Internet Marketers crossing over into Telemarketing

Banned 16 years ago

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16 years ago

Man - from a business perspective, it's a double edged sword.

Side 1: Holy crap is it ever profitable. Phone rooms can pull in money like nobody's business.

Side 2: It's super dangerous. You have two choices. Hire your own staff and run it yourself or outsource it. Outsourcing is almost ALWAYS a pain in the ass. The people doing the selling can sometimes say ANYTHING to make the sale. And they're representing you. So if they lie (without you knowing of course) ...YOU'RE ON THE HOOK.

That's why *real* call centers actually take the buyer through a recorded verification process.

If you run your own, you have to like ...manage people and stuff. Which is also a pain in the ass.

I don't do it personally. I'm leaving a fortune on the table but I'm super paranoid about having other people speak on my behalf ...and I don't really have anything super expensive to sell.

(Yet. Super expensive stuff in the works, naturally. To be sold by this new fad they call "The Internets")

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Ricky Parker 16 years ago

Totally true.

I'm still looking for the right "outlet" for this that fits in my budget. Just seems where I've looked so far it's seriously putting my ass on the line like you stated.

My last resort is maybe getting a big ass whip and stuff. I'll run it like the labs in New Jack City except instead of guns and blow. It will be whips and phones.

Anyone wanna volunteer to be a lead whipper?
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Dave Ryan

16 years ago

Super-expensive is what it's all about... ohh and re-activating customers and selling services and products on the back-end...etc.

Many offline business owners can install a two person calling center into their operation for next to nothing and can sometimes tripple the value of the average customer. I've had clients who inject an extra million of profit just by re-activating old customers with a friendly "Hey this is bob from so and so, how are things going?" No selling, just reminding them that you're there. Then maybe mention a special promotion your doing and how it's only good for existing customers and how they can't share the secret code with anyone or else they'll be cut out of the inner circle...etc.

Then when they come in and buy their crap... then you introduce and explain your customer referral program.

You lure them back, get them to buy, then have them bring their friends to buy so they can get an extra pack of golf balls or whatever the deal is.

Tele-marketing needs to be done right but it can inject cash-flow like nothing else.

Dave

Originally Posted by frank-kern

Man - from a business perspective, it's a double edged sword.

Side 1: Holy crap is it ever profitable. Phone rooms can pull in money like nobody's business.

Side 2: It's super dangerous. You have two choices. Hire your own staff and run it yourself or outsource it. Outsourcing is almost ALWAYS a pain in the ass. The people doing the selling can sometimes say ANYTHING to make the sale. And they're representing you. So if they lie (without you knowing of course) ...YOU'RE ON THE HOOK.

That's why *real* call centers actually take the buyer through a recorded verification process.

If you run your own, you have to like ...manage people and stuff. Which is also a pain in the ass.

I don't do it personally. I'm leaving a fortune on the table but I'm super paranoid about having other people speak on my behalf ...and I don't really have anything super expensive to sell.

(Yet. Super expensive stuff in the works, naturally. To be sold by this new fad they call "The Internets")

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jedz

Banned 16 years ago

this is s*cks! some of these companies are desperate to have good sales.

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Jelasco

16 years ago

Originally Posted by joefission

I've opted into several lists recently that requested a phone number, and I gave it to them. I figure that's the price of admission, and if they want to pitch me in exchange for what I'm receiving, so be it. I'm not going to give a fake number or anything, fair's fair.

800-555-1212 is a real number I often give in that situation. The form asked for a phone number, so I gave one.

If I'm signing up for a list (not making a purchase) and they want a phone number, I assume it's for telemarketing purposes.

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BrianMcLeod

16 years ago

I've gotten three phone calls in a row from these IM'ers, and unfailingly, the person making the call has been incredibly rude. I'm not talking about curt or pushy, I'm talking about downright disrespectful and abusive.

Let me guess, they were pounding you about changing your life through their miraculous coaching program and when you balked, the response was to smack you around and insult you, question your income, your lifestyle, whatever...

