When most people think of telesales, they think of ways to stop the calls instead of considering the interesting history of the field. As annoying as telesales calls can be, they are an effective business strategy that puts businesses in direct contact with their consumers, and when first popularized, they were the newest wave in salesmanship. While modern telesellers are guided by restrictions that protect both their revenues and your sleep, telesales is an established industry standard that is going nowhere.

The first telesales firm, Dial America, is believed to have started in the 1950's, with two calling stations. The inbound station allowed customers to contact the company. The outbound station was what we consider traditional telesales. Both were highly effective in the booming post-war economy, and the company, operating under Life Circulation Co. developed a new sales-call strategy in the 1960's to support local sports teams and other charities. In 1976, Time Magazine spun-off and sold their sales calls unit to Life Circulation to form Dial America Marketing, which remains one of the largest telesales companies. Today it works with banks, internet providers, and major magazines like Reader's Digest; it continues to provide support for charities like MADD and the Special Olympics.

Though the term telesales was first used in the 1970's to describe the Bell Company's newest campaign using toll-free services, it has come today to refer to any person or company that calls for purposes of solicitation, and it is largely used in a negative way. The unpopularity of unsolicited calls resulted, in fact, from the final stage of telesales history. People were complaining so much about telesellers that the FCC was forced to make basic changes to the rules so that individuals could add themselves to a Do-Not-Call list, but there was no national registry or guidelines. In 1991 the FTC stepped in and put in place the rules such as calling hours, Do-Not-Call lists, and disclosures that still protect us today. There are many online resources that allow you to take collective action against telesellers.

So if you want to stop telesales and annoying calls, you can take advantage of the modern guidelines and technology and stop by a caller complaints website. The future of telesales is here!

Source: Dwayne Eisen link