Results taken from a survey of 1,000 call centres show that rather than being all about hard-nosed cold calling, the majority of outbound calling in the UK is being performed by customer service staff calling existing customers.
The survey has been carried out on behalf of UK contact centre specialist, Callmedia, by Synergy Connections, which interviewed in-house and outsourced contact centres across a wide range of industry sectors.
Results show that 71% of all contact centres are involved in outbound calls as a result of customer service activity, while only 37% are involved in telemarketing.
The news will provide a welcome boost to the outbound call centre industry, which, along with worries about the 'death of the cold call', has been at the centre of intense media interest in 'silent calls' as registrations to the Telephone Preference Service increase.
Commenting on the findings, Rufus Grig, Managing Director of Callmedia and a keen supporter of the UK call and contact centre industry, said:
"The results of this survey belie the myth that outbound calling is all about the hard-sell. Much of the calling from business to their customers is about customer service and that's what we will hear much more about in the months to come.
"However," he warned, "While the telemarketing industry is still healthy, bad practice by some operators, coupled with poorly operated equipment, has led to considerable public disquiet about the practice, and there is not much time to put the house in order.'