Those knuckleheads think that's being "a closer.." They don't give a damn about you. They don't give a damn about company they represent because they won't be there in 6 months. And, they don't even care enough about their OWN sales career to learn how a REAL closer operates - and it ain't like that...

The tough guy is a one trick pony - all he knows is intimidation and aggression. It reveals a weak salesperson with no depth of experience, no style and no capacity to adapt. Weak, weak weak.

Don't get mad. Call him out. Make him squirm. It's fun, try it.

You'll hang up with a smile, feeling sorry for the poor schmuck.

Funny enough, a disproportionate number of these assclowns are steriod freaks and muscleheads. So picture a guy with big arms and a small .... when you deal with them.

I know that these guys aren't working in a large call center where their calls are being monitored for professionalism or anything, but c'mon. I don't deserve to be beaten up just because I'm not interested in what they're promoting.

NO, you absolutely don't and compliance is compliance, call center or spare bedroom.

Be careful who you hire to "close" for you, marketers. They can cause you great pain and misery long after the money's gone (and so are they...)

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Kelvin Brown 16 years ago

I call some of my clients, and not just to make a sale. It really helps if the phone number is correct, especially when I call my autoresponder clients.

Sometimes, I just call to say Hi, and thank you.

Sometimes I just happen to be sitting at the computer when a support ticket comes in. Instead of playing tag, I often will look the client up in my customer database, and call them.

Sometimes I get the curious, I sent you a ticket, why are you calling me, no-one online offers phone support!

Sometimes, the response, is WOW, there is a real person behind the service.

And a couple of times when users have been accused of spamming I try to reach them as fast as possible before shutting them down. Often it is a quick fix.

Calling has often helped me keep a client, as well as helped a client keep their list.

I post this just to let you know, that sometimes, giving your number, the correct number is a good thing.

Kelvin
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- joefission 16 years ago
  
  Brian,
  
  That's it exactly. Funny thing is, I am already a paying customer of this crew -- this just happened to be a promotion that wasn't for me.
  
  But I'm 99.9999925694 percent sure I won't stay a customer. And I'll likely never give out my phone number either, which means that I'll have to pass on some good deals.
  
  Your username / business name is awesome. Sometimes life gives you material!
  
  Shaun
  
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  bendiggs 16 years ago
  
  I hate telemarketing. I once upon a time worked in a call center pushing satellite service, and I was good at it. But I was also the TM that could understand the word no, call me later, don't call me again and burn in hell you #$*%#(! But I was also good at the job. And because I was good at it I got to see what went on at higher levels as I advanced there quickly. Quite simply I was appalled at the way the business was run and the way names and numbers were harvested.
  
  Now, I'm polite to telemarketers, but I'm the guy who says no one time and then hangs up. I like the polite TMs and will give them a bit more of my time, but the pushy ones get the dial tone.
  
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JohnMcCabe

16 years ago

Originally Posted by joefission

I'd like to get an idea of how you all feel about this.

I've opted into several lists recently that requested a phone number, and I gave it to them. I figure that's the price of admission, and if they want to pitch me in exchange for what I'm receiving, so be it. I'm not going to give a fake number or anything, fair's fair.

But I've gotten three phone calls in a row from these IM'ers, and unfailingly, the person making the call has been incredibly rude. I'm not talking about curt or pushy, I'm talking about downright disrespectful and abusive.

I know that these guys aren't working in a large call center where their calls are being monitored for professionalism or anything, but c'mon. I don't deserve to be beaten up just because I'm not interested in what they're promoting.

Anyone else getting these calls? If you are, what are your thoughts? Price of admission or get rid of them?

Shaun

I'm not anti-telemarketing, I'm anti-idiot.

We may be talking about the same organization, but I've been called three times.

First call: Why hadn't I used my "free coaching session"? [Because I canceled the product and had no intention of signing up for the expensive coaching program.]

