Hello? It’s me! Again!
Are you constantly harassed by telemarketers wanting you take that “special, once-in-a-lifetime deal”? Terence Pillay tells us how you can avoid being suckered in!
When my mother got her Foschini store card many years ago, she gave them my cell phone number as the contact number for the account. It wasn’t that bad; apart from the odd SMS informing her of special deals, the correspondence was largely snail mail.
In the last few years however, a different scenario has emerged. The company calls at least once or twice a week trying to sell my mum, who is now a pensioner, various things. They always ask for her by name and when I say they can’t speak to her they usually hang up. But some industrious people sometimes try to sell me the product so that I can then pass the special deal on to my mother.
Firstly I find it unconscionable that they would target a pensioner who could do without getting into debt. Secondly, I have asked them on numerous occasions not to call her and offer her these specials because she simply can’t afford to be tied up in all sorts of complicated contracts. But the calls persist.
I have a love-hate relationship with telemarketers. They love to call me and I hate taking the call; but I am tricked into taking the call every time. For some reason that will forever remain a mystery to me, I have the bad luck of receiving at least two or three direct marketing calls every week. I consider myself to be quite savvy when it comes to filling in forms, on-line or otherwise, and I know that I never, ever tick the “you can share my details for use by telemarketers” box. So how is it that these people have access to my phone number?
The answer is always the same; “we got it from a list”. “What list? What database,” I ask. But there’s never a response to the question. Instead what I do get is a badly read presentation from a cheesy, cliché-riddled script. Telemarketers are relentless. As much as you try and dissuade them, they just get more and more forceful in trying to make the sale.
My best friend says I should just put the phone down and they will get the message. But they don’t. Recently, I was called up by a telemarketer at Independent Newspapers trying to sell me a subscription to the Sunday Tribune. I declined and did not want to engage with him about my reasons for this, however much he persisted. Eventually I hung up having told him not to call me again. In the space of twenty minutes, I got calls from two other telemarketers from the same company trying to sell me the same product. Why should have to suffer the endless bombardment of my senses from these people, who should be taught that “no” means “no”! So I dug a little deeper.
According to an article on the subject by Erica Elson, on lifehacker.com, a lot of people make simple mistakes that lead to several more calls. Here are the things she says you need to avoid:
· Don't immediately hang up the phone. This results in the telemarketer marking your lead as "no answer" and calling you
back until they actually have a conversation with you.
· Don't engage with the telemarketer in any way. This gives them the false hope that you may just need some convincing
and are actually interested in their product. Do not ask questions. Do not explain why you are not interested in the
product. Do not show empathy or other human characteristics.
· Don't get irrationally angry at the telemarketer. Remember, the computer chose your lead, not the caller. If you scream at
them because you've gotten called before, this will not make them sympathetic to your case. It's likely they'll just put you
back into the lead pool to torture you. If the telemarketer is being rude, you can ask to speak to a manager. Despite what
they might say, every campaign and business has a supervisor in the call room.
· Don't give up mid-conversation and hang up without an explanation. This will most likely result in the telemarketer
calling back, claiming you got "disconnected." If you don't answer then, they will keep calling.
· Don't let the telemarketer call you back at another time. Anything that's not a hard "no" will be interpreted as an
opportunity to call you back. When you say "This isn't a good time," the telemarketer hears "Call me back later!" When you
say "Sorry, I don't have time to talk about this right now" the telemarketer hears "I will buy this another day!"
Telemarketers literally have a script that tells them how to respond to every objection, so the less you engage with them, the better.
Elson says the most efficient way to get the person to stop calling you requires you to say one sentence: "Please put me on your do not call list." Don't say "Can you put me on your do not call list?" or "I don't want to get these calls." This will lead them to ask why. Be polite, but firm. If they ask why or won't do it right away, remain calm and repeat, "I want you to put me on your do not call list."
You should also register on the national do not call list if you haven't already. It's illegal for a company to keep calling you if you're on this list and you have verbally asked them not to call you at least once.
Personally, these days, I hand the phone to my 6-year-old niece and ask her to talk to them for as long as she likes. Or better still I place the call on hold and just continue doing my work. More recently however, I have taken to trying to steer them off script with inappropriate questions.
