Several direct marketing trade organizations have published data regarding the industry’s coming fortunes. But even a comprehensive review of all these figures will still contain holes. To round out the picture, I recently retained a New Orleans psychic to read tarot cards on the industry’s behalf. I offer her words – but advise that they be used in conjunction with standard industry divination techniques.
One can’t swing a rooster in New Orleans without hitting half a dozen mediums. But after an extensive search, I found Joanna, a tarot reader at the Bottom of the Cup Tea Room on Chartres Street in the French Quarter (its Web site, bottomofthecuptearoom.com, is currently under development, but they’re in the phone book). In addition to her years as a professional psychic, she had been a technical writer for several Silicon Valley ventures, as well as a data manager for an academic institution. When she said she’d even been a telemarketer, I knew I had my seer.
In her reading for the industry, Joanna used a three-column pattern representing (loosely) the past, present and future. I’ve approximated the layout at the end of this column, and readers may enjoy referring to it and “seeing” how the cards laid out.
When potentially unsettling cards came up, Joanna explained that these are often interpreted metaphorically. For example, Death can represent transformation, and The Devil may indicate base desire. As it happened, the Sun and Strength cards, which are considered positive cards, played a larger role in the reading.
In the column representing the industry’s current state, she focused on the Wheel of Fortune, a card that typically indicates change. “Things are going to be shaken up for a while, and you have a sense of a third entity coming in,” she said. “That entity looks like the law.”
Well, she nailed that one dead on. But the cards offered guidance as to how marketers could better reach their customers while operating under these new restrictions. “I’m getting a sense of partnership, trusting the people they are trying to sell to, in the Six of Pentacles, and the relationship between all of [the cards around it],” Joanna said.
As for what lies ahead, Joanna noted the Ten of Swords in the column representing the industry’s future. She said it represented the need for severing old ways. But the Nine of Wands immediately above it indicated behind-the-scenes activity that will “give the industry more legs than it might realize.
“The Page of Pentacles is talking about newness,” she said. “[The current legislative environment] is challenging, but ultimately the cream is going to rise to the top. You still have growth and prosperity coming out of this with The Sun. The Sun is a very positive card.”
Traditional telemarketers may have to turn to other channels, at least for the near future, to make sure they still reach their prospects and customers. “You’ve got three fives here, which generally I see as a number of conflict,” Joanna said.
She continued, “The Five of Cups [in the present column] represents a difficulty in getting to the people you need to talk to. Swords generally represent intellect and ideas, and pentacles reflect financial aspects. Because of this block between you and your prospective customer, the fact that they won’t know about you ends up affecting your financial bottom line.”
Like The Sun, the Six of Wands in the future column indicated success, eventually, according to Joanna. But she added that there would need to be more of an emphasis on partnership with prospects and customers, as opposed to merely trying to sell to them.
What did she see for the ultimate outcome for telemarketers? She pointed to the Nine of Cups, which indicated that that in spite of the do-not-call list, “there is still a sense of basic wish fulfillment, getting what you want.”
At my request, Joanna did a quick shuffle-and-read for call center employees. I mentioned the American Teleservices Association’s prediction that 2 million jobs could be lost. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to record the pattern she laid out in response to this request.
“I do show that there is going to be some impact, but not as much as was thought,” she said. “There’s something suggesting an expansion into international things that’s going to be part of the solution in terms of the employees themselves.”
I mentioned the possibility that overseas call centers wouldn’t necessarily be a positive development for American call center representatives.
“It could be negative, because you’ve got the five of pentacles there talking about difficulty around employment,” Joanna acknowledged. “It may impact individuals, but in terms of the big picture, in terms of a big sweeping effect I’m not really seeing that. And while there is going to be initial disappointment, the energy around the financial aspects of this is on the upswing.
“This generation of call center representatives might be affected adversely, but the next group of people won’t be,” she said. “There is an initial loss of some jobs, but more of a sense of harmony around that for people [in the long run].”
As it happens, there may well be a rebound in telemarketing in a few years. Telephone numbers registered with the do-not-call list are only off limits for five years, and there is speculation that people who initially signed up will not re-register due to inertia. When that happens, telemarketing activity may see a jump.
Next week: Joanna lays out a separate pattern for the list industry, and offers a physical description of someone who will rise from the online marketing industry’s ranks and give it broader acceptance into the advertising community.
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The Industry Overview/Telemarketing Pattern
Seven of Cups……..Justice…………….The Moon
The Emperor……..Three of Swords……..The Hierophant
Four of Pentacles……..Seven of Wands……..Nine of Wands
The World……..The Hanged Man……..Ten of Swords
The Devil……..Page of Pentacles……..Three of Cups
Ace of Cups……..The High Priest……..Ace of Wands
Eight of Pentacles……..Page of Cup……..The Hermit
Five of Wands……..Wheel of Fortune……..The Sun
Page of Swords……..Ace of Swords……..Page of Wands
Six of Swords……..The Lovers……..Four of Swords
Eight of Cups……..Three of Wands……..Nine of Pentacles
King of Wands……..Nine of Swords……..Ace of Pentacles
Eight of Swords……..Strength……..King of Swords
The Tower……..Queen of Wands……..Five of Swords
Two of Cups……..Five of Cups……..Five of Pentacles
Knight of Pentacles……..Seven of Pentacles……..The Empress
Queen of Cups……..The Magician……..The Star
Ten of Pentacles……..Six of Pentacles……..The Fool
Three of Pentacles……..Temperance……..Six of Wands
Seven of Swords……..Queen of Swords……..Four of Cups
(These were followed by three separate columns, as indicated below):
……..King of Pentacles……..Four of Wands……..Ten of Cups
……..Knight of Wands……..Two of Wands……..Queen of Pentacles
……..Death…………….Six of Cups……..Ten of Wands
……..The Chariot……..King of Cups……..Knight of Cups
……..Two of Pentacles……..Eight of Wands……..Two of Swords
(The final three cards, below, were dealt to the side of the above)
Knight of Swords
Judgment
Nine of Cups
Network
