Outbound telemarketing is a technique whereby a company contacts consumers or businesses, usually by telephone, in order to sell them a product or service. The most successful campaigns call a list of potential customers that are likely to be interested in the product or service based on demographic or other relevant information. The contacts may be potential first-time customers or existing customers that are likely to purchase additional products. There are several companies that specialize in outbound telemarketing. They use integrated call management systems, predictive dialers, and highly optimized scripts to achieve a high level of results. Although there has been some recent negative publicity with telemarketing, it remains a highly valuable and cost-effective marketing technique.