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Cost per call, telemarketing and who pays?

by Kurt@viewswin
9 replies
Hi, I know nothing about telemarketing from an advertisers end. Can someone fill me in please, firstly how do the call costs get charged? I mean if you have someone in India calling the US for example, will the long distance call costs outweigh the cheap labor costs? Second, if I just require email opt in from the caller, will they send a report giving me conversion rates and total calls made. Also what would be the typical cost per call range?

Thanks for any assistance on this
#call #cost #pays #telemarketing
  • Profile picture of the author abo28
    Originally Posted by Kurt@viewswin View Post

    Hi, I know nothing about telemarketing from an advertisers end. Can someone fill me in please, firstly how do the call costs get charged? I mean if you have someone in India calling the US for example, will the long distance call costs outweigh the cheap labor costs? Second, if I just require email opt in from the caller, will they send a report giving me conversion rates and total calls made. Also what would be the typical cost per call range?

    Thanks for any assistance on this
    I'm not really a telemakerting guru, but I have some experience so I'll try to help on this one...

    A telemarketer in India (or Philippines, or whatever) would make the call using a VOIP (voice over IP) facility) like Skype This way the long distance calls become pretty cheap; for example, Skype allows you 50 calls a day to the US for only $10 a month (approx.) or 50 international calls a day for only $14 a month (approx.). Much cheaper than using a classical phone line.

    Yes, the caller should send you a complete report at the end of the day: how many dials, how many conversations, how many conversions (leads/sales). A telemarketer is paid generally by the hour; the prices may range from $4-5 an hour (for East Asia) up to $15 per hour or more for Western telemarketers. Well, that's in the rough.

    Hope it helps.

    Bogdan
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  • Profile picture of the author Jarrod
    I recently hired a telemarketer from odesk to do some outbounding for me. I set up a Skype manager account, set him up with a login under it, and he made some calls today. He's costing me $4 an hour. The calls are costing me $0.023 per minute. So ten hours of work costs me $53.80 (40 + 13.80). With 300 calls in that time-frame, one measly sale of a basic website (or whatever you're selling) yields a profit.
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  • Profile picture of the author DaniMc
    Callfire + Skype = cheap calls and it keeps track of the stats for you.

    In my opinion, hiring from the Philippines or India to do calling for you is a mistake.
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    Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
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    • Profile picture of the author Phobia
      Originally Posted by Dan McCoy View Post

      Callfire + Skype = cheap calls and it keeps track of the stats for you.

      In my opinion, hiring from the Philippines or India to do calling for you is a mistake.
      I'm actually looking at this setup right now. Watching a Callfire webinar as we speak. Looks pretty good.

      One thing I'm confused, do you have to pay both Callfire and Skype fees?
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      • Profile picture of the author DaniMc
        Originally Posted by Phobia View Post

        I'm actually looking at this setup right now. Watching a Callfire webinar as we speak. Looks pretty good.

        One thing I'm confused, do you have to pay both Callfire and Skype fees?
        Yes. They are two separate companies. You set up a business account in Skype, create a user account and give the login info to your caller. You then fund that account.

        You set up your campaign in CallFire, and your caller goes to the Agent login link. When your agent puts in the Skype phone number, CallFire calls them on Skype and begins connecting calls. There is actually only one call made on Skype - CallFire does the rest of the dialing and connecting.

        You can do this with any cell phone, landline, or VOIP service - you just need a phone number for CallFire to connect to.
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        Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jarrod
      Originally Posted by Dan McCoy View Post

      In my opinion, hiring from the Philippines or India to do calling for you is a mistake.
      The guy I mentioned is from the Philippines. I put a job posting out on odesk, had a dozen applicants, and interviewed each one. Hired one that was great on the phone, had good relevant experience, and spoke good English with a neutral accent. I made a couple sales today from his efforts that have been well worth the time money and effort.

      I'm satisfied with the results, but I'm all ears on thoughts to improve. Thus far it does not appear to have been a mistake at all. The biggest mistake was waiting so long to do it.
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      • Profile picture of the author gshuk
        Hi Jarrod,

        So it has been over 3 months is it still working well for you?

        Regards,
        Glenn
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  • Profile picture of the author Kurt@viewswin
    Thanks a lot, thought there must be some way to use online phone calls. Appreciate the info. Seems like an easy thing to test, try both the cheapies and the more expensive and myself and compare conversions vs cost. Best ROI wins, then scale up. Anyone else please feel free to share experience. There are some business's that I would not even consider cheap foreigners. However others they could still get the job done without damaging brand though.

    Has anyone had any bad experiences with foreign workers not actually doing the job? Manipulating numbers etc...?
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  • Profile picture of the author bsummers
    Skype is a good way. Easy and convenient for both parties. If you have a budget, I'd suggest you go with a telemarketing company. Saves you the hassle of setting up.
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    Need help in LEADS for your business? Ask me on how to generate qualified and targeted leads from appointment setting and lead generation campaigns through calling, social media and email marketing.
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