Call 2: Calling to set up your free coaching session. [Not interested.] Great hang on just a second... (new voice) So, Johnny, tell me about your online business... [Only my grandmother and a few close friends get away with calling me Johnny. You aren't my close friend and my grandmother is dead.] How would you like to be making $3-5,000 a month in only 90 days or less, with our help?[Sorry, can't afford the pay cut. This is a bad time anyway, I'm eating dinner.] I'll call back..[Do what you want, I'm not buying the coaching program your free session is meant to sell me. If you want to dance awhile, fine, but we aren't going home together.]

Call 3: (sweet girl's voice) Hi, I'm calling from (name)'s office to set up your free coaching session... [I told the last two callers I wasn't buying. Now I'm asking you to put me on your Do Not Call list.](polite end to conversation)

I know they're just trying to make a buck, so I don't fault them. Except for that one poorly trained clown who thought he could manipulate me into spilling my guts so he could save me. He deserved a good smackdown...

The ones that bug me are the autodialers with loooooonnnnggggg messages.

You want to remind me about a teleseminar I signed up for? Fine. Record the details, maybe a few bullets, and let it go. Message shouldn't be more than a minute or so long. We're cool.

Hit me with an autodialer with an over-caffeinated marketer essentially reading me his 12 page sales letter? Hang up city.

Not the end of the story. Seems some autodialers are programmed to ring back hang-ups and resume where they left off. If you want to stop the phone ringing, you have to let the whole spiel play (notice, I did NOT say 'listen').

The marketer who uses this tactic deserves to be staked out in the Keys, in shallow water, on the lee side of a mangrove island where the crabs and the saltwater skeeters can get him, while an endless loop of "Rubber Ducky" plays loudly in his ears. [maniacal laugh trails off into the mist...]

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Jelasco

16 years ago

Something else you can do is just quietly set down your phone (without hanging up) while they are in the middle of their monolog. Sometimes they'll talk for another 10 minutes before realizing you're not listening.

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dbh 16 years ago

I find most telemarketers to be somewhat irritating. I generally ignore or simply hang up on them.

Back in the days when I owned an Auto Repair shop, I made followup calls to my customers sometimes. And at some point during the conversation, I'd usually tactfully suggest an upcoming special, or a needed service, or ?.

Once in awhile I'd irritate someone but for the most part they were appreciative of the good service and it was one of my most effective sales tools.

Nowadays I'm not sure if such a thing would be nearly as effective.....

- Darrell
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jjpmarketing 16 years ago

I have two experiences with this. One is very similar what John described. It was via Russell Brunson's DotComSecrets membership. I kept telling them no several times, and this was to the free coaching arrangement. I just wasn't interested.

I finally told them, I knew what they were trying to do... and that I wasn't going to buy anything other than what I was already paying for. They persisted and assured me they weren't selling me anything. The 30 minute coaching session was nothing more than a "cloaked" sales pitch.

I finally got them to stop calling me by giving them, the "i'm near bankruptcy" speech. Worked like a charm. I haven't heard from them since. These folks were professional and kind. The next scenario was not.

It was some company that I got involved with when I first got started...

It basically had something to do with selling on eBay. Basically this company was providing all of the products to sell with and all you had to do was create the listings and handle the customer service side of things. What they did not tell you was that you had to buy your stock from their membership, and wanted you to be able to spend $5000 or more per month.

When I told the guy on the phone that he was crazy, if he thought I was going to invest that kind of money into a company I had never done business with... his response was less than acceptable.

He had previously taken me through a "life goals, desires" kind of questionnaire. After I told him that, he just started insulting me from all these different angles. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

These kind of people are mighty brave from within the safety of a phone line...

It is really sad that there are companies out there, that care so little about customers that not only will they beat people up on the phone, but they will also take their hard earned money and put them in an even more dismal financial position than they were in to begin with.

If I ever get into the telemarketing game, it will only be with people I personally interview and hire. This is not something I would ever outsource.

In fact if that guy had been my employee, not only would I fire him, I probably would have taken him outside and kicked his a**. I mean that could have been some little old lady on the other end of the line.

***additional comment***

For telemarketing... this is what will get you hung up on. Using an unlisted number, or having the number show up as an 800 number. You need to provide your identity on the caller id, and if a person calls the number on the caller id, it should go to an inbound call center that can handle phone requests.
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- Chris Monty 16 years ago
  
  Stop the phone calls and stop them now. I got into this business because I hate the phone.
  
