Question about telemarketing
 

I just got done reading the thread Die, telemarketers, die!! and I am curious about a few things.

Have you worked doing telemarketing, is it commision only or by the hour or what?

Have any of you ever bought anything from a telemarketer?? I know I haven't, in fact if someone calls to try and sell me something it makes me not want that product even more. If I want to buy something I'm gonna go to the store and buy it. If I didn't think my long distance company was a good deal I'd shop around myself, and do often. I don't need At&t calling me every other week telling me about there offers.

What are your thoughts?

i agree i dont know who keeps buying things from these people but they should stop and mabye they would go away.

i worked in a telemarketing boiler room for 3 weeks...

we worked on commission. sold those entertainment books...sucked.

Exactly what my thought is. I think telemarketing will naturally end after our grandparents generation is gone, I think they are the only ones that fall for these scams. Back in the first half of the 20th century, there weren't people all over the place trying to screw you out of what you had, people had respect for each other. Because of that our grandparents have too much trust in mankind. It's sad but I believe it is true.

If someone told you "I'm not interested", in the first couple seconds of the call, did you persist or move on down the list? I get people that continue to talk, until I hang up on them sometimes and I don't get it. If I was working for commission, I would want to talk to someone that was interested.

Never bought anything from a telemarketer and I never will. If I'm buying something, it's going to be because I decided to, not because someone called me and told me that I needed it.

I understand and agree with the hatred of telemarketing, but how would you suggest a company advertise to you, with a small to no budget sue to start up, yet has a really great product. I know most people buy things because they are advertised with millions of dollars, but if people really realized that there are incredible deals out there for the same product, but much cheaper, yet can't compete on a global marketing scale.

a small company could advertise online for much less than hiring people for telemarketing.

Telemarketing has about a 1% sales ratio. It works because they make hundreds of calls a day. It's that simple.

I make it a point, however, to be kind to those not trying to sell me something over the phone - they often get treated badly thanks to telemarketers. I know that firsthand.

Wow, that was beautiful. :)
Honestly, it made me think.

Why can't we just get the respect back?

Maybe it's not too late for humanity.

Unfortunately, small things like telemarketing scams have caused us to have to be hard and skeptical and suspicious of everything.

For example, people used to hitchhike...it was a cool, environmentally friendly way of transportation - not to mention a nice way to meet interesting people.

Now we are taught NEVER to give a stranger a ride or hop in the car with a stranger...no one can help people anymore because of fear that they might be a serial killer.

This is just one small example of a world gone bad. Everything is like this nowadays. No one helps each other. Everyone wants to be a victim. Everyone wants to sue each other.

I'm getting depressed...on to the next subject.

Re: Question about telemarketing
 

I worked for a telemarketing business before, selling windows. You get paid by the hour and you get commision on top of that. But really, it's the joy you bring into peoples lives that makes it worth doing.

The telemarketing industry is typically classified in 2 ways, in-bound calling and out-bound calling. In-bound calls can be any/all of the infomercials you see at night, catalogs, etc.

Outbound call centers are usually received in your homes for things like mortgage refinance calls, telecommunications products and services, CHARITIES, solicitation of votes during political campaigns, and non-profits like WETA, etc. You get the idea.

If someone tells me they never bought something from a telemarketer, it means they are ignorant about what kinds of products, services, and information happen over the telephone.

Telemarketing will not go away! There is way too much political clout and big business involved for it to disappear completely. It's the loopholes in the telemarketing laws recently passed that escape most people's attention. For example, non-profits are exempt from paying attention to the recent DoNOTCAll registry. Telecommunications companies and Financial Services companies are also exempt. Take another read of the news articles written in the last few months, and you may see the light.

Where do you get it that telecomm and financial services companies are exempt? Reference, please.

A lot of my friends worked for MCI and Futurecall as telemarketers, and they were payed hourly (an alright hourly wage) and received bonuses and commissions.

Personally, I'm not a phone person, and well don't enjoy receiving unwanted calls in my evenings. But, at the same time I don't yell at telemarketers, or get angry with them, I've worked customer support and a job where you are on the phone, they're people too, and getting yelled at simply doesn't feel good, so I don't do it. I'll listen to what their shpeal, and they almost always have a pre-planned shpeal you can tell they're reading, or have memorized, then, when all is said and done, and they ask if I'm interested I say "No", then they continue with their arguments for why I need said product (example is my credit card company thinks I need Life Insurance really bad, they already have my credit card number, and just want a YES from me to charge me an extra $3.99 +whatever fees and whatnot they think of and blurt out quicker than my ears can perceive a month for something a single 20 year old with no dependents really needs). So, after they interject their points I say "No", and they go again, and I say "No" once more. My friends said that after three No's that's when they could end the call, and move on to the next person (rule given by the above companies), so, if after the third No the person keeps going I say "No, I'm not interested, please do not call back offering this again", and hang up. My credit card company still seems to think they need to call once a week offering me life insurance...

One time, the CC company telemarketer confused my "Yes, send me the information as a yes I want to sign up for the service", and they sent me to their whoever person to confirm the sale, and when I got to her she said "K, you get this this and this, and that we will go ahead and sign you up for this service", and I was like "No, I just wanted more information mailed to me, I didn't want to agree to anything over the phone." Apparently you had to get the service to get the information, I don't like this, I want to be able to read all the legal jargon and junk before I agree to something, and well I'm not the best listener in the world, and legal jargon being told to me sounds like a Charlie Brown teacher.

