Clients who hire telemarketing services often want to know what it takes to conduct a successful telemarketing campaign. It doesn't seem like something extraordinary, but there are some key ingredients that the call center should have in place. This article will make it possible for clients to check if the BPO firm they have hired is running on the right track. Let's go through the check-list:

1. Planning: The success or failure of a telemarketing campaign is decided by the planning stage. The more the call center plans, the smoother it becomes at the execution level. Being a client, keep an eye on the planning sessions with the heads of the telemarketing unit you have hired. Ask them to break up the campaign in stages to make it simpler. A simple telemarketing services plan is the easiest to execute and yields the maximum result. Chip in with inputs but don't be overbearing. You have hired the BPO service firm for their expertise and knowledge. Make your priorities and targets known and take a step back. Let the experts make your plans, from the answering service stage to the lead generation.

2. Stages: Telemarketing is like a war fought with many battles as part of it. The call center has to make provisions for each stage and break those up into a sort of flowchart. If you are hiring a BPO firm, insist that they explain their procedure in a part-by-part basis. That will help you find out if the telemarketing services are proceeding as per the plans. If not, you can step in and raise questions as to why things are not running as they are supposed to. Work closely with the business process outsourcing unit to get the maximum benefit out of the partnership. Let it be a simple sharing of thoughts and concerns, rather than one of fault-finding and making the firm answerable for things.

3. Hiring: Getting the right telemarketing agents on board is integral to the project. The success of the telemarketing services would depend primarily on the quality of the manpower. They are the ones who will make those outbound call center calls and also receive them on the answering service desk. Rely on the BPO firm to hire the agents on your behalf. They know the job they are doing and are better suited to negotiate the terms and conditions of the job, along with shift timings, etc. It helps to have a pro-active BPO service in this regard. If they want you to be a part of the loop, throw in some suggestions that make sense.

4. Execution: The execution of the telemarketing campaign includes lead generation calls made to clients and customers. If you are planning to use websites or direct response marketing through TV or radio, you need an answering service team in place. There will be calls in the inbound call center desk that need to be answered. There will be emails that need a response. There will be queries through the website and those contact forms need to be processed. In other words, there will be a flurry of activity that needs to be monitored.