It has been a while since I've project managed and delivered telephone based market research.  So when we were recently engaged by a well known organisation to do a study on travel patterns in the region, I decided to first brush up on the legal requirements.

Privacy laws are paramount and we have always made sure that all of our market research activities are delivering best practice, as per our Boardroom Business Privacy Policy. 

So one of my first steps was to familiarise myself with current legislation including the Do Not Call Register.    

Whilst re-registering my own home phone number whilst on the site (as one does!), I started to explore the site and learned that you can now register your fax number to help prevent unsolicited sales/marketing materials pumping through your fax machine.

The Do Not Call Register is designed to prevent unwanted telemarketing sales calls.  Legitimate market research studies, where there is no selling or coercion involved, are exempt. 

So armed with a list of phone numbers from a reputable data supplier the next step was to draft our 'scripts'.

Designing a script that will get across who you are calling on behalf, the purpose of your study, how long it is going to take, and any other pertinent information - all in a polite manner can be quite tricky.  Especially if you want the operator to be able to do it all without having to take a big breath in between sentences!

In addition to the introduction script, let's not forget that we also needed to draft responses to standard replies and/or questions regarding the study, including questions about the Do Not Call register.

I found the following tips helpful, however often our best ideas were from role playing different scenarios.  The objective was to always ensure our client's brand was maintained and that we never overly pushed for responses.

After carefully scripting responses for multiple scenarios and then choosing the times of day we would be calling, we managed to successfully deliver the required amount of completed surveys from households across the entire region. 

We did end up with a higher proportion of retirees than what is represented in the current statistics, so next time we may choose a data set that has a higher proportion of mobile numbers to help address this.

Whilst delivering the survey, on most occasions we enhanced our client's brand by being polite and explaining the advantages of the study.  Many respondent's participated enthusiastically in the study once they realised the benefits.

Of course we had many folks who were too busy or not interested however we were always very polite and didn't pressure anyone into participating.

I would like to say a HUGE thank you to my team of experienced telephone operators, namely Kelly and Lucy.  These girls took everything in their stride and it was a pleasure working alongside them.

I would also like to thank Sarvenaz from the Australian Market and Social Research Society for your valuable advice.