by Rachel Doherty

Created on: May 15, 2008

To survive in today's marketplace, companies can no longer rely on cold calling techniques to make the majority of their sales. First and foremost, technology has gotten in the way. Between answering machines, caller ID devices with enhancements that even block out unidentified callers, and the increased use of cell phones over landlines, the old fashioned telemarketer will find an obstacle at every turn. In addition, government regulation now interferes with the practice of cold calling. Today, anyone who does not want to be called by a telemarketer can simply put themselves on the National Do Not Call Registry and then it is illegal make sales calls to them. All of these obstacles are the result of a general distate for telemarketing calls by the public.

Companies today are more apt to rely on upselling their existing customers and expanding their customer base through referrals and networking. Customer service lines are now increasingly focused on sales. You can no longer expect to call a company and have an issue resolved without also having the representative try to sell you five other products the company offers. Also, internet marketing has exploded to such a degree that it too has become the subject of government regulation. Spam, the email version of the telemarketing call, is also widely considered intrusive and unwanted and the CAN-SPAM law restrains companies from sending unsolicited sales pitches. Furthermore, people now rely on email filtering programs the same way they used to screen calls through their answering machines to avoid cold calls.

However, the internet does provide an array of opportunities for successful marketing strategies. First, marketing content can be customized for each person based on what websites he or she goes on. Cookies can track this information so that companies know a great deal about a person before they try to sell them a product. Then they can present their products in the way that will most appeal to that individual.

Advertising, whether on the internet or through other various media, is the primary way companies create interest in their products. Advertising has become so pervasive in society that it is truly unavoidable. Whether it is hanging on the door of a public bathroom stall, inside a restaurant's menu, plastered on the side of someone's car, or a company being promoted in the latest task on The Apprentice, advertising is everywhere. We no longer see advertisements between television shows. The shows themselves are advertisements masked as entertainment.

Perhaps someday people will get sick of the proliferation of advertising and then it, too, will go the way of the cold call. For now, however, strategic marketing and advertising have far surpassed telemarketing as the primary mode of selling products.

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