They invented contact center because they couldn't call it: Telemarketing[R]!

The above is one of the most memorable comments I have heard that enormously respects the pioneers and shows little respect for copy cats!

My father used to say that, "... if God wanted us to be copy cats ... he would have created us as monkeys!" If you believe in Darwin's theory that man originated from monkeys, then it becomes clear why there are so many copy cats in the world!

So, one can generally conclude that without visionaries, originals, inventors and pioneers, the world would not be as great as it is now. On the other hand, you might ask, "What have the copy cats contributed to this world?"

They Invented Contact Center Because They Couldn't Call It Telemarketing[R].

If you think that is farfetched, please read on.

I recently came across an ad from the manufacturers of Jeep[R] that read as follows: They invented "SUV" because they can't call them Jeep[R]. Jeep is a registered trademark. Good thing. No telling what kind of jacked-up station wagons they'd be trying to pass off as Jeep vehicles otherwise. Because sometime around the mid-80sm a craze took off. The era of the SUV was born. Fact is, we had them beat by a few decades."

So the copy cats invented a new name--"SUV"--and positioned it as a new concept ... and with massive advertising and marketing behind it, the competitors sold millions of SUVs. Of course, in this case, to be fair, the competitors were more than merely ordinary copy cats, because after all:

* They were clever enough to invent the term SUV; and

* They positioned it as an exotic "new concept" that everyone had to have!

Interestingly, millions of people still purchase SUVs in spite of the fact that they generally have very poor gas mileage at a time when gasoline costs are going up rapidly!

A Similar Case Happened in the Call Center Industry

Back in 1982, when we launched Telemarketing magazine in a pioneering act and started teaching and training the world about a new concept in electronic marketing called telemarketing, we also obtained the registered trademark for the term "Telemarketing."

Since TMC owned the registered trademark for Telemarketing, media competitors were forced to invent other terminology: first, Call Center and later, Contact Center. And I would like to note that while the industry continues to grow, practically all of the competing print publications have folded and gone out of business.

That's another way of saying, "In a World Full of Copy Cats ... Here's to Originals!"

As always, I welcome your comments. Please e-mail them to me at ntehrani@tmcnet.com.

Nadji Tehrani is Founder, Chairman & CEO of Technology Marketing Corporation

Nadji Tehrani, CEO, Technology Marketing Corp.

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