Modern American employees and job seekers alike may enjoy a wide variety of work arrangements, from the traditional mode of a 9-5 office job all the way to telemarketing from home, independent contractor work with flexible hours, and more. Many of these employees make use of computers and the Internet alongside phones, and customer service jobs and inbound sales positions in particular make rigorous use of telephones. While telephones date all the way back to the 1870s, they are as important as ever for business, and a 140-year-old technology can easily exist side by side with modern computers an the Internet alike to make effective work possible. What is more, some phone-heavy jobs are actually better done at home than a work space, and this is why telemarketing from home may be done. When is it time to try telemarketing from home?

Using the Phone

To get better context of telemarketing from home vs working at an office, an employer or job seeker may consider just how important phones are for business. Despite video chat and e-mail being prevalent, phone calls are often the default for many customers and business partners, especially older ones. People naturally crave hearing another person’s voice, complete with emotional tones and nuances, compared to impersonal text on a screen. For most businesses today, phone calls are a major part of the sales funnel, and both managers and customer service reps know this (as do sales reps). The techniques used for phone service are a whole topic on their own, but the main takeaway is that phone calls are central to communicating with customers and keeping loyal customers on board.

Good phone calls can entice new customers into making a purchase with a particular brand, and these calls keep current customers coming back for repeat purchases, which is vital. Good phone calls make good impressions and make customers feel valued, and this drives up sales. Studies show that if a company boosts its customer retention rates by just 5%, it may expect a growth as much as 25-95% or so, often from improved phone calls. By contrast, bad phone calls may drive away new customers and offend current ones, and drive them away, too. Often, it takes only one bad phone conversation for a customer, even a loyal one, to switch companies. A phone call may be bad, for example, if the employee is working in a noisy environment with a lot of chatter in the background. All this noise stresses and disorients the employee, making them more likely to make work errors or snap at customers. The noise also makes it difficult to hear the other person. Fortunately, telemarketing from home can fix this.

Try Some Remote Work

Some American employees and job seekers get remote positions out of preference, and others do so out of need. Single parents, for example, can’t easily leave the house for hours on end, since they have children to look after. Thus, remote positions based on the phone and/or the Internet are ideal for them, providing flexible careers for mothers (often single mothers). Other job seekers may have little or no transport available to them, and some may suffer from serious social anxiety that would impair their performance at an office. Some job seekers or employees, in fact, have high-functioning autism, which can result in sharp focus and attention to detail but also sensory issues or social anxiety that would impair them at an office. Finally, some Americans have more than one job or an odd sleep schedule, so the flexible hours of a remote job are essential.

Meanwhile, office employees may choose to start working remotely, mainly to avoid the sheer noise of their workplace. In the privacy of a home office, that employee may enjoy a quiet work environment that lowers stress levels and distractions. This quiet, controlled environment is also ideal for placing and receiving phone calls, since that employee will be at ease and won’t struggle to hear the other party over any noise. As a bonus, remote employees don’t need to commute and can use that time for extra work. Meanwhile, on a PC, e-mail, Cloud storage, and live video chat help these remote workers stay connected with their co-workers the entire time.