How do you react to an unwanted solicit from a telemarketer?
You can email Terence Pillay at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter: @terencepillay1 and engage with him there.
In the last few years however, a different scenario has emerged. The company calls at least once or twice a week trying to sell my mum, who is now a pensioner, various things. They always ask for her by name and when I say they can’t speak to her they usually hang up. But some industrious people sometimes try to sell me the product so that I can then pass the special deal on to my mother.
Firstly I find it unconscionable that they would target a pensioner who could do without getting into debt. Secondly, I have asked them on numerous occasions not to call her and offer her these specials because she simply can’t afford to be tied up in all sorts of complicated contracts. But the calls persist.
I have a love-hate relationship with telemarketers. They love to call me and I hate taking the call; but I am tricked into taking the call every time. For some reason that will forever remain a mystery to me, I have the bad luck of receiving at least two or three direct marketing calls every week. I consider myself to be quite savvy when it comes to filling in forms, on-line or otherwise, and I know that I never, ever tick the “you can share my details for use by telemarketers” box. So how is it that these people have access to my phone number?
The answer is always the same; “we got it from a list”. “What list? What database,” I ask. But there’s never a response to the question. Instead what I do get is a badly read presentation from a cheesy, cliché-riddled script. Telemarketers are relentless. As much as you try and dissuade them, they just get more and more forceful in trying to make the sale.
My best friend says I should just put the phone down and they will get the message. But they don’t. Recently, I was called up by a telemarketer at Independent Newspapers trying to sell me a subscription to the Sunday Tribune. I declined and did not want to engage with him about my reasons for this, however much he persisted. Eventually I hung up having told him not to call me again. In the space of twenty minutes, I got calls from two other telemarketers from the same company trying to sell me the same product. Why should have to suffer the endless bombardment of my senses from these people, who should be taught that “no” means “no”! So I dug a little deeper.
According to an article on the subject by Erica Elson, on lifehacker.com, a lot of people make simple mistakes that lead to several more calls. Here are the things she says you need to avoid:
· Don't immediately hang up the phone. This results in the telemarketer marking your lead as "no answer" and calling you
back until they actually have a conversation with you.
· Don't engage with the telemarketer in any way. This gives them the false hope that you may just need some convincing
and are actually interested in their product. Do not ask questions. Do not explain why you are not interested in the
product. Do not show empathy or other human characteristics.
· Don't get irrationally angry at the telemarketer. Remember, the computer chose your lead, not the caller. If you scream at
them because you've gotten called before, this will not make them sympathetic to your case. It's likely they'll just put you
back into the lead pool to torture you. If the telemarketer is being rude, you can ask to speak to a manager. Despite what
they might say, every campaign and business has a supervisor in the call room.
· Don't give up mid-conversation and hang up without an explanation. This will most likely result in the telemarketer
calling back, claiming you got "disconnected." If you don't answer then, they will keep calling.
· Don't let the telemarketer call you back at another time. Anything that's not a hard "no" will be interpreted as an
opportunity to call you back. When you say "This isn't a good time," the telemarketer hears "Call me back later!" When you
say "Sorry, I don't have time to talk about this right now" the telemarketer hears "I will buy this another day!"
Telemarketers literally have a script that tells them how to respond to every objection, so the less you engage with them, the better.
Elson says the most efficient way to get the person to stop calling you requires you to say one sentence: "Please put me on your do not call list." Don't say "Can you put me on your do not call list?" or "I don't want to get these calls." This will lead them to ask why. Be polite, but firm. If they ask why or won't do it right away, remain calm and repeat, "I want you to put me on your do not call list."
You should also register on the national do not call list if you haven't already. It's illegal for a company to keep calling you if you're on this list and you have verbally asked them not to call you at least once.
Personally, these days, I hand the phone to my 6-year-old niece and ask her to talk to them for as long as she likes. Or better still I place the call on hold and just continue doing my work. More recently however, I have taken to trying to steer them off script with inappropriate questions.
How do you react to an unwanted solicit from a telemarketer?
You can email Terence Pillay at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter: @terencepillay1 and engage with him there.