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  bobsedge 16 years ago
  
  Just because a company markets on the internet doesn't mean that they are strictly an internet marketer. Many businesses market on the net, radio, newspapers, tv,etc and communicate with their leads and customers via email, telephone, snail mail and fax.
  
  Most people hate telemarketing but it does work for some businesses. If you want the calls to stop- opt out of their email list and instruct them to no longer call. If you are on the "Do not call" list, then opting out of their email list (assuming you are not a paying customer) ends the relationship and they must abide by your "Do not call" status. Or they can simply ignore the law and keep on calling you.
  
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  jjpmarketing 16 years ago
  
  Would you hate the phone so much if it turned a $10,000 launch into a $100,000 launch. You could reach the customers that ignored your email... which would add sales and revenue. You could also create repeat buyers, because you just separated yourself from 90% of internet marketers because you have phone support. That would create trust. Phones are a good thing as long as they aren't abused.
  
  You could set it up in a way, where your call center functions primarily as a means for people to resolve helpdesk issues over the phone. Then once a month, you could use those same people to make outbound calls to generate sales.
  
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- Paul Myers 16 years ago
  
  This is a fun one. And, as Frank noted, a place where you really want to be carefu. Especially if you're in an industry that's regulated heavily.
  
  I used to train telephone sales reps and customer service reps. Getting really good ones is a time-intensive process, but one with a big payoff.
  
  Had a call yesterday, in which the caller started off about making me a million dollars extra this year with teleseminars. After my politely saying, "Hold on a second," twice, the lamebrain was still talking. *click*
  
  Got calls from Russell's people. Wasn't buying, but the ones I spoke with were reasonably professional. No complaints at all.
  
  Bought something from another Warrior member once, and got a call from the center he outsourced his telemarketing to at the time. The rep who called me should be very glad he wasn't speaking to anyone in a regulatory agency. On top of being amateurish and insulting, the guy made direct income promises and claimed that his firm did not maintain a "Do not call" list. Among other, less significant, violations of the law.
  
  These are the kind of people that give smart folks nightmares.
  
  And lose you lots of high-value customers...
  
  Got a call from another fellow, who was promoting a launch or something. His technique was terrible, but he was sincere, had a good offer, and he listened well.
  
  Spent a few minutes giving him some pointers on approaching different types of prospects on the phone. Apparently, he used the advice and it worked.
  
  This isn't terribly difficult stuff, folks, but you really should understand what you're doing. It's easy to get into trouble with it, or just waste a lot of opportunities, if you don't.
  
  For some good pointers, one fellow to read and study is Art Sobczak, at BusinessByPhone.Inc
  
  It's definitely worth it. The close rate on calls to people who want to hear from you can be extremely high, and often for a much larger amount than you might think. And, since you can maintain contact in other ways to keep the interest level up, there's no need for the obnoxious high pressure stuff.
  
  Paul
  
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  marcanthony 16 years ago
  
  I get telemarketing calls on a daily basis. And, since I used to be a telemarketer back when I first got started in sales, I know how to deal with they're obnoxious behavior.
  
  I'm assuming that you already know that it's their desperation that causes them to be so hostile. Often times, telemarketers go months... even years, before they make 1 sale.
  
  I remember my first year of telemarketing like it was yesterday. I was 18 years old... I was living on my own... I wanted to be a star.
  
  The product was Protection One home security systems. At the time Home Base (a Home Depot like hardware store here in California) had a Protection One, kiosk in the store.
  
  The promotion... um... before I get carried away... yeah. I'm going to stop.
  
  Anyhow, if you ever receive a call from a call center chances are, they will be more friendly than random telemarketers.
  
  Now, if you ever use a call center for your business, you may run into two problems (This is from my experience)
  
  1. They rotate salespeople to handle your follow up calls. And there may be a weak salesperson in the rotation.
  
  2. Like Frank said, and not verbatim, "they may not represent you the way you'd like to be represented."
  
  Overall, call centers are cool.
  
