specifically market another restaurant in the vicinity. A telecom company could even profile its customers based on their caller tunes and could target specific messages to them—let’s say even market a rock show.

This will push organisatons to cross sell, up sell and those that make cold calls to consumers to resort to contextual marketing and sophisticated modeling and analytical tools to give the consumer the right product at the right time. Those that are in an enviable position with this data are banks, credit card companies, retailers and telecom companies.

Evolution of the tele-marketer: Say bye to the conventional tele-marketer you knew. The tele-marketing agent will be compelled to take on the role of a more frequently engaging concerned service provider and not just a commission-driven aggressive (and some- times insensitive) salesperson.

So now, many calls that will need to be initiated to the customer will now have to be a service call—that is, the caller will need to update or discuss an issue that a customer is facing. Only on the successful resolution of the same will the customer give him time to push the caller’s sales agenda further.

This is significant as, especially in India, a prospect is hounded till he/she gives the tele-marketing organisation business but the same organisation becomes incommunicado when the customer has a service query. Ineffective automated channels, lengthy protocols and red-tape are deployed to discourage the consumer from following up. How long would a customer follow up for Rs 50 incorrectly charged to his bank account/or telephone bill?

Fifty rupees for an individual is not worth the bother but multiply it with 200 million customers and one can appreciate the stakes involved.

Pay customers to receive your message: Another possibility is the emergence of services equivalent to Boxbe in the Internet world. Those are willing to receive tele-marketing message may actually get paid to do so. So if you are willing to receive a call, you may actually be able to subscribe to a service that gives you an alternate telephone number where people can reach you for the pure purpose of selling their wares. You will need to submit a detailed profile of yourself to the service provider. The service provider will, in turn, hand over your data (or at least the part you permit him to) to the seller.

Since the seller is now paying to get you to hear, he will automatically attempt to sell you a relevant product as he is paying for every minute of your time.

Temporary telephone numbers: On the flip side, tele-marketers may innovate to have call emanating from outside India (or what might seem to be from outside India) thereby limiting the ability for such calls to be tracked. Again, taking a parallel from the Internet, a service equivalent to Guerrilla mail or disposable/dynamic telephone numbers will be used to call the unsuspecting customer. With perpetually changing numbers this tele-marketer will get an advantage.

While larger players may not attempt such stunts, as it would be detrimental to the brands in the long run, one can expect such attempts till such time the market matures. There may be many more innovations to target the customer and get the sale done.

Many tele-marketers are just about reeling from the shock right now. Let’s wait for them to catch their breath and see how they attempt to conquer unchartered territory.