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Telemarketer

Kaihoko ā-Waea

Telemarketers promote and sell goods or services by telephone.

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Secondary education

There are no specific secondary education requirements to become a telemarketer. However, NCEA Level 1 English is useful.

Study fields

Useful experience

Useful experience for telemarketers includes:

  • sales experience
  • customer service
  • work that involves helping or motivating people.

What you will do

Telemarketers may do some or all of the following:

  • take or make calls to sell goods and services to customers
  • explain the product or service they are promoting to customers
  • persuade customers to upgrade their existing service
  • raise funds for charity
  • ask people to pay their bills
  • keep and update records of sales and customers
  • make appointments for sales representatives
  • follow up on telephone messages left by customers
  • gather information about customers and conduct polls or surveys.

Skills and knowledge

Telemarketers need to have:

  • knowledge of the companies, products or services they call people about
  • customer service and sales techniques
  • the ability to explain technical details clearly
  • the ability to solve problems and make decisions quickly
  • a good telephone manner.

 

Pay

Telemarketers usually earn

$49K-$58K

per year

Job opportunities
Poor
Chances of getting a job as a telemarketer are poor due to technology replacing jobs.

Industry

Advertising and Marketing

Telemarketers promote and sell goods or services by telephone.

Similar jobs in this industry

Entry requirements

There are no specific requirements to become a telemarketer. However, you need to have a good standard of spoken and written English.

Telemarketers are trained on the job.

A free training course in contact centre skills is available for people who are out of work. It's funded by the Ministry of Social Development and includes support with devices, access, job hunting and interviews.

Find out more from the Customer Contact Network New Zealand (CCNNZ) website.

Chances of getting a job

Vacancies for telemarketers dropping

Vacancies for telemarketers have been falling since 2010. According to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the number of telemarketer vacancies fell by 21% between 2017 and 2018.

This is due to increased use of:

  • overseas call centres rather than local telemarketers, because of cheaper costs
  • chatbots (software that can call or chat online with people) instead of people to make calls
  • social media marketing, which is more appealing to customers than receiving calls.

According to the Census, 642 telemarketers worked in New Zealand in 2018.

Types of employers varied

Telemarketers can work for:

  • research firms
  • charity organisations
  • large private organisations
  • government departments.

Some experienced telemarketers are self-employed and work on contract.

Find out more about training

Marketing Association of New Zealand
(09) 361 7760 - contactus@marketing.org.nz - www.marketing.org.nz
Ignite Colleges
 0800 200 345 - https://ignitecolleges.ac.nz

Progression and specialisations

Telemarketers may progress to become market research analysts or sales representatives, or move into management roles.

Telemarketers can specialise in the role of:

Appointment Setter
Appointment setters books appointments for leads (people who have shown interest in a company's goods and services) to meet with sales representatives.

Working conditions

Telemarketers:

  • usually work flexible hours, which may include weekends or evenings
  • work in call centres and offices, and may work from home.

Useful personal qualities

Telemarketers need to be:

  • good listeners and communicators
  • good at customer service
  • tolerant, tactful, and patient
  • confident and persuasive
  • motivated
  • resilient and able to cope with rejection
  • able to manage their time well.

Related Wintec courses

Industry

Advertising and Marketing

Telemarketers promote and sell goods or services by telephone.

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