  The bottom line is this... If you leave your phone number on the opt in form you will get a call. And if being belligerent is the telemarketers way of dealing with rejection... hang up on them.
  
  Then unsubscribe from that persons list immediately.
  
  Peace
  
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  Jason Moffatt 16 years ago
  
  Selling via the phone is something I think everyone should try for a few weeks. It makes you a better marketer, and puts hair on your chest.
  
  It sucks, but there's a ton to be learned.
  
  I don't use telemarketing either, for the same reasons Frank stated. I'd cringe all day long wondering what some commissioned sales staff would say to close a deal.
  
  However, we do call our customers and subscribers at times.
  
  For instance, if a order fails in the shopping cart, my customer service guy will grab their phone details from inside the shopping cart and give them a call to help them order. Often we'll offer a discount for the hassle.
  
  And we never say... "Your card was declined".
  
  Instead, we take up the responsibility by saying... "For some reason the transaction did not go through. This may have been something that failed on our end, or from the merchant processor, however we'd like to give you a discount to have you join our video team today."
  
  If someone goes through the shopping cart process they are a pretty hot lead. It only seems to make sense to contact them and find out why they didn't get in, and what can you do to get them to join today.
  
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  Tom Busch 16 years ago
  
  Does anyone else get automated calls? By automated, I mean it's just a recording of the person, like the politicians do right before an election.
  
  I get them from a pretty well known marketer that I bought a course from a couple years back. I think they are annoying, and every time I get one, I tend to like the guy a little bit less. Not exactly good for business, unless my reaction to them is the exception.
  
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  Dan Briffa 16 years ago
  
  I also ring customers of myne on occasions. For instance, if i have an email asking for a refund, i would call them up and nicely ask what was wrong with the product, get there views on it ask them how we could make it better, improve it etc just get some feedback really.
  
  Then i would offer some kind of discount or bonus if they decided to keep it, and it works for me most of the time.
  
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  Uanz 16 years ago
  
  I do not & will never leave my number to any unknown thru opt in forms ever! it is just me not liking people to call me & pitching me products.. I prefer they get to know me thru email & after some sort of relationship & trust is built, then I might give them my number..
  
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  TimothyW 16 years ago
  
  Here's the telemarketing paradox...
  
  It's a multi-billion-dollar marketing method --- even though "everyone" hates it, and "nobody" buys that way.
  
  Additional note: The multi-billions come from SALES!
  
  I use telemarketing a lot -- and have for many years. But, most of the time it's not cold-calling. I think B2B telemarketing + cold calling are fine, if done thoughtfully + tactfully.
  
  I think B2C calling can be a little dicey though.
  
  -- TW
  
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  Alan Petersen 16 years ago
  
  The bad call centers hire anyone who can breathe and they read the script and that's all they can do. Looks like you got a bad one. Personally I don't like to be solicited by phone so if they ask for my phone number I'll pass on whatever they're offering in the optin form.
  
  It took me awhile to get my telephone number nice and clean so A. I don't like getting sales call and B. I don't want my phone number being sold off to other telemarketers.
  
  I get door to door salesmen from time to time. Not from IM stuff but I'm like now that take cajones to knock on someone door trying to sell them stuff.
  
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  OmarMartin 16 years ago
  
  I've been training people to be successful telemarketers and door to door sales people for years. But there is a tactful and professional way to do it that produces incredible results and residual income without pissing people off.
  
  I hate when I hear stories like this about wannabe's trying to sell over the phone by just steam rolling over people. They just feed into the stigma that sales people are all alike. In reality... they are not, and I wouldn't be where I am in life today if it wasn't for that fact.
  
  I have to agree with Frank Kern on this one. You can explode your income when you fuse you're IM business with an offline telemarketing and direct mail department... if you're looking to do this by the way, just give me a holler and I'll try to help.
  
  Omar
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  mikegates 16 years ago
  
  I've only had one marketer call me, and they called me three times even though I told them not to call me again on the first call.
  
  They called representing themselves from a well known marketers office, who I bought a fairly pricey product from.
  
