No. They just make sure I boycott anything they sell.
I do however accept free mailed samples of product gladly and will try it. Unfortunately they stopped doing that decades ago. They however didn’t stop the worthless mass mailings I throw away unopened.
I’d let my art museum subscription run out and hadn’t renewed it in a over a year. They had an exhibit coming that I had made a mental note that I’d wanted to see, but hadn’t done anything about (like renew the subscription or buy tickets) and they called me as an ex-subscriber to find out if I’d wanted to renew and reserve a ticket.
Only twice, and not to buy anything. Both were pollsters and I was - and am - a political junkie, so I was glad to share my opinions on who oughta get elected.
Just once. I was sitting there thinking about how I really should get myself in gear and set up those 529 college savings accounts for my kids. Then the phone rang, and it was a cold call from a financial company that does retirement planning and 529 college savings accounts. The guy was actually quite helpful and nice, and now it’s 10 years later and my oldest will be in college soon and I’ll be tapping into the 529 account I set up that day.
A cold call changed the course of my life.
When I was one year out of high school, having completed one year of college, I got a cold call from an Army recruiter.
I was living at home, working hard to make the money to pay for my school on my own.
The recruiter mentioned school benefits for when I was discharged, and I started to listen. The military was something I’d never even considered while in high school.
So I did it. I was in for three years, got to travel, sell lots of new places I’d never been to, like they say in the recruiting material. Met the man I married, although we later divorced.
I’d have stayed in longer if I hadn’t married, I found the life suited me.
Would a cold visit count? Working in the yard two completely pleasant and honest-looking guys asked me about my ADT sign and would I like a free new monitor and stuff. All I had to do was cancel and resubscribe. Normally I wave people off but that one time I listened.
I wrote a thread talking about what a frikkin’ ordeal that scam turned into. I’m still paying for it.
As a purchasing pro, I get cold calls all the time, and I will take each and every phone call. I’m polite, and it doesn’t take too much time to decide if the call is useful or not. I’m never a dick, because I’ve been on the other end of sales and it was brutal.
Ironically, I will NOT see anyone who comes to the office in person to see me with no appointment. Sorry, nope, not going to happen. Ever. Call me first.
It’s like deja vu all over again.
wait a sec…you’re a woman!!! Seriously? All this time I was positive you were a man.
Anyway, right after we moved into our house (but hadn’t bought it yet, there was a delay but we rented from the sellers for 2 months because the old house sold), we were talking about the need for a fireplace cleaning. We knew nothing about it, since we had never lived with a fireplace before. About half an hour later, we got a call from a fireplace cleaning company. We ended up using them and have been for the last 3 years.
If I’m really bored and not doing anything particular, sometimes I just get chatty with them, and I’ll talk to them as long as they are willing to chat. Once I discovered that the person I was talking was the daughter of a man who was one my best friends a couple years earlier. But I never buy what they are selling, and I let them know that right away, I don’t string them along if they are on a commission.