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bonbonbox · 10-02-2003, 01:49 PM

I asked for your opinions on the no call list and have enjoyed reading the responses. Now I will put in my two cents worth.
I see two groups of people. Those that need government to hold their hand, protect them from any uncomfortable scenario and those that don't. Shockingly, I fall into the those that don't category. Our country is all about people selling stuff to other people. We have the freedom to choose from many different options to do this. We have commercials of all forms. Billboards, flyers, TV ads, Radio ads, clothing with ads, internet ads, the list goes on. Why people even walk up to your door and attempt to have a one on one with you to make that sale. Merchants will use any means of advertisement possible that is cost effective to sell you. That telemarketers exist shows that form of advertisement is viable. Made possible by those that choose to purchase from them.
rogue49 writes: The whole purpose of telemarketing is to scam you, even in legit companies in the process they are hoping you spontaneously buy and make fast decisions over the phone.
I am shocked. You mean to tell me that a company might want you to make a spontaneous decision to purchase? Surely that's not why Supermarkets rearrange the entire store every few months so you cant find what you are looking for and make a decision to buy an item you walk by is it? No, they wouldn't do that. Well I for one am extremely put out by having to resist buying those unthought of items and feel that Guvment should pass a law telling them to decide where an item will be and leave it there. I mean really, all that extra walking at my age is a health concern as well. Ridiculous as the no call list is. Much telemarketing is lead generation. No sale at all. How much sale? None. The word scam to me implies an unfair business practice, such as taking funds for products or services not rendered. If I call someone and make an offer, then make good on the offer, how is that a scam?
To answer Sledge: The no call list is sold to telemarketers, and the company that hires the telemarketing firm must also obtain a tracking number. The sold part should answer your question. Plus your going to need more guvment employees to enforce this list.
To answer Spectre: A fax received incurs cost. So far a dollar figure has not been applied to time it takes for someone to decide to pick up a phone or not. It costs nothing monetarily for someone to view an ad, or hear an ad.
In response to rogue49's second post and m5man:
Your phone line is far from private. It's not unlike a road. A person can drive to your house and walk up to the door and knock. You can put a no trespassing , or a no soliciting sign up and prohibit them from walking up your sidewalk and knocking, but the drive over is not restricted. You are free to put an answering machine on your line to screen calls, use caller id, or get the "The person you are calling has decided to not accept calls from numbers that are blocked" feature. Or the old tried and true, hang up. The call should not be restricted.
I hate the constant battery of commercials that I incur everyday. I keep the remote close to me during any commercial TV viewing so that I may kill the sound and ignore commercials. My favorite way to view sporting events is taping the game then fast forward through all ads and timeouts. I hate to receive a telemarketing call, perhaps even more than some of you that have posted their support of the no call list. I choose not to have Guvment hold my hand and restrict someone's ability to make a sale to those that freely choose to purchase from them. Instead I choose to use the answering machine to screen my calls. $20 I got a cordless phone with this feature. I needed a phone, why not get a cordless one that has a machine built in? Simple solution to a simple inconvenience. I echo the MuadDib post, with the exception of the vote for Kucinich part, :O). Stop the flow of info. Telemarketers haven't touched a phone book for years. Computers dial faster and some programs weed out operator intercepted calls and answering machines so that all time spent talking is to a human that might purchase or decide to further the interaction between Bus. firm and potential client. For those of you that paid to have your number unlisted: One practice is to have the dialer call all the numbers in an exchange, 555-000, 555-0001, etc. with the numbers that ARE listed in the book removed from the list. Thus leaving the unlisted. A group of numbers that are called less than others and have a less chance of having a machine connected. It's all about getting your foot in the door, so to speak.
Success in telemarketing is all about percentages. How many people can you pitch in a given time frame. The faster you go thru the no's, the quicker you will get a yes. As you might have suspected by now I have done some telemarketing. I consistently sell or get more leads than others. I avoid anything that might turn you off. Mispronouncing your name: I never say, "Hello is this so and so?" or "Hello So and So". It's "Hi, This is Bonbonbox calling for Sam's widgets. We got widgets at $X. You need any widgets? Yes? Great! No? Great! Thank you." on to the next call. A long drawn out spiel: refer to the last example. I say that to say this, telemarketing firms do not want to spend time calling people that are pissed at being called, they don't purchase or generate a lead. Stop the, "They are out to bother me." nonsense. If the Guvment wanted to serve you they would supply the no call list to telemarketing firm at no charge. The Mng. I have spoke with are tickled pink to get a list of No's, they just don't want to be forced to use it or pay for it. Their clients as well are a bit gun-shy of having to have a tracking number. Once again our Guvment has created a new crime, complete with a horde of new employees to police it. Telephone numbers change everyday. To keep up is not going to happen. I say stop it. Just stop. Those that do not wish to speak to anyone except those they wish to, already have plenty of ways to accomplish that goal. Do not handcuff those businesses that choose to dial to sell, and are making a fair living doing so, from having that choice. Freedom of choice, use it or lose it. With that, I step down. Thank you.