  When I tell them that I am really unhappy with the shoddy product I purchased from this marketer, suddenly they are not really from the marketers office and can't help me. But they still want me to purchase thier coaching product.
  
  When I tell them I will not purchase from anyone who has anything to do with this marketer, they don't seem to know how to handle that objection.
  
  Hopefully after my last strong request for them not to call me again, they won't.
  
  I was already not happy with this marketer who asked for my phone number, now I am really unhappy with, either him selling someone else my phone number, or having people in his office distance themselves with someone disatissfied with his product.
  
  Mike
  
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  Collette 15 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Paul Myers
  
  ...The close rate on calls to people who want to hear from you can be extremely high,...
  Paul
  
  I think the key point here is "who WANT to hear from you."
  
  Here's a scenario I keep coming up against lately:
  
  Someone offers some free info that looks interesting. I don't know this marketer. Maybe I followed a blog or newsletter link, or whatever. But I have no relationship with this person yet. I don't know if his "valuabe information" is going to be useful to me only as cat box liner - yet. But I'm willing to check him out.
  
  So I click.
  
  And I get a monster form that asks for every piece of information under the sun. And, oh yes...
  
  My phone number.
  
  Not gonna happen.
  
  In fact, that's a surefire way to ensure that you get my dummy email. Not the good one. Definitely a fake phone number. Hell, you won't even get my real name. Let me explain:
  
  If your "valuable information" turns out to be some rehashed piece of crap, or your video is 15 minutes of you sitting in your Porsche blathering on about the mucho dinero you're rolling in with your "system", or your audio download is 40 minutes of time-sucking chit-chat followed by 10 minutes of mediocre content, followed by 10 minutes of sell, guess what...?
  
  I don't want to hear from you. Not now. Not next week or next month.
  
  Not ever.
  
  But thanks for asking.
  
  On the other hand, if your stuff turns out to be the real deal, and you then offer to send me a free CD or something for S&H, or a trial membership or whatever, I'll happily give you my phone number.
  
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  gianne2705 15 years ago
  
  Few companies are using this way to advertise.It is much expensive because they call the respective customers to sell a product.
  
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Brad Gile

16 years ago

There is a lot of money to be made in having telemarketers, but there's also a lot of risk to be taken also. If you have telemarketers working for you, you take all the risk when something goes bad.

I used to work for a company as the sales manager. We had maybe 3-4 telemarketers that worked in the office calling in the evening. Now, I'll have to admit no one likes a telemarketer to call you anytime. We had a really nice crew, they weren't your typical jam it down your throat or run off a huge script kind of telemarketers. If the customer said "I'm not interested" they wouldn't keep pushing them. But like I said, no one stills like a telemarketer to call.

Anyways, One evening one of the telemarketers got a hold of a guy that said "take me off your list". So he did. Well a couple months later the same telemarketer was calling from a new list that had a couple of duplicate numbers on it accidentally from a company that we bought leads from. When he started calling he got a hold of the same guy. Now, the telemarketer had no idea he had already called him previously. The guy asked him his name and said thanks and hung up. I remember the telemarketer was a little confused why he would ask that.

Well a few weeks later the company owner received a pretty hefty law suit in the mail. And were not talking about a small one either. After hearing about that I started to look up laws on the computer about telemarketing. I found out that there are actually communities that gather online teaching each other the best way to sue companies that call you by phone. These guys make a full time leaving doing it. I even found teachers that do this as a living during the summer months to help with money. It's like a how to make money community. These guys actually love to hear the phone ring.

The point to this rant is not that telemarketers are ok. It's just if you're going to get into having telemarketers work for you make sure you read all the rules about it and make sure you keep track of who you call and how you handle the calls. If the telemarketer accidentally screws up it's on you not them.

Brad

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jjpmarketing

16 years ago

Not to be rude or anything... but that is what they get for buying leads. Generate all your leads on your own and manage your contact lists meticuously. "Buying Leads" is more or less a form of outsourcing. That goes back to the statement of not being able to control what happens when outsourcing.

