If you've ever made lots of calls, especially first-time or cold calls to other businesses you'll know that it can sometimes be difficult to maintain momentum if you're getting a lot of what you consider to be rejection: Nobody you speak to seems to be receptive to what you're saying, they become defensive, appear to misunderstand you or it's clear that you're just another interruption to their day and they want to get off the phone as soon as possible. The bottom line is that you've become forgettable when you really want to be memorable.

It's important to use the most accurate data when running a telemarketing campaign. There's nothing worse than numbers that are no longer in use, businesses that have moved on or even calling people up who have actually passed away. These bad data calls can be very embarrassing for your business and set back your telemarketing campaign.

So it's good practice to source reliable data from a reputable supplier. Your conversion rates will be severely affected if all your data is unreliable, out of date and generally a bit useless. It can even cause de-motivation amongst your telemarketing staff since targets can become impossible to achieve.

A telemarketing campaign needs to have one clear goal. That goal could be to increase sales, increase customer database, conduct market research, find more staff or any other reason. When one of these goals is achieved it's logged as a conversion, a successful result. With these clear goals and conversions you can begin your telemarketing campaign.

Now you have a clear goal you also need to start sourcing the data; the list of names and numbers you're going to call. If you're on a budget you might be tempted to pick up the yellow pages and start calling from page one. Even in some larger corporations it's still mandatory for new starters in a campaign to start calling from page one of the phone book.

When running a telemarketing campaign the most important part is the data. The businesses and people you're calling are the ones that will ultimately result in sales. It's the reason you're running the campaign in the first place; to produce results. Sales, leads, market research or whatever your goal for the campaign might be.

To ensure your telemarketing campaign is a success you need to source the right data. If the numbers you call are out of date, incorrect or not your target market then you're wasting time. The right data will affect your conversion rates and can make the campaign completely successful.