10-02-2003, 01:49 PM	#33 (permalink)
bonbonbox Banned	I asked for your opinions on the no call list and have enjoyed reading the responses. Now I will put in my two cents worth. I see two groups of people. Those that need government to hold their hand, protect them from any uncomfortable scenario and those that don't. Shockingly, I fall into the those that don't category. Our country is all about people selling stuff to other people. We have the freedom to choose from many different options to do this. We have commercials of all forms. Billboards, flyers, TV ads, Radio ads, clothing with ads, internet ads, the list goes on. Why people even walk up to your door and attempt to have a one on one with you to make that sale. Merchants will use any means of advertisement possible that is cost effective to sell you. That telemarketers exist shows that form of advertisement is viable. Made possible by those that choose to purchase from them. rogue49 writes: The whole purpose of telemarketing is to scam you, even in legit companies in the process they are hoping you spontaneously buy and make fast decisions over the phone. I am shocked. You mean to tell me that a company might want you to make a spontaneous decision to purchase? Surely that's not why Supermarkets rearrange the entire store every few months so you cant find what you are looking for and make a decision to buy an item you walk by is it? No, they wouldn't do that. Well I for one am extremely put out by having to resist buying those unthought of items and feel that Guvment should pass a law telling them to decide where an item will be and leave it there. I mean really, all that extra walking at my age is a health concern as well. Ridiculous as the no call list is. Much telemarketing is lead generation. No sale at all. How much sale? None. The word scam to me implies an unfair business practice, such as taking funds for products or services not rendered. If I call someone and make an offer, then make good on the offer, how is that a scam? To answer Sledge: The no call list is sold to telemarketers, and the company that hires the telemarketing firm must also obtain a tracking number. The sold part should answer your question. Plus your going to need more guvment employees to enforce this list. To answer Spectre: A fax received incurs cost. So far a dollar figure has not been applied to time it takes for someone to decide to pick up a phone or not. It costs nothing monetarily for someone to view an ad, or hear an ad. In response to rogue49's second post and m5man: Your phone line is far from private. It's not unlike a road. A person can drive to your house and walk up to the door and knock. You can put a no trespassing , or a no soliciting sign up and prohibit them from walking up your sidewalk and knocking, but the drive over is not restricted. You are free to put an answering machine on your line to screen calls, use caller id, or get the "The person you are calling has decided to not accept calls from numbers that are blocked" feature. Or the old tried and true, hang up. The call should not be restricted. I hate the constant battery of commercials that I incur everyday. I keep the remote close to me during any commercial TV viewing so that I may kill the sound and ignore commercials. My favorite way to view sporting events is taping the game then fast forward through all ads and timeouts. I hate to receive a telemarketing call, perhaps even more than some of you that have posted their support of the no call list. I choose not to have Guvment hold my hand and restrict someone's ability to make a sale to those that freely choose to purchase from them. Instead I choose to use the answering machine to screen my calls. $20 I got a cordless phone with this feature. I needed a phone, why not get a cordless one that has a machine built in? Simple solution to a simple inconvenience. I echo the MuadDib post, with the exception of the vote for Kucinich part, :O). Stop the flow of info. Telemarketers haven't touched a phone book for years. Computers dial faster and some programs weed out operator intercepted calls and answering machines so that all time spent talking is to a human that might purchase or decide to further the interaction between Bus. firm and potential client. For those of you that paid to have your number unlisted: One practice is to have the dialer call all the numbers in an exchange, 555-000, 555-0001, etc. with the numbers that ARE listed in the book removed from the list. Thus leaving the unlisted. A group of numbers that are called less than others and have a less chance of having a machine connected. It's all about getting your foot in the door, so to speak. Success in telemarketing is all about percentages. How many people can you pitch in a given time frame. The faster you go thru the no's, the quicker you will get a yes. As you might have suspected by now I have done some telemarketing. I consistently sell or get more leads than others. I avoid anything that might turn you off. Mispronouncing your name: I never say, "Hello is this so and so?" or "Hello So and So". It's "Hi, This is Bonbonbox calling for Sam's widgets. We got widgets at $X. You need any widgets? Yes? Great! No? Great! Thank you." on to the next call. A long drawn out spiel: refer to the last example. I say that to say this, telemarketing firms do not want to spend time calling people that are pissed at being called, they don't purchase or generate a lead. Stop the, "They are out to bother me." nonsense. If the Guvment wanted to serve you they would supply the no call list to telemarketing firm at no charge. The Mng. I have spoke with are tickled pink to get a list of No's, they just don't want to be forced to use it or pay for it. Their clients as well are a bit gun-shy of having to have a tracking number. Once again our Guvment has created a new crime, complete with a horde of new employees to police it. Telephone numbers change everyday. To keep up is not going to happen. I say stop it. Just stop. Those that do not wish to speak to anyone except those they wish to, already have plenty of ways to accomplish that goal. Do not handcuff those businesses that choose to dial to sell, and are making a fair living doing so, from having that choice. Freedom of choice, use it or lose it. With that, I step down. Thank you.