Telemarketing: a primer - telephone subscription selling

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Annual, 1994

Subscription selling on the phone requires careful monitoring.

Properly executed telephone subscription selling or free subscription sign-up can be a valuable aspect of the subscription development and maintenance programs of virtually any publication. However, before establishing a telephone program, the circulation director must determine whether to institute an internal selling program or use a telephone solicitation agency. Below are the factors that should be considered when reaching the decision to use either option.

Internal

1. staffing 2. salaries 3. bonus for selling or signing-up over quota 4. rental of space 5. telephone equipment rental (WATS lines) 6. cost per completed interview (sale/no sale or sign-up) 7. turn-around time 8. cost per order 9. pay-up percentage 10. billing cost 11. issue cost 12. development of sales story (script) 13. volume and cost per order/response versus other efforts

External

1. reputation of solicitation agency 2. turn-around time 3. cost per order 4. responsibility for invoicing subscribers 5. responsibility for sending sample issues 6. volume and cost per order/response versus other efforts 7. pay-up percentage 8. billing cost 9. issue cost (if samples are sent) 10. development of sales story

Timing is the key to paid telephone subscription efforts. It is vitally important to acknowledge the contract immediately, generate the invoice, and start service as quickly as possible. Experience has shown that bona fide orders -- those for which payment is received -- increase in number when acknowledged and processed promptly.

In the samples of telephone subscriber efforts which follow, a "soft-sell" technique is used. The percentage of paid subscribers rises when a "hard-sell" technique is used; that is, when more pressure is exerted. These efforts allow the caller to gather valuable information, such as the reasons for wanting or not wanting to subscribe or renew. Valuable editorial and market information can also be obtained and subsequently used to develop a new editorial approach.

Controlled circulation

The circulation audit services accept telephone sign-up interviews as qualified Telecommunications Direct Personal Request sources on their circulation statements.

Telephone sign-up for free subscriptions can be a valuable part of controlled requalification and development programs. The telephone provides an opportunity to reach the subscriber or professional managers, whereas mail efforts may be intercepted or disregarded.

The key to successful sign-ups is a brief script (which must be approved by the circulation audit services for qualified circulation) and the placing of emphasis on free subscriptions or free renewals.

Telephone interviews are often more cost-effective than third- or fourth-time mailing efforts. They provide a last-minute opportunity to meet circulation objectives and/or to build in key marketing areas.

The circulation audit services require that some unique personal information, such as month and day of birth, be obtained from the respondent to be used to confirm during an audit test that the individual did in fact speak to the interviewer and request or renew the subscription.

Other opportunities

There are other valuable uses of telephone contact:

* conversions: controlled to paid, introductory to full-time

* collection efforts

* demographic/geographic studies

* editorial surveys

* readership studies

* customer inquiries

* resolution of fulfillment problems (title, address, etc.)

Some of the advantages of telephone usage include:

* personal contact with prospect/expired subscriber

* quick return and processing

* immediate forecasts of percentage of sales, cost per order

* reason for not renewing or subscribing, which can be valuable to the publisher and editor

* gaining helpful information for purging or purifying files (out of business, out of the field, etc.)

* increased renewal percentage

There can also be disadvantages involved in telephone usage, such as:

* possible lower pay-up percentage than that obtained by other (in cases of paid solicitations)

* possible higher cost per order

* agreement on the part of respondents in order to pacify the interviewer with no actual intent of paying for the publication

* possibility of picking up nonqualified subscribers if the process is not tightly controlled

Working with a telemarketer

For business publishers who have decided to give telemarketing a try, it is important to take the right approach.

* Start with a strong list. "You can't always use your own mailing list, because if the names on it are three years old, a new list will outperform it," says Mike Albers, president of Quality Telemarketing in Omaha, Nebraska. The better the list, the quicker and less costly your effort will be.

* Have your auditor scrutinize your script. BPA, for example, will work with you to make sure that your script asks for the right information. And to validate that information, BPA devised a personal ID question (such as the name of a high-school or mother's maiden name) that serves as a verbal "signature."