Telephone sales pitch
In the case of today’s comic strip, it sounds like somebody called Roost Air to inquire about flight lessons, not the other way around. I don’t think that counts as classical telemarketing. At least I think of cold marketing calls, when I hear the word. Which would have been the eleventh plague in ancient Egypt, had they already had phones back then.
The older I get, the less patience I have for unsolicited phone calls. In my case it’s usually somebody who wants to sell me pillows, Italian food items or investment opportunities. You can usually tell within five seconds, by the tone of the voice and the opening, that this is going to be a sales pitch. Most of the times, you can even tell before picking up, by the incoming area code. When I was younger, and more inclined to be polite, I used to listen and wait for an opening, to explain that I was not interested in anything they had to sell, thank you very much. That usually didn’t stop them or prompt them to deviate from their meticulously designed script. So nowadays, I just hang up. In a way, it’s not even that impolite, because time is money, and the call center employees are usually paid by their results. So I’m not even saving my valuable time, I’m also saving their valuable time.
Of course, my heart goes out to people working in call centers. I think that job is pretty much at the bottom of the list, below sewage plant diver or porta potty cleaner.
Anyway, I know I’m complaining at a high level here, because my frequency of unsolicited sales calls averages around one or two a month. A number that the average American can probably only laugh at!
Can anyone of you think of even worse jobs? Or does anyone have a funny telemarketing story to share?
Stef
Since (their) time is money, i usually don’t listen, just say “sorry”, “really”, “i don’t understand” without even listening.
That, I understand, is the opposite of being polite with them 😉
Yeah, I’m with Sam. Telemarketing needs to go away just as soon as humanly possible, so the more trouble I can make for them, the better.
I average 4-5 unsolicited calls per week despite being registered on the national “Do Not Call” list.
These usually happen while I’m trying to either sleep or drive (Not doing both at once…).
Most of them are either flat-out scam calls or attempts to sell me services I have no use for.
I have reached the point that I actively try to make their day a little worse.
Amazing how fast THEY will hang up when you start asking them their preferences on inappropriate subjects…
The only one company that still tries to sell me something by phone sell pitch is my telephone company!
Every time I tell them I will never never never buy anything that way and I will quit the contract if they don’t respect that.
But after a couple of months….
Real anecdote, my grandfather – not a telemarketing call, but a wrong number:
Somebody: Hello, can I speak to John please?
Grandpa: John has died…
Somebody: … What? When?
Grandpa: A couple of days ago.
Somebody: I am sorry… (and hangs up)
While this wasn’t nice at all, it sure was funny and it was incredible that grandfather managed to keep his voice calm the whole time 🙂
My usual approach is to just put the earpiece on the table next to the phone, while their babbling continues, and go on with whatever I was doing – if anything. Make them loose as much of their time as possible, indeed, that’s what makes them bleed. It seems to work, too, I get less and less of these unsollicited calls.