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Brad Gile

16 years ago

Originally Posted by jjpmarketing

Not to be rude or anything... but that is what they get for buying leads. Generate all your leads on your own and manage your contact lists meticuously. "Buying Leads" is more or less a form of outsourcing. That goes back to the statement of not being able to control what happens when outsourcing.

The industry I worked in you couldn't just generate a mass of leads. In this industry for years everyone buys a list of numbers to call. It's either that or open the phone book and start calling. The point of the telemarketer was to generate leads, not sales. If we had leads to call we wouldn't need telemarketers. The reason everyone buys commercial lists to call is at least most of them are filtered for the "do not call lists".

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ripsnorta2

16 years ago

Originally Posted by Jelasco

Something else you can do is just quietly set down your phone (without hanging up) while they are in the middle of their monolog. Sometimes they'll talk for another 10 minutes before realizing you're not listening.

Which is what I normally do. Unless the call is from a reputable charity -- guide dogs, blind welfare, etc -- then I tell them I don't make donations over the phone.

If I'm in the right sort of mood though, usually after a hard tiring week when I am feeling a little silly (I get that way when exhausted) I'll lead them on a merry chase.

I had one telemarketer trying to sell me a timeshare on the hook for about forty-five minutes. I asked all sorts of stupid questions. Can I bring my cat? Yes. Can I bring my hamster? Yes. Can the hamster have a separate room so that cat doesn't eat him? Confusion.

It was really quite amazing how much they were willing to put up with to get a sale. One of these days I'll try the cop answering the phone at a crime scene scenario.

I was asked once why I did this. After all they are just doing their jobs. My response was that spammers are just doing their jobs too, and they don't deserve any respect.

To me telemarking is the equivalent of spam since it is 100 percent unsolicited. In fact I call it phone spam. Call it what it is.

Sorry. It's late and I'm tired. Feelin' silly. :p

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JohnMcCabe

16 years ago

Originally Posted by Jelasco

Something else you can do is just quietly set down your phone (without hanging up) while they are in the middle of their monolog. Sometimes they'll talk for another 10 minutes before realizing you're not listening.

A guy I used to work with wasn't so polite. If the caller just kept talking, he'd start rapping the microphone end of the phone on the desk and and yelling "Hello, Hello, Are you still there? Hello?", then he'd hang up.

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mrmahdavi

15 years ago

A guy named Klinton Wheeler from Russell Brunson's office called me pitching me hard about their coaching program. Let me tell you right away "STAY AWAY".

I own a credit restoration company and have about 8 telemarketers that speak to mortgage professionals and Realtors all day long. I've trained them on how to sell over the phone without being pushy. It does work! Although this character from Brunson's office was a tool.

He kept telling me that I'm leaving money on the table, that I needed to imagine what financial security would be like, and that I needed to give him a commitment before he would tell me about the program. I told him that I would need to do my due diligence and that I can't make a 5k to 8.5K deal over one call.

He started to get frustrated and tell me that he was busy! I run a freaking company and he's busy?

Anyway, he said that he got my information from Mike Filsaime which really pisses me off. I'm in the process of trying to contact Mike office to let them know about their tactics. The 1 1/2 hour call ended like this: He told me that he is going to sleep well tonight and that he was going to have fun mountain biking this weekend. He said that I'll be in the same spot that I'm in tomorrow. I told him to put Russell on the phone and he said that Russell was too busy to talk to me.

That's when I told him that I wasn't too busy to talk to my potential clients. These guys are a bunch of stupid kids that got rich on the internet and have no phone etiquette. BEWARE!

Oh, not to mention that they have 12 complaints with the Better Business Bureau.

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MarketingMama

15 years ago

I've never been asked to give my phone number yet, and if I was, I'd probably give my home number (which I leave unplugged) because anyone asking for a phone number probably intends on using it at some point!

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Liz Morgan

15 years ago

I've been contacted by gurus using those automated calling services with a recording on the other end, but not yet by an actual staff member. They seem to be heavy into this in the Real Estate Investing niche as well.

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mr.schutz

15 years ago

Changing career path? Never too late. But its hard esp. when it is not something you are used to do.

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