By Angela Garfinkel, President
In early 2020, the biggest problem facing top telemarketing companies in the U.S. was a lack of readily available staff. A booming stock market, rising minimum wages and competition for staff made 2020 look like it would be a year filled with staffing challenges.
Now, at the end of March 2020, we are facing an unprecedented dramatic shift in the SWOT analysis of the top telemarketing companies in the U.S. (SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats). With COVID-19 and the virtual shut-down of the U.S. economy, here is my current SWOT analysis for our industry.
From day to day, sometimes from minute to minute, nothing stays the same. I’m never bored! It’s been an ever changing industry – starting off with manual dialing with call lists on sheets of paper to where we are today and adapting to the advances in the modern world. The internet, dialer systems and the addition of cell phones has allowed information and communication to move faster and maintain a greater sense of connection. The technology challenges are only a part of it. The strict regulations associated with all the technology and being compliant has evolved over the years. While I was away from the Telemarketing Services business, there was a complete change in the regulations that impact placing calls to cell phones. Our 
