I found that if it's an automated system, if you hit a few buttons on the phone, it never calls back. The best method I have found so far is toditch the land line, and go with the cell phone. No telemarketers there, and I have an unlisted number without looking sneaky and all.

 

I only get called by the RNC wanting some more money.

 

I listed my cell phone under business in Dunn and Bradstreet, (it is my business phone). I get sales guys calling, but can lose signal quick.

 

Don, no intention on hijacking your thread, but what about credit card companies? Before I bought my house, I paid for everything in cash. Everything. Cars, truck, boat, if I couldn't save up and pay for it, I figured I didn't want it bad enough to have it. Credit card companies didn't even want to know my name. Now that I've bought a house, they are sending me 3, 4 sometimes 5 card offers a week! It must be killing them that the only credit I have is the house loan. Consolodate payments! Vacation money! Remodel your house! (Right, it's new) Low rates for the first 8 days! I just stuff pizza coupons or something (from the OTHER junk mail I get) in the postage paid envelopes and let them pay postage both ways. Hey, it keeps the postal folks working.

 

I had a guy call me wondering if I was interested in Vinyl siding and windows. I told him 'yes!' (He didn't need to know that the reason I was interested was because I had JUST BOUGHT new siding and windows!)

I led him on for about 15 minutes while he rattled on thinking he was going to sell me 12 windows and siding. I finally broke the news to him.....Boy was he ticked!

Best call I had in a long time!

 

I get telemarketers on my cell sometimes too, kinda makes me mad... Anyway, have you guys ever heard that prank call where a telemarketer calls somebody, and when he answers the phone he's ready with an Arnold Schwarzenegger sound board (a bunch of clips of Arnold's voice from movies, tv, etc) The telemarketer has a conversation with "Arnold" for a couple minutes before he finally shuts her down, it's pretty good. I always love doing this when ever a telemarketer offers me "free money" for something: reply enthusiastically, seeing as how that money would come in handy with your bankruptcy, gambling/drug/alcohol addiction, lack of job, etc. When they realize you have no cash, they leave you alone real quick.

 

I don't really give telemarketers a hard time. They're just trying to do their job and people saying or doing bad things to them I'm sure makes them hate their life/job. I think you'll find that telemarketing will end soon, and it'll pickup on the internet (spam, pop-ups, I even get ad's in IM's now because AIM has no current way of stopping them).

I work in a call center for an infomercial company, I'm a supervisor but I've been taking calls for a little over 2 years. It's not telemarketing, it's taking orders for a mail order company, but the people you talk to definitely influence the way you see your day (good/bad). How would you feel if you were that operator on the other end of the line dealing with peoples tricks and jokes in your ear for hours on end. I'm sure they're miserable in their job, and you might say "well it's their fault for taking the job" ...well...maybe it isn't..maybe it's the only job they can get.


Never underestimate your influence on other peoples lifes (stranger or friend, doesn't matter)...it's more powerful than you think.

 

Taking order calls is legit, but cold calling telemarketing is different. If they did a mass mailing, asking if you like phone calls please send in this postcard - that would be OK, as long as it was clear that it was specifically for telemarketing. Maybe one or two calls a year would be acceptable, but for a while there I was getting about 4 calls on the answering machine during the day and at least a couple calls a night. One time I got six calls from the same time share company in one week. Two of the calls were an hour apart. I put my name on the DoNotCall list and it slowed down.

Some of the telemarketers have feelings, I'm sure of it. Probably the response rate is around 2%, (what is the rate Don?), so they might have to make 50 calls to get a sale. That would be tough, but I'm sure it only takes the average employee a day to figure it out, so one bad day to help them make a decision on a career choice doesn't seem bad to me.

There's many types of advertising, but spam and telemarketing prey on the weak and the elderly - those that usually can't afford to lose the money anyway. If I can do my part to wipe out the job force for these companies, I'm performing a public service...

