Telemarketing using Skype

[Citrus_Digital]

I have a large database of businesses and want to contact them to confirm subscription to our email newsletter. I was thinking of loading up a number of skype accounts so the calls could be out sourced to home workers with an internet connection. Has anyone used this approach with success?

 

[Citrus_Digital]

Forgot to mention, the calls would be to UK landlines.

 

[seobarbershop]

Just make sure that the Skype connection is not poor if you follow through with this, there is nothing worse trying to follow up on a mailshot or cold calling with a poor line... Puts the prospect rite off!

 

[webteameu]

Skype is a great tool, but make sure you test the quality by calling landlines. Or get someone to call you from Skype, while you are on a landline The customer can really be put off by a poor connection and interference. Having a good mic will obviously help. Good luck!

webteameu

 

[Make My Calls]

Hi,

Have you considered outsourcing this? Organising home workers could be time consuming.

Lucy

 

[maxine]

Hi,

Have you considered outsourcing this? Organising home workers could be time consuming.

Lucy

I was going to say the same thing! It can be time consuming getting equipment and set up working correctly with a fair amount of remote support for all sorts of reasons.

And like EpicCVs and webteameu have said be careful about the quality of skype calls as like any internet based call systems they rely on the quality of the internet connection and equipment used.

Also, it can work out more expensive for lots of short calls as correct me if I am wrong but you pay a minimum call charge per call.

Lots of other telemarketers have the call charges built into their hourly rates or other fee arrangements.

Good luck

 

[cjd]

Also, it can work out more expensive for lots of short calls as correct me if I am wrong but you pay a minimum call charge per call.

VoIP doesn't mean cheap calls, it means free calls to other VoIP customers, flexibility (you can make and receive calls from anywhere there's an internet connection) and a lot of cute features.

Generally though, it also means that you'll get a pretty good deal on ordinary calls too.

Skype's unlimited calls package is very good value but does limit you to 50 calls per day and I suspect if you hammer it they'll get fed up with you pdq.

 

[maxine]

Yeah, you're right Colin and we use your VOIP for some of our home workers and £10 or £20 goes a long way!

50 calls per day would probably only last for the first two hours

 

[Snippa]

I've had clients call me on Skype and been VERY disappointed with the results. And that was *my* client! I'd be even more put off as someone said if I were the customer. From what I understand, the quality is not consistent. That could harm your business.

 

[telemax]

Do not use Skype for Telemarketing. It's great for speaking to friends and family or even current customers but telemarketing is all about trying to make a good first impression. When things start cutting out or going fuzzy as they do on Skype it's not worth the saving.

 

[cjd]

I've had clients call me on Skype and been VERY disappointed with the results. And that was *my* client! I'd be even more put off as someone said if I were the customer. From what I understand, the quality is not consistent. That could harm your business.

Skype is peer to peer technology, designed from music sharing software - it's totally dependent on the public internet and is un-managed so it's quality is variable.

If you're going to use VoIP for business, you need a SIP based, client-server, properly managed telephone service.

Skype is not a telephone company, it's a piece of software.

 

[Snippa]

Skype is not a telephone company, it's a piece of software.

Exactly.

 

[Citrus_Digital]

Thanks for the advice, it seems that Skype may be too unreliable and give the wrong impression to customers if the quality is bad. I just thought it would be a simple way of getting some calls done cheaply and being able to monitor the call log.

 

[benjamin_c]

what about using mobiles? for £15 per month on a rolling tariff (no contract) you can get unlimited landline calls, 100 texts, and 300 minutes to mobiles on all networks, all you need to do is get some cheap handsets, you could pick up some old nokias for about £5 each on ebay and then give them to your staff to do the calls, and if you need to make the odd call to a mobile it wont cost a fortune. hope this helps, its called the Racoon 15 SIM tariff.

http://shop.orange.co.uk/mobile-phones/plans/simPlanList.jsp?cmsPageId=02500

 

[cjd]

Thanks for the advice, it seems that Skype may be too unreliable and give the wrong impression to customers if the quality is bad. I just thought it would be a simple way of getting some calls done cheaply and being able to monitor the call log.

Skype isn't up to it but a good business VoIP service is. If I can think of any I'll let you know

 

[Citrus_Digital]

I have 3 county databases with around 6000 contacts in each, so quite a lot of calls required . Do mobiles have a fair use policy for free landline calls ?