What to do when a college, etc.. call you asking for money:

I did the "Phonathon" at my college. we called alumni and asked for money, but we are also updating our alumni informations database. we can call them because we are updating info, but we also ask for money to help support all the things we dop at our school. (i'll spare u all the speech :p).

your name is NOT going to be removed frrom our list! you must understand that! next, just tell them no you will not be donating. Better yet, just tell them you will donate 5$, once you tell them you are gonna donate 5$ THEY WILL NOT CALL YOU AGAIN... untill next time.

how it works with us is that we send u a card and you send it back with a check or whatever. (this is how it works where i am but it might be different for whomever is calling you.)

either tell them yes (and only give a dollor or 5) OR just say no, if you dont tell us "NO" we are gonna call you back every day.

if you are RUDE WE WILL CALL YOU BACK..... CAUSE WE CAN!

so say i'll donate either donate something, or just say no, either way give us a real answer or we're gonna keep callin you back.

please be nice we are just college students tryin to make some money. if you went to the school and liked it tell us about it and give some money, we'll sent you the alunmi news letter :) no matter how much you donate it'll be appreciated and that way you can come to all the alumni events, even if you dont donate you still can come. the point of it all is to get alumni to give back to the school and also to add to the school alumni statictics to help get money from the Gov't.

remember be nice, and give us a real answer : yes or no...

maybe or "he's not home" just means... "CALL ME BACK"

I am polite -- to a point. While politeness would decree that you wait until they pause until you say, "No Thank You," the scripts that the telemarketers read from use the strategy called "assuming the sale." They read you the spiel which ends up with something like, "And we'll sign you up for a years' service at this price. So, what is your credit card number?" Some people are actually to shy to turn them down, or gullible enough to go with the momentum and just say okay. The telemarketer may just be a working schmoe trying to make a buck, but the strategy is pretty cynical.

So when I get a call, I listen for twenty seconds until I'm pretty sure I'm not interested and just break in: "Oh THANKS very much, but I'm really not interested. Have a good day." Then hang up. I follow their strategy and don't let them break in, because their script will simply tell them to raise an argument.

It's not the people I despise; I imagine they're in hard straights, or they wouldn't be doing this. It's the assumptions behind the business, and the strategy they're told to use.

I'm as rude as possible to telemarketers. I am not required to be nice to people who bother me at home, and if they all starved to death the human race would be better off. The only thing worse than them is spammers.

My phone is there for me, not for them. I'm paying for it, and they can fuck off. Keep in mind that I'm the one who started "die, telemarketers, die!".

I worked 1/2 a day at a telemarketing place. I hated every second of it. It was an hourly wage + commission. Didn't make a single sale and got called an asshole almost as much as when I worked security for the Canadian Govt, right after 9/11 (we wouldn't let non-employees pass through a government building attached to a mall).

I'm not rude to telemarketers myself, unless they don't back off after I say "no thanks". If you accept that kind of job, you've got to expect that most people aren't going to be too pleased to hear from you, and after an hour or two, the insults just bounce right off you anyways. I figure most of these people hated their jobs the moment they applied for them and don't want to be calling me any more than I want to be called.

The exception is when I get harassed on my cell phone. I'll listen for 5-6 seconds to make sure it's a telemarketer and not someone who I want calling me and then I'll just interrupt whatever they're yammering about by saying "this is a cell phone" and hang up.

I worked as a telemarketer during my college summers. Developed a thick skin, I can tell you that!

I called for the Utah Symphony, selling concert series subscriptions. I was one of the top producers in our office three summers running. I also called one summer for MCI. Remember their "friends and family" plan in about '93, where if you ratted out your loved ones to be hard-sold by MCI, you'd get a better rate calling them? That was me. I was the one calling your friends and family.

I was paid a low hourly rate plus commissions. I regularly made enough money during the summer to keep me more or less in the chips all school year.

Incidentally, once you've learned the product you're selling, throw away the goddamned script. People HATE being read a script. Just TALK to them, that's the whole thing. They can hear that you're just a guy within about 5 seconds, and once you've established that, you can actually start treating them as a customer, start looking to serve their needs.

You also have to understand that you ARE being intrusive in their lives. Now may not be a good time--ALWAYS get permission to have a conversation with them, DO NOT launch into some scripted piece of crap without asking if they have time for it. Of course, there are screamers and whiners and pouters... Weird random ramblers... Hanger-uppers...

On the whole, it wasn't great work, but like anything else, if you make it yours and take it on to make it as good as it can be, you can do all right. It certainly wouldn't be my first choice for a job right now, but I know I could go back to it if I needed to.

They are the scum of the earth as far as I'm concerned. I get between 5 and 10 calls nightly.
I had to get caller I.D. just to avoid those creeps. I have never bought anything from them and never would.
There is nothing worse than trying to enjoy a meal or evening relaxing and having the phone ringing off the hook evey 20 minutes with some clown trying to sell me a funeral plot, windows, mortgages, or credit cards.
It should be illegal for people to call your home to sell unless you have requested it.

dasfdsaf
 

since you prob live in the states you can sign up for the telemarketers to not ever call you or they get fined.

I only get nasty with them if they are extremly persistant. I try to get rid of them as nicely as possible, but for some reason I just don't like hanging up on people. If they won't end the call properly, then I get nasty.

Re: dasfdsaf
 

There is a do not call list at www.ftc.gov/donotcall but it only removes your name from certain lists. Charities, for example, are still allowed to bug the shit out of you. Also, by doing business with a company, automatically adds you back onto their list.

We'll never win.

-Mikey