But we really shouldn't be surprised that Royal Mail wants a pared-down version of QMP that serves its own needs. The gloves are coming off as the company feels the pressure of a competitive market and evaluates its financial support of DM industry causes with a more ruthless eye.
Royal Mail's withdrawal from QMP follows the introduction last year of pricing-in-proportion and its plans to introduce zonal pricing (see news analysis, page 21). But the indignant reaction from some quarters to its step-back from QMP begs the question: at what point will the DM industry get real and stop expecting Royal Mail's former largesse to continue? We should instead expect a further diminishing of Royal Mail's contribution to DM causes as it prepares for the time when downstream access really starts to hit its coffers.
Who'd have thought it? Rumours of UK contact centres' demise have been somewhat exaggerated as the sector shows signs of surviving the damage that an inflated Telephone Preference Service has inflicted. Marketing Direct's annual survey of the telemarketing sector, which was held in conjunction with sister title Marketing magazine (see feature, page 37), reflects an industry that is restructuring and adapting to changing market conditions. True, the pace of consolidation among suppliers appears to have quickened and signs are that the players in this year's league are engaged in a game of survival of the fittest.
But survive they will, as long as they stick to their chosen formula of reducing their dependence on outbound telesales and a continued emphasis on agent training.
Most of the top 10 suppliers in our survey are focused on in-bound activity. At the same time, many have made huge efforts to convince clients that cheapest, ie offshore, isn't necessarily best and that investment in agent training is a win-win scenario for all concerned.
That's because consumer irritation with silent calls is almost matched by their disillusionment with overseas call centres - visit BBC Radio 1's forum about Powergen's decision last year to switch from Indian to UK-based suppliers (www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/news/newsbeat) and witness the frustration of consumers having to deal with poorly trained and no doubt underpaid overseas agents.
It's all evidence that the UK call centre sector is doing something right and could, ultimately, prove the doom merchants wrong.
noelle.mcelhatton@haymarket.com.
.jpg)
.jpg)