Selecting A Vendor

General guidelines for selecting a telemarketing vendor

  • Vendor must have considerable experience with similar non-profit organiations
  • Vendor must supply, at a minimum, eight references from these other organizations
  • Vendor must be willing to give details of programs that didn’t work
  • Vendor must provide reports on daily, bi-weekly and life-of-program basis
  • Vendor must notify client immediately of problems associated with calls
  • Vendor must offer full service capabilities to assist the client in any membership/fundraising activity
  • Contracts should never be based on a payment-by-percentage of dollars raised
  • Contracts should be open-ended and not lock the client into a length of time or commit the client to spending a specific amount of money
  • Contracts should be cancelable at any time
  • Contracts should guarantee the client against loss
  • Contract should not contain clauses restricting client’s freedom of choice, stopping a program at the client’s discretion or bringing in a new vendor to test with the current vendor
  • Contracts should be simple and straightforward with no hidden clauses or charges
  • Contract payment terms should conform to client’s normal payment policy