 

Do you ever get calls where you answer, and then it sounds like some clicking, and the line is silent? It shows up on caller ID sometimes, but other times it doesnt. If I just pick up the phone, and don't say anything, somebody usually answers. hmmm

 

i don't like to be rude to people.. they're just doing a job

usually i just wait for the catch, then tell them it's not for me and wish them a good light

but this last one wouldn't let go.. telling me i didn't understand... going on with calling plans and rates

finally i told her

listen to me... i just got home from work, i'm tired and you're being obnoxious. do me a favour and either change the subject or shut up.

that did it. she must have been insulted or something cuz she said "ok i can tell you're busy so i'll call back at a better time"

 

when i get those calls, i'm always polite. i understand they have a job to do. i ask them for the name of their company and when they tell me, i pretend like i'm looking it up on a list. i repeat the name of the company and say, "oh, here you are. i have already asked to be placed on your "DO NOT CALL" list and this is your 3rd call to me. do you realize your company can be heavily fined if i report you?" that gets them off the line real quick.

 

no it most definately wasnt me because we cant automatically call the people back...the place had an automatic dialer...we never knew who we were calling untill the phone started to ring. while i was working there i was the first employee to get a sale on their first day and i got one a day for the first week...that kinda felt good.

yeah the people that i was calling for was about Chase Manhattan Bank and the card that the people ALREADY had. lol some people just wouldnt grip that i was talking about the card they they already had lol.

oh how true that is man how true how true...it got really tiresome trying to talk to people who seemed to hate your guts...and dont get me started on trying to talk to the people who spoke no english and lived in my country lol....i prolly would have stayed with the job if i didnt have to try and sell to them something in ENGLISH that they didnt understand...my boss was ordering us to talk to people and try and get someone else in the house that spoke english to translate for them what i was saying....it was total bull i just rolled through the people who didnt speak english....i mean how the heck can you get a credit card in the US if you cant speak english and i cant even get a response from the card people to get my first card lol

that rate all depends on the person making the call...some people there might get 20 sales in a 6-8 hour day with hundreds and hundreds of calls going through their station....2% sounds low to me but it would be no more than 10% probably around 5% maybe...i never really did the math to figure it out.


Signed,
The Don

P.S.
and just a side note....the only reason EVERYONE that worked their (except for the managment) worked their was because there were no other jobs in our little town of 40,000 people and like 5,000 jobs....my dad just wont beleive that the market is that small and he just says well your not applying yourself....BULL i say BULL lol

 

i'm in sales myself, first off , i dont call people when they are busy, IE:first thing in the morning and at the end of their Working day.

NEVER...NEVER..EVER at Dinner Time....if tele marketing companies did this they might get a little more respect from the people they are contacting.
i like the idea of a post card asking if i want to be contacted.

and as far as job's go....well i do respect anyone that work's and earn's a paycheck HONESTLY...and can go to bed every night with a clear conscience.....

 

I agree with that one. When I first started with my company I started on the phones and it would be so frustrating calling individuals who keep residence in our country and can't speak a full sentence in English. (trust me there were lots)
Personally, I think this would be quite difficult...i mean, how the heck do you get through the day not being able to communicate effectively??

 

I think telemarketers need to find a new line of work. I was in need of work as a teen, as a young adult and I never knew of a telemarketing office/warehouse that did not have a hiring mcdonalds nearby.
We had one that kept calling our house in Texas and my girls finally got fed up and asked if they could take care of it. How could i say no? When the company called my oldest daughter who was about 14 at the time got on the phone and started this whole speel about corn. It was like Bubba in Forrest Gump. She said do you know how many types of corn there are? canned corn, creamed corn...she had like a hundred corn things. They never called back again.
Another time we asked if they could hold for a sec and then we set the phone next to the radio and put elevator music on and just left it. You would not believe how long they actually stayed on. We would check on them every now and then and the fool was still there asking how much longer.
I like the putting your kid on. My youngest got that priveldge when she was about 4 and she was asking the guy if he wanted to her her cat purr and she put the phone by her cat. She then asked if he was able to count to 50 because she could. I think he hung up with a chip on his shoulder.