Initially founded to focus on outbound telemarketing, TM One now offers a full range of both inbound and outbound contact-center services for ISPs, from marketing to technical support.

by Jeff Goldman [October 22, 2003]

TM One, or Total Marketing One, was founded in 2002 as a call center consulting and project management firm. The company helped corporations and large ISPs procure outbound call centers, often managing the outsourced call center relationship on the client's behalf. Soon after, TM One decided to bring the work in-house and opened its own call center to work directly with clients.

In June of 2003, TM One opened a call center in North Liberty, Iowa, offering both inbound and outbound calling, predictive dialing, preview dialing, web collaboration, chat management, fax management, and e-mail management. "For a company to utilize this same type of environment, they'd probably need about 18 different applications from multiple vendors," says Anthony Marlowe, TM One's President.

TM One Voice: (877) TOTAL-TM or (877) 868-2586 info@tmone.com

While TM One was launched to focus on outbound telemarketing, Marlowe says many of the company's ISP customers asked for inbound technical support as an additional service. The company now offers e-mail, chat, and phone support for low- to mid-level technical support issues, specifically targeting small to medium-size ISPs.

While many larger ISPs can afford to build in-house solutions, Marlowe says, it makes sense for smaller ISPs to work with a company like TM One. And he's building his customer base slowly. "We're not looking to sign three new contracts at once," Marlowe says. "We're looking to sign one contract, establish the relationship, provide good service, make it standard operating procedure—then turn up the next one."

A direct relationship
One of TM One's key strengths is the nature of its account management, which is handled directly by Marlowe himself or by John Burchert, the company's COO. "Providing high-level account management at the executive level, as opposed to having a middle manager manage the outsourcing relationship, is very important to us," Marlowe says. "By doing that, we ensure a great relationship at all times."

An online reporting system gives 24-hour clients access to call data. One of the advantages of that kind of information, Marlowe points out, is the ability to monitor TM One's response during network outages. "Network outages cost a lot of money to the ISP, and they want to see how their vendor is handling things during mission-critical times," he says. "It's crucial to be able to keep track of that on a real time basis."

Support is available in both English and Spanish, and Marlowe says that just about any other language can be provided as well. "We have a pretty diverse market, and with a recruiting pool from the University of Iowa, if there's a certain language that TM One would need to have to be able to provide services, we'll be able to fill that need," he says.

Pricing can be structured either per-customer or per-hour. For smaller ISPs that anticipate a lower call volume, a prepaid hourly rate is available; if the hours paid for aren't used in a given month, the hourly rate can then be credited towards the following month's invoice. "For small and medium-size ISPs, that allows them to have more of a variable contribution towards their vendor," Marlowe says.

Inbound and outbound
Ultimately, one of the greatest advantages of working with TM One, Marlowe says, is the ability to use the same call center for both marketing and technical support. "If a client currently uses two contact centers, one for helpdesk and one for marketing, then they can consolidate vendors, minimize the amount of outsourcing management time on their end, and get a better bang for their buck," he says.

Norm Wilkerson is Director of Marketing for Giant Networks, an ISP that's been serving eastern Iowa since 1993. They've been working with TM One for about a year now: Wilkerson says that when they began looking at offering 24/7 support, outsourcing was the only logical way to do it. "Just from the standpoint of pure economics, it's easier for them to do since it's their main business," he says.

And from an economic perspective, Wilkerson says that pricing has proved to be one of TM One's great strengths—along with their responsiveness. "They're willing to sit down and figure out a solution to whatever our needs are, to customize to what we're doing rather than one size fits all," Wilkerson says. "They've been very flexible in that regard."

While Giant hasn't taken advantage of TM One's marketing services yet, Wilkerson says it's a nice option to have available. "It's something that can dovetail really well with our marketing efforts," he says. "We're planning to launch some new types of services, and we've looked at using their call center to do that. It's one of the main reasons that we're excited about the things they can do."

— End

Related articles:
	[Sept. 9, 2002]	It's Not Easy Being Cheap
	[Jan. 3, 2002]	The Price of Passwords
	[June 18, 1999]	Pricing Your Services Part 1: Dial Access Basics

Online resources:
	Outsourced Customer Support Directory
	Quick Reference Chart