SELL
OR PERISH!
Existing since 1991
MasterPlan is a consulting and training company focusing on client
relations. Between 1995 and 1996 we operated the first
call/service center in Poland. Since that time we,
additionally, specialize in telemarketing and call
center-related issues. We have developed an unique
method of recruiting call center operators and a number of unique
training and consulting programs for telemarketers and call center
management. Combining international and domestic experience
allows us to provide our clients with best service possible.
If you are looking for information on call center
market in Poland, you wish to outsource call center, or to purchase one
- talk to us.
>> more
Marian J. Kostecki.
Glosariusz terminologii call
center/help desk.
Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN. 2007. GRATIS >> ściągnij okładkę i zawartość
Marian J. Kostecki. Efektywność
i skuteczność w call center:
Miary skuteczności i efektywności pracy contact center, call center,
help desk (ruch przychodzący). Warszawa: moimzdaniem.pl 2006, 110
stron. GRATIS >> ściągnij
Marian J. Kostecki. Telefoniczna rozmowa handlowa:
Wszystko, co
powinieneś wiedzieć o sprzedaĹźy przez telefon zanim podniesiesz
słuchawkę, w trakcie posługiwania się nią i po jej odłoźeniu. Warszawa:
moimzdaniem.pl 2006, 238 stron. GRATIS >> ściągnij
wiadomości
istotne dla środowiska call center zapowiedzi wydarzeń -- news
-- ogłoszenia o pracy -- gratisy
SAMOUCZEKopisy
przypadków,
które mogą zostać wykorzystane w samokształceniu
pracowników działów obsługi klienta,
handlowców,
webmasterów, telemarketerów::
Zawartość tej internetowej strony jest chroniona prawem autorskim.
The pioneer of telemarketing in Poland
Marian J. Kostecki (an interview with...), The pioneer of telemarketing in Poland, Telemarketing, April 1997
It is said that you're the pioneer of telemarketing in Poland...
That's an exaggeration. Telemarketing still isn't popular enough in this country to be a topic ofconversation. The truth is, when we opened our call center in September of 1995 we had the first contract call center in the country.
...contract call center?
We rendered telemarketing services to companies in need of such services.
But who needed these services when the concept of telemarketing was still largely unknown?
Primarily Western companies which brought their knowledge about telemarketing and its effectiveness fromheadquarters. We worked, for example, for the American telecommunications giant AT&T, the American express mail firm TNT Worldwide Express, the Dutch computer network companyConXperts, the German pharmaceutical giant Boehringer Ingelheim and the British washing-powder manufacturerCussons. Working with domestic firms proved to be more difficult, because we had to put a lot of effort in educating the market about the unique benefits oftelemarketing. We have worked for many local companies, large and small. We also learned that many businesses employ telemarketing practices without calling it or even realizing itstelemarketing.
Can you give me an example?
There are employees in many companies that use the phone all the time. They getinformation, make appointments for themselves and for their superiors, and connect incomingcalls.
Well over 90% of all contacts between a company and the outside world occur over the phone.
There are also those companies that rely on professional phone skills for their very existence on the market place, for example pharmaceuticalwholesalers. Sales reps from these companies usually don't meet with pharmacists who buy their medicines and medicalsupplies.
What where your company's resources when you started?
We managed to find an office in the center of Warsaw equipped in 35 phone lines connected to an Alcatelswitch. We put in a computer network that could handle 21 workstations, connected with V generationcabling. Then we began looking for employees.
Did you buy out employees from other firms?
We never thought of that, but if we did, we would know where to look.
People from Hospitality Management Concepts got in touch with us. HMC sells discount cards for Orbis. We also had calls from people at KontaktTelemarketing, the mysterious department at the Marcom ad agency, and from Dar Natury, which supplies mineral water to offices and has its own in-house call center.
We had no calls from the employees or former employees of companies like Multichoice or OfficeDepot. Both of these business have large, by Polish standards, telemarketingdepartments.
We decided to concentrate on candidates who could be trained from the ground up. We found several excellent eagerlearners.
What was the nature of your first contracts?
They were all so different. We sold catalogs and a vaccine over the phone, as well as ad and trade showspace. We found participants for a specialized seminar. We verified mailing lists for large promotionalcampaigns. We conducted market research and set up appointments for sales reps.
That's an extremely varied list. But isn't it a better idea to specialize in one area, rather than working on so many different things.
We were the only ones doing it, so our specialization was limited to the fact that we only did business-to-business outboundtelemarketing.
But I still think that working in so many different fields in not very profitable...
We didn't want to specialize. On the contrary. We were actively pursuing variety. Our goal was to find out how telemarketing works inPoland. My attitude toward what we were doing was similar to a designer's during a prototype's trialruns.
At the beginning we knew a lot about telemarketing and the way in which it works in theStates. We had no idea how firms would react to our calls. We had no concept regardingpricing. We also didn't know to what extent foreign marketing practices would be applicable to Polish marketconditions.
So what happened?
There were lots of surprises. For example, we found out that a telemarketer at our call center conducts as many conversations per hour as her or his Americancounterpart.
Can you elaborate...?
During trial runs the best person was able to conduct 20 conversations per hour. The slowest could do 14.
The phone is the primary source of contact with the outside world in all companies with at least one phone line.
Of course you can't run a marathon at a sprinter's pace. However, one could assume that a well trained telemarketer can conduct 6-10 conversations perhour. That's 300 conversations per week.
Did anything else surprise you?
I was really surprised with the level of effectiveness we attained. When I told BettyMichelson, Vice President of Sales and Development at ICT in Pennsylvania, that we had a success rate of 55% in selling acatalog, she wouldn't believe me. Their rate of success was 4-6%.
Of course not all projects had such rates. When we made appointments for a rep of a Dutchcompany, we hit over 30%. Marcel Ensing, the head of ConXperts Poland, says that in the Netherlands 8% is verygood.
Is there an analogy here from the initial effectiveness of advertising when it was introduced in Poland?
There's no doubt that these shocking rates of effectiveness won't last very long. Right now this is anovelty, and novelties are always hot. I think that we can attribute these high rates to the preparation and training of ourtelemarketers. We developed very unique methods of training in this area.
I heard that your call center is no longer open for business. Why did you shut it down if everything was going so well?
I would rather say that the call center operation has been suspended, notliquidated. The reason for this is simple. The need for training and consulting services surpassed our wildestexpectations. We had to give up something.
It made more sense to give up active telemarketing, knowing that more companies could fill that market need than consulting andtraining. Our services have expanded to include the complete preparation of telemarketingprojects, including the selection of contractors. Since then we've launched three turnkey call centers - two in-house and one servicebureau. We did everything on these projects, including design, recruitment,training, technical consulting, and supervision over the initial stage ofoperations. We have also provided our clients with databases and software.
So you already have followers...
Yes. I wish them all the best of luck and - once they settle in - some healthycompetition.
Thank you for your time.
Mr. Marian J. Kostecki, Ph.D. is president of MasterPlan, a sales consulting and training company which has specialized in telemarketing for the past two years.
