Given the current downturn, any organisation should be looking at their marketing spend with a high level of scrutiny. However, it must be noted that hanging up on marketing altogether may put your company out of business as opposed to keeping it in the game. The big three US automobile manufacturers, GM, Chrysler and Ford, for example, have blamed their recent, heavy losses and disastrous sales situation on their marketing strategies and not the quality of their vehicles. This proves, yet again, that when under stress, marketing can really make or break your business.

Compared to other forms of marketing, outbound B2B Telemarketing is a measurable, flexible medium which is thriving despite our current downturn. Precision Marketing Magazine's October 2008 issue highlighted the fact that specialist outbound agencies are seeing growth, stating that: “outbound telemarketing looks like one of the major bargains in the direct marketing industry. At less than the cost of a daily newspaper, clients can recruit a customer, warm up a prospect or capture vital data”.

For what appears to be a costly marketing channel, this might seem to be a paradox, but the growth of the high quality end of the Telemarketing industry is a clear sign that returns are high despite the torrential economic downpour. Sending out yet another piece of direct mail is cheap, but embarking on a quality Telemarketing campaign delivers real value.

When put in layman's terms it is really quite simple: even in a recession, all businesses can sell more and there are few more cost effective ways to do this than commission a team of highly articulate, trained professions to research leads; set up appointments; and even sell your product or service for you too. Of course, given the headcount freezes and layoffs in many organisations, employing more staff might be impossible – but outsourcing could be your answer.

One of the most important pieces of guidance given to companies in a downturn is to outsource their non-core activities. Outbound B2B telemarketing fits exactly into the category of the type of activity which is best outsourced to experts, who have the scale, experience and technology to deliver good results. Outsourcing also gives true flexibility – if a campaign isn't working, you can stop quickly without worrying about redundancies. On the other hand, if you need to scale up then an agency can respond quickly too, making the most of opportunities. The agency route works well with tactical campaigns as well, like product launches. In easier times this kind of work might have been delivered by an in-house call centre, but as internal resources come under increasing pressure an agency should offer a low risk alternative. It is an obvious solution to an ever increasing problem: companies need more sales and less staff.

One other major benefit of outbound Telemarketing is that it provides insight and intelligence through the massive numbers of dialogues with prospects that it delivers. An experienced team should uncover and feed back important market and competitor information, which can be particularly important when markets are changing so quickly.

As we approach the New Year, one resolution every business should have in mind is to look again at how you are going to increase sales – if you're not using telemarketing, you will be missing a trick.