Definition

1. Noun:
   • The use of the telephone as an interactive medium for promotion and sales: Telemarketing refers to the business practice of contacting potential customers by telephone to promote goods or services and to solicit sales.

Usage

• Telemarketing is a direct marketing method.
• It involves making outbound calls to prospects or receiving inbound calls from customers responding to advertisements.
• The term describes the activity itself, not the person performing it (who is a telemarketer).

Examples

• Noun:
  • The company increased its sales through an aggressive telemarketing campaign.
  • Many people find telemarketing calls to be intrusive during dinner time.
  • She works in telemarketing, selling magazine subscriptions.

Advanced Usage

• "to do telemarketing": to engage in the activity of telemarketing.
  • His first job was to do telemarketing for a local charity.
• "telemarketing campaign/operation": a coordinated series of telemarketing activities.
  • The new product launch was supported by a massive telemarketing campaign.

Variants and Related Words

• Telemarketer (n): a person whose job is to sell goods or services by telephone.
  • The telemarketer called hundreds of numbers each day.
• Telemarketed (adj): promoted or sold via telemarketing.
  • The telemarketed product had a very low customer satisfaction rate.
• Telemarket (v, less common): to sell or promote by telephone.
  • The firm decided to telemarket the software directly to small businesses.

Synonyms

• Telephone sales: selling via the telephone.
• Telesales: another term for selling goods or services over the telephone.

Related Phrases

• Cold calling: a telemarketing technique where calls are made to potential customers with whom there has been no prior contact.
  • Successful telemarketing often involves a lot of cold calling.
• Do-not-call list: a register of telephone numbers where telemarketing calls are prohibited.
  • You can add your number to the national do-not-call list to reduce telemarketing calls.

Noun

1. the use of the telephone as an interactive medium for promotion and sales