Dial M for maybe

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, June, 1990 by Susan Hovey

List owners move cautiously in releasing names to telemarketers

NEW YORK CITY-Like it or not, many list owners today are recognizing that telemarketing may be the way to go if postal rates keep pushing up the price of direct mail.

"For years, we had a policy in place that we didn't accept any [offers] from telemarketers," says Alan Zamchick, director of list management for Diamandis Communications Inc. (DCI). "But because it's such a growing segment, we decided to open up our files. We're keeping up with the times."

Zamchick adds, however, that DCI is very selective in terms of whom it chooses to deal with. "We've probably done this with about four or five companies. "

Those numbers are likely to grow as the cost of direct mail continues to rise. "I have a number of clients who simply won't do it [release lists for telemarketing]," says John Pahmer, vice president of list management for Ed Burnett Consultants Inc. "But I think you'll find a year from now there VAII be more acceptance because the postal increases will drive people to alternate sources of marketing." Beyond control

Still, a key concern among list owners lies in the area of control: how often and in what manner a list is used.

"Traditional direct mail solicitation is very controllable," says Pahmer. "That control is absent in a telemarketing campaign." Although most list owners require that a script be submitted beforehand, Pahmer notes that a flustered telemarketer can either intentionally or inadvertently digress from the written material." Or, worse, reveal the list source.

To track abuse, many list owners seed" lists with 20 or 30 names of phony prospects. "My name is on every list we handle," says Glenn Lebowitz, president of Optima Direct, a Washington, D.C., telemarketing firm. "So I get calls for every job we do." If a list is pirated, Lebowitz will discover it when he or another co-worker receives a call that shouldn't have been made. "Telemarketing is pretty aggressive," he says. "People don't want their lists beaten up."

Nor do list owners, it seems, want consumers "beaten up" by ill-timed or annoying calls.

"Targeting is the key issue," says Lebowitz. "The phone as medium should not be looked at as the problem in itself. Not if the message is right. People feel abused when you target inadequately."

Dividing the list

For magazine publishers, Lebowitz sees the list of the future divided into two categories: people who are phone responsive and those who are direct mail responsive. "If it's done intelligently," he notes, telemarketing represents a fabulous way to enhance a subscription list, turning it into a database."

But even if a list is used for an the right purposes, the question of privacy still looms. "There's no doubt in my mind that down the road there will be legislation on prospecting through direct marketing," says Lebowitz.