Anyone with even average experience in the telemarketing industry would eventually learn about telemarketing scams. And painful as it is, it's usually when they're hearing someone hold them up as a reason why the industry is dead.
However, if B2B businesses have any say about it, it's still pretty much alive. You see there's a fine difference between what real telemarketers do and what scammers posing as them would do.
Today, telemarketing continues to stay alive because there is still a need for it to contact and engage potential B2B clients. All kinds of decision makers, from managers to all the way up to the CEOs, take a lot of means just to contact. The phone just happens to be one of them.
In the following, you will find just some areas where scammers and telemarketers differ greatly.
Targets
Scammers – Scammers typically target the most gullible. These would include people who have no easy access to confirming the things they say over the phone. They would go for areas that they think have low awareness with regards to telemarketing scams.
Professionals – B2B telemarketers target only businesses, and more specifically, certain people in charge of certain areas all in order to generate sales leads. The businesses themselves aren't very easy to navigate because you have gatekeepers and other safeguards to prevent people from wasting the decision maker's time. The businesses must also fit a certain criteria determined by industry, size, and factors that would indicate a need for whatever product or service they're offering.
Goals and information
Scammers – Scammers are basically thieves. The things they steal? Information. Personal information. These could be credit card numbers, bank account PINs, and other sensitive data that would allow access to people's money. And if they can't get that, there's always the classic case of duping people into directly sending them money by making up the same false promises (e.g. tax reduction).
Professionals – Real telemarketers are also after information but this information is only for the purpose of convincing either themselves or whoever is outsourcing them for it. Convince them of what exactly? A need. B2B transactions have their best value when there is a definite need for something and the money spent on the relationship or the project is worth every penny. You're talking about big business here and specific needs have to be confirmed. It's the only way they can get the qualified leads they need to determine who and who is not open to do business. The telemarketers themselves aren't attempting to sell and in fact, the closest thing to that would be when they do additional appointment setting. The sale itself still needs to be made by whoever needed to get the necessary information to act upon.
Technology
Scammers – Scammers are cheap or otherwise they wouldn't be so desperate to steal instead of pursuing more honest efforts. This is reflected in their use of low quality communications technology, fellow criminals who obviously never trained to communicate like a pro, and even those who use websites generally don't put effort to make it look convincing enough. That takes money and perhaps more money than what they rip off of people.
Professionals – These people use only the best and more. They're not just limited to the phone. They have a large database that they've built over the years so they don't have to start compiling numbers from scratch. Their equipment is selected to ensure clear, quality communication. Finally, they wouldn't be professionals if there wasn't some time invested in their training.
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