Telemarketing Manager flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Abandon rate formula

Calls abandoned divided by calls answered by a live person, times 100. A call counts as abandoned when no agent connects within two seconds of the person's completed greeting.

Calling window rule

Consumer outbound calls are permitted only between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. in the called party's local time zone, so lists must be matched to local time before dialing.

Do Not Call scrub

Outbound consumer lists must be checked against the national registry and applicable state lists, with the scrub performed no more than 31 days before the campaign and the record retained.

Internal do-not-call list

A company-maintained suppression list of people who asked not to be called again. Requests must be honored within the required window and kept indefinitely per policy.

Prior express written consent

A signed agreement, including electronic signature, that clearly authorizes autodialed or prerecorded calls to a specified number. It is required where the applicable telemarketing rule demands it.

Established business relationship

An existing customer or inquiry relationship that can create a limited exception to certain do-not-call restrictions, subject to time limits and the specific rule that applies.

Contact rate

Live contacts divided by total dials. It measures list quality and dialer efficiency and is the base for comparing campaigns before conversion is considered.

Conversion rate

Closed sales divided by qualified conversations. It isolates agent selling skill from list and dialing effects, making it the preferred coaching metric.

Cost per acquisition

Total campaign cost, including labor, list, and technology, divided by closed sales. Compare it against customer lifetime value, not against revenue alone.

Calls per agent-hour

Live contacts divided by total logged agent hours. It normalizes productivity across agents whose dialer connect rates differ because of list quality.

Staffing forecast formula

Required agents equal target contacts times average handle time in minutes, divided by paid minutes per agent per shift times the occupancy target.

Occupancy target

The share of paid time an agent spends on calls. Above roughly 85 percent, abandon rates and attrition typically rise, so plans should cap it.

Average handle time

Talk time plus hold time plus after-call work, averaged per contact. It drives staffing, cost per contact, and schedule adherence targets.

Quality scorecard

A weighted evaluation form scoring sampled calls on compliance disclosure, needs discovery, claim accuracy, and close or next step. Scores gate incentives.

Calibration session

A meeting where multiple evaluators score the same recorded calls and compare results, aiming to keep rater variance within about one point on the scale.

Coaching cadence

A documented schedule of at least weekly one-on-one feedback tied to specific scorecard dimensions, each with a written action item and a follow-up check.

Call recording retention

Recordings, consent records, and scrub logs must be kept for the period set by regulation and internal policy, because they are primary evidence in complaints.

Script disclosure requirements

Scripts must state the caller's identity and the purpose of the call and provide an opt-out path. Price and savings claims need documented substantiation.

Opt-out suppression window

A request to stop calling must be honored within the required business-day window, commonly ten business days, and the suppression must be permanent under policy.

List segmentation

Separating cold, opt-in, and existing-customer records so that consent status, permitted calling rules, and messaging are applied correctly to each group.

Attempt cap

A policy limit on dial attempts per record per campaign, commonly three, which reduces complaints, wasted dials, and reputational risk.

A/B test discipline

Change one variable at a time, use equal list segments, and predefine the success metric and volume threshold before declaring a winning variant.

Objection handling sequence

Acknowledge the objection, clarify it, answer with evidence, confirm the answer landed, then advance to the next step. Log the objection category.

Escalation trigger

Any stop-calling request, complaint, or legal threat is routed to a supervisor, the record is flagged, and suppression happens the same day.

Incentive quality gate

Commission is paid only when the agent meets a minimum scorecard score and has zero compliance violations, which prevents volume gaming.

Clawback clause

A written compensation rule allowing recovery of commission on sales that are cancelled or refunded, stated before the compensation period begins.

Attrition warning signals

Rising abandon rate with falling contacts per hour usually indicates understaffing or list fatigue. Track first-30-day turnover and average tenure too.

Vendor compliance audit

For outsourced dialing, require written compliance attestations, sample recorded calls monthly, and tie payment to both sales and quality thresholds.

Data deduplication

Removing duplicate records and validating phone numbers before each campaign, which cuts wasted dials and reduces duplicate complaints from the same household.

Target setting method

Set targets from the prior period's median plus a stretch band, and separate controllable metrics such as talk time from outcome metrics such as sales.

Metric funnel order

Dials to contacts to qualified conversations to appointments or transfers to closed sales. Diagnose the earliest failing stage before changing scripts or staffing.

Compliance violation logging

Every confirmed violation is recorded with date, agent, call identifier, rule breached, and corrective action, and is reviewed in the monthly performance cycle.