Telemarketing can be an extremely effective way to grow your business. Many companies outsource this task to telemarketing firms, which have expertise in generating business this way. If you're considering taking this step for your business, here are a few helpful tips.

Know your needs. Before you begin shopping for a telemarketing firm, you should have your sales strategy firmly in place. This will save time in determining whether a company has the capability to fulfill your needs, and it will also get you more accurate price quotes. Before approaching telemarketing firms, answer the following questions:

- Do you need to market to businesses, or directly to consumers?

- Telemarketers can use many different tactics, including lead generation, taking orders over the phone, and giving surveys. What tactic or combination of tactics do you plan for your campaign?

- Will you need assistance in writing a telemarketing script?

- What is the volume of calls you expect?

Ask for referrals. You can find listings for telemarketing firms on the web and in the yellow pages. For the best results, however, ask your business contacts for referrals. It's particularly helpful to ask colleagues at companies that have telemarketing needs similar to yours.

Get proposals. After you've made a list from your online research and referrals, contact telemarketing firms to discuss your needs. Outline exactly what you need, explain your budget, and ask for a proposal. Here are some things to look for in telemarketing proposals:

- How do they charge? Some firms charge a by-minute or by-hour rate for the duration of your marketing campaign, including a setup fee. Others pay commissions to their salespeople. Make sure their charging method works for your company.

- Where are they located? You can save a significant amount by hiring an overseas call center. There are difficulties to offset this, however, including cultural barriers and resistance from your customers.

- Do they offer extras? Some companies bring in extra services, such as multilingual sales, to help your campaign run more smoothly.

- How do they report results? You should have a way to keep track of the success of your campaign and the telemarketing firm's efficiency. Their reports should be delivered often, easy to read, and compatible with your company's systems.

Make a site visit. After you've narrowed down your choices from the proposals, you should visit your top candidates. This way you'll be able to evaluate the quality of employees, the company's work ethic, and the strength of its leaders.

Listen in. After you've made your choice and set up a calling campaign with a company, be sure to listen in to a few calls. Most telemarketing firms will allow their clients to monitor calls, and it is an excellent way to tell how the campaign is going. If you do this early on, you should be able to catch any initial glitches before they become larger problems.

It's important to take your time when selecting the right telemarketing firm. The right partnership can be a great benefit to your business, and the wrong one could be disastrous. Be sure to get lots of referrals and to visit your top choices. This could make the difference between a failed campaign and a successful one.