 

[benjamin_c]

sorry posted same one twice, see below.
http://www.tescointernetphone.com/

 

[benjamin_c]

I have 3 county databases with around 6000 contacts in each, so quite a lot of calls required . Do mobiles have a fair use policy for free landline calls ?

i have had a quick look at orange terms and cons and cant see a fair use clause, although i imagine they do have one, probs best go email/call them to ask.

another option is the tesco internet phone, i use one and they're really cheap and the call quality is top notch and they give you a standard UK landline number with any region code you want for free, theres no contract to tie you in either, for £2.95 per month i get unlimited landline calls, the condition is that each call is no longer then 70 minutes, but i can't see anything regarding maximum number of minutes per month. it's worth a look http://www.tescointernetphone.com/

 

[james Minion]

Another vote against Skype for business. The quality is not what it needs to be.

 

[adventurelife]

That Tesco deal that was mentioned above does look fantastic value.

The majority of our calls 80% plus though are to mobiles. I have been looking at VOIP bu they all seem to be charging more than we currently pay for mobile calls. Anyone know cheap landline to mobile cost?

We use skype internally between offices/countries but would not use for customers

 

[benjamin_c]

if you're making a lot of calls to mobiles then i imagine the most cost effective option would be to use a mobile or if you wanted to use a fixed phone you could get a premicell, which if you dont know, is a box where you put a GSM sim card and then connect a normal landline phone and make calls that are routed through the cellular networks, just google "premicell" for more info, then all you need is to contact the networks and see what sim only tariffs they can offer you that suit your needs, but you could easielly get costs down a matter of pence per minute

 

[adventurelife]

if you're making a lot of calls to mobiles then i imagine the most cost effective option would be to use a mobile or if you wanted to use a fixed phone you could get a premicell, which if you dont know, is a box where you put a GSM sim card and then connect a normal landline phone and make calls that are routed through the cellular networks, just google "premicell" for more info, then all you need is to contact the networks and see what sim only tariffs they can offer you that suit your needs, but you could easielly get costs down a matter of pence per minute

I was aware that mobile to mobile on the network is in the rental price which we do with all of us being on O2 . However, we ted to call the majority of our clients on their mobile as that is the number they provide us with and of course that means it is spread across the networks.

I had no idea about premicell many thanks off to investigate

 

[benjamin_c]

I was aware that mobile to mobile on the network is in the rental price which we do with all of us being on O2 . However, we ted to call the majority of our clients on their mobile as that is the number they provide us with and of course that means it is spread across the networks.

I had no idea about premicell many thanks off to investigate

well for example, on a consumer tarriff that is sim only with o2 you get 1200 minutes for £30 per month, that would work out at 2.5p a min. but as you're already an o2 customer and you're a business i imagine you could negotiate a better rate, maybe an unlimited tariff or a shared minutes tariff. at a guess i expect you to be around 1ppm or 1.5ppm to cross network numbers

 

[adventurelife]

well for example, on a consumer tarriff that is sim only with o2 you get 1200 minutes for £30 per month, that would work out at 2.5p a min. but as you're already an o2 customer and you're a business i imagine you could negotiate a better rate, maybe an unlimited tariff or a shared minutes tariff. at a guess i expect you to be around 1ppm or 1.5ppm to cross network numbers

Sorry I am a donkey at things like this. Are you saying we could get a cost of 1ppm-1.5ppm from landline to mobile using this route

We use 02 mobiles between staff but we call all customers landline to mobile normally and pay 9p per minute

 

[benjamin_c]

Sorry I am a donkey at things like this. Are you saying we could get a cost of 1ppm-1.5ppm from landline to mobile using this route

We use 02 mobiles between staff but we call all customers landline to mobile normally and pay 9p per minute

from a billing point of view it would be classed as mobile to mobile, i based my pricing assumpton on a consumer tariff averaging at 2.5ppm to all network mobiles, so i imagine as a business you would be able to negotiate a better tariff, especially with you already being a customer with o2. but to your staff it will be just like using a land line phone as it will be getting routed through a premicell.

there is an example of the process below.

 

[Citrus_Digital]

I would assume that the tesco service would be of similar quality to skype as it is the same technology?

