Fast Eddie Felson, the character brought to life by Paul Newman in the movies, The Hustler and The Color of Money, strides into a pool hall and asks his protgs:

Do you smell that? Thats the smell of money.

Theres nothing quite like it, especially in helping you to staff your telemarketing unit, and as they say, you have to spend money to make money.

But spend it in the right place.

To recruit and staff your room, its easy to throw away a lot of dough running ads in major newspapers and online. Some of this is necessary, but you should also try another tack.

Theres good news: you might be able to pare your recruiting expenses by providing incentives to your existing sellers to refer their pals and acquaintances.

Offer cash awards for bringing in friends who interview, are hired, and then who start work with you. A hundred dollars a shot is a pretty good incentive to use.

You can also consider a back-end incentive. If the referred employees stick with the job for a period of four or five months, and perform at minimal levels, the person who brought them in will be given an extra $200.

So, thats $300, which isnt much at all if you look at whats wasted in hiring and training people who leave within a few days or weeks.

In your market, you may need to sweeten the pot a little more than this, making the spiff $500. Still, thats cheap, if you can find someone who will produce for you, and stick around long enough to help you to build sales.