The obvious opportunity was to launch a contact centre dedicated to the over 50s consumer

You are Director of Senior Response Limited. Could you introduce the company?

After many years in the general call centre market, my fellow director Chris Aldcroft and I decided that the future of outsourced telemarketing operations in the UK lay in operating within specific niches. The obvious opportunity was to launch a contact centre dedicated to the over 50s consumer – a segment that had been hitherto badly serviced by predominantly young telemarketers.

Senior Response was therefore launched in September 2001 with a deliberate employment policy of hiring only mature agents. The company now employs 35 staff, the vast majority of which are aged 45 years or more. Most are in their 50s with some aged 60 and over.

Employing agents aged 50 and over comes as a real asset. Could you explain why?

The reason for our success is simple. Older people, all of whom have telephones at home and thus easily contactable, trust and prefer to deal with someone of their own age. We call it empathy and enables our life-experienced staff to succeed where the more traditional younger telemarketing agent fails or underperforms.

What kind of companies hires your services? Do they only target Senior citizens and Baby Boomers?

All of our clients sell products or services designed for the older person. These are diverse and include hearing aids, mobility products, fitness and leisure club memberships, a range of financial services and funeral plans. Occasionally, companies outside our core market ask us to work on their behalf because they like the idea of using older agents but we do not want to compromise our unique positioning.

Do you think that companies in the UK are conscious of the opportunities offered by the growth of the mature market?

UK companies are waking up to the fact that the mature market offers huge commercial opportunities but many are being held back by the lack of specialist marketing support companies – particularly advertising agencies – to provide real expertise and help to exploit these opportunities.

Do you have any plans to expand overseas in the future?

In 2005, we shall be looking to expand on our UK success by entering into partnerships with associates in Europe and the USA. The combination of our experience and their local knowledge should enable Senior Response and our partners to capitalise on the mushrooming needs of the world’s ageing population.