Enhancing The Legitimacy Of CRM/Contact Center Is Job One

Customer Inter@ction Solutions, May 2005 by Tehrani, Nadji

History

This publication was launched in June of 1982 in a pioneering effort to help build what is now the multibillion-dollar CRM/contact center industry. The name of the publication at that time was Telemarketing® magazine. Shortly after launching, we were honored to receive the registered trademark for Telemarketing®.

Therefore, as the leading and the first pioneering publication of the industry for the last 24 years, we have observed this great industry of ours emerge from almost nonexistence to what is now a multibillion-dollar business. Telemarketing® magazine's tagline, which I personally chose, was "The magazine of electronic marketing and communications." At that rime, it was my personal vision that the marketing discipline would be carried out electronically. Telemarketing® magazine was the very first pioneering step in that direction.

After considerable start-up problems, which were largely attributed to a lack of available success stories (because the industry really did not exist at that time), we finally managed (with blood, sweat and tears) to get the magazine going until, brick by brick, the foundation for this industry was laid in 1982 and beyond.

Overnight Success

Because we marketed the industry with passion and perseverance with all of our might, it turned out to be practically an overnight success. After all, using the telephone one could reach 25 to 30 prospects, as opposed to door-to-door, which in best case scenario, one could reach two or three prospects per day. If I recall properly, cost per visit back then was about $180, as opposed to the cost of a phone call at approximately $1.00 to $1.50 per account. Smart companies followed the first commandment of telemarketing principles: the more calls you make, the more sales you generate, provided that you select your target audience appropriately. In other words, the concept of telemarketing became an instant success because of powerful marketing, huge cost savings and the unparalleled reach to qualified buyers.

Our Success Attracted Fraud

As with all other industries, anytime a successful concept or idea comes along, the criminals don't waste time figuring out a method by which they can commit fraud. Abuses such as fraud also existed in mail order as well as online and other forms of electronic marketing. The commitment of fraud, unfortunately, attracted major negative newspaper articles, which sometimes projected a horrible image on an otherwise great industry - the world's leading job creation and job protection business. Nevertheless, and in spite of the many advantages of telemarketing, the criminals used many creative ways to pick the pockets of the elderly and others to a point where the industry's image was being tarnished minute by minute.

Consumer Complaints Continued

Fraudulent calls, as well as continuous unprofessional calls to consumers, in particular, created a massive amount of complaints. These complaints found their way to legislatures and the Federal Trade Commission, which subsequently led to several legislative activities putting complete restrictions on the industry because of the actions of a few criminals. Unfortunately, this situation got to the point where the FTC, FCC and others were all for throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Thirty Percent Growth Was A Reality In The 1990s

During the 1990s, when our industry was prospering the most, our annual assessment of industry growth at the teleservices level indicated that Corporate America's outsourcing was growing at the rate of 30 percent per year. This phenomenal growth rate attracted many in the financial community.

Telemarketing/Teleservices Became The Darling Of Wall Street

In the mid-90s, the phenomenal growth of our industry attracted the Wall Street community, and several industry-leading companies such as SITEL, West Corporation, APAC and others were the first to take their companies public. Believe it or not, the growth rate of the teleservices industry, at that time, rivaled the growth rate of dot com companies, with a major difference. The difference was that few of the dot com companies made a profit, while all teleservices companies were growing even faster and they were all profitable.

Then Came Offshoring

As you have read in my previous editorials such as this, we have covered this matter extensively. Let me make it clear that our paramount responsibility is to anticipate trends and problems in any aspect of our industry, and to bring these issues to the attention of our industry leaders and the readers of this publication in order to prevent costly mistakes and loss of business. Having said that, it has always been our position that there is a need for less demanding jobs (i.e., directory assistance and back-office work) to be outsourced offshore as long as the TSRs speak proper English, have no cultural problems, are not rude and don't overpromise and under-deliver, and not become involved in fraud and deception. Many of these types of problems are continuing with many offshore outsourced services, and there is a significant backlash currently going on, which could be reversing the offshore outsourced services back to the U.S. This extremely possible prediction is exclusively based on volumes of problems, which have been documented on offshore disappointments and significant issues. At the forthcoming SpeechWorld(TM) conference, to be held on May 24-26 at the Westin Park Central hotel in Dallas, Texas, and which is to be co-located with the Global Call Center Outsourcing Summit(TM) and the IP Contact Center Summit(TM), there will be an intensive session titled,