 

[cjd]

Sorry I am a donkey at things like this. Are you saying we could get a cost of 1ppm-1.5ppm from landline to mobile using this route

Only if you want to break the T&Cs of your contract and have them on your back. See:

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=140906

 

[benjamin_c]

Only if you want to break the T&Cs of your contract and have them on your back.:

i set two of these up for someone over 2 years ago and they have never heard a thing from the network. They’re on o2. I’m not saying there's not instances where the networks have complained, but in my experience as long as the bill is paid on time they leave you alone. try to avoid a long tie in period if you can. some providers attempt to get you to sign 36 and 48 month contracts, DON'T!! try to get a 30 day rolling if you can, as it's sim only they won't be subsidising a handset so it's not really costing them much to issue a sim card. it's really easy to get a good deal with the networks these days as they are all trying to under cut one another!! Never except the advertised price... on my phone with o2 i am paying almost 40% less than the advertised price, just by haggling at renewal!! Good luck

 

[Dai Phipps]

One of my clients use skype for their marketing calls, and having used it myself, I feel the quality is pretty good. One issue can be with call recording however, as sometimes it has a tendancy to turn itself off, which can be a hindrence at times

 

[cjd]

This is Vodafone's position on it

GSM Gateway Commercial Policy

A GSM Gateway is any equipment containing a SIM card which enables the routing of calls from fixed apparatus to mobile equipment by establishing a mobile to mobile call.
In view of the uncertainty over the legality of certain types of GSM Gateways, Vodafone’s policy is not to accept applications for the operation of GSM Gateways on its network. Customers should be aware that where a GSM Gateway is connected to the Vodafone network in breach of this policy, Vodafone has and will continue to disconnect SIM cards that it believes are being used illegally.

All the operators have their own policies, I heard that Orange shut down quite a few lately and T-Mobile too.

http://online.vodafone.co.uk/dispat...fpb=true&_pageLabel=template12&pageID=TC_0032

 

[adventurelife]

I am still being thick:redface: nothing new there. If you have a GSM thing with say O2 simcard surely you are only going to get all inclusive calls for O2-O2?

Do you need a GSM thing with a sim card in from each of the main providers and then it routes it depending what the number is?

As much as I hate them with a passion BT has just offer a deal of £15 per month per line all inclusive of UK land line and mobile calls which seems excellent value. Just cannot face going back to BT due to the pain and cost they have cost me in the past

 

[virtuallysorted]

My position on this is that you need business quality phone lines to make business calls. Mobiles and dodgy skype connections just aren't good enough and are liable to go down mid-call/develop crackles/decide to echo through the ethos....

Is that really the impression you want to give? Also, how do you check the homeworkers are on brief with what they are saying? Or make sure they aren't breaking the data protection act? Or even how do you track what the responses were?

Too many variables on this one - you need to outsource it to someone who's used to doing this. It's one phone call, one invoice and you can get it done by the pros.

Of course, I'm completely impartial:
www.virtuallysorted.com/sales

But really the phone deal stats were driving me doolally....

C.

 

[benjamin_c]

I am still being thick:redface: nothing new there. If you have a GSM thing with say O2 simcard surely you are only going to get all inclusive calls for O2-O2?

Do you need a GSM thing with a sim card in from each of the main providers and then it routes it depending what the number is?

As much as I hate them with a passion BT has just offer a deal of £15 per month per line all inclusive of UK land line and mobile calls which seems excellent value. Just cannot face going back to BT due to the pain and cost they have cost me in the past

if you get a contract with inclusive cross-net minutes then an o2 sim will give calls to all networks, vodafone, orange, T-mobile, et al. just set it up with a PBX just to route 07 numbers through the gateway if you can, saves desk space having seperate phones, and you can route landline calls via a voip service through the PBX, the Nokia 22 gateways are the best ones i have dealt with, simple to set up, they can be had on ebay for about £50, if you stick within the fair use policy of the contracts you should be ok, as other members have stated some networks have dissconnected users who have used gatways and i beleive this to be correct but i have personally set one up using o2 sims that have been running for over 2 years with out any issues.

one last bit of advice, try to get all equipment 2nd hand from ebay or something, the savings are huge, you will be looking at over £200 per gateway brand new, the same thing can be had on ebay for next to nothing, good luck

 

[adventurelife]

My position on this is that you need business quality phone lines to make business calls. Mobiles and dodgy skype connections just aren't good enough and are liable to go down mid-call/develop crackles/decide to echo through the ethos....

Is that really the impression you want to give? Also, how do you check the homeworkers are on brief with what they are saying? Or make sure they aren't breaking the data protection act? Or even how do you track what the responses were?

Too many variables on this one - you need to outsource it to someone who's used to doing this. It's one phone call, one invoice and you can get it done by the pros.

Of course, I'm completely impartial:
www.virtuallysorted.com/sales

But really the phone deal stats were driving me doolally....

C.

I have outsourced calls in the past from various businesses to various providers. Without exception sales conversions dropped. Okay for a service environment but difficult to get it to work in a sales environment of a complicated product or service