We have (in our apt.) Caller-ID on our phone. We must get half-a-dozen telemarketer
calls a typical day, but we never answer them of course (esp. the ones which say
“privacy director”-if you lack the common courtesy to let me know where you’re
calling from you sure as heck AREN’T going to get me to pick up!).
So the question becomes: how much market penetration does Caller-ID need to
have before telemarketers become extinct? Shouldn’t these companies remove my
name from their lists after a dozen or so unpicked up calls? Or are they all as dumb
as they seem, and don’t mind throwing money away on people who will never
answer?
I often wonder why people are continuallly annoyed by internet ads, too, but even here, most people don’t seem to bother using Adblock (as evidenced by the number of comments about the Google ads). And Adblock doesn’t even cost anything.
Haven’t you signed up for the do not call list? The feed back from people who have say it really has cut down on the telemarketers. I personally don’t have a land phone anymore so was not getting any telemarketer calls even before the do not call list.
The key is that they do all the calls with automated software, and only hand it to a person when you pick up. So they aren’t throwing away that much money.
Personally, I use this same fact to hang up on most telemarketers before they even get a chance to talk. A pregnant pause where no one answers my hello, hello because they are transferring to a person? Hang up.
Well, there is the do not call list, why they don’t take advantage of it, I don’t know. But personally, I absolutely LOVE to get these calls.
Generally, I don’t report them, though I could. I just start off with something like, “Gee, that’s an interesting proposition. And, hey, since we’re talking about propositions, what are you wearing?”
They reply.
Doesn’t matter what they say…I go “OMG, that is SO hot! Now, just put your hand up to the top button, yes, that’s good. Release the button. Oh, yes. Yes, yes. Now, undo the next button down…don’t be shy…”
Sooner or later, they give up. Never got a repeat call from that particular asshole, either.
But hey, you gotta be pretty warped to do this, so I won’t say it is a solution in your case. Nevertheless, hoo-boy! I have so much fun with these parasites.
You should put your name on the national Do Not Call registry. It will slow telemarketing to a trickle.
To answer your question, call center software and telecommunication systems in their call centers is pretty sophisticated. Telemarketing software can blast out as many outgoing calls at a time. When a call is answered by someone, the system quickly switches that call over to an available telemarketing agent. That is why there is usually a small delay because the telemarketer speaks. It doesn’t really matter how many people have caller ID. The system can figure out the right number of calls to blast out at any given time to match up the answered calls only to keep the telemarketers churning people.
Are you sure they will survive in any large number in the future? It’s not like we need them. Most jobs are obsolete after a period of time. You didn’t really get the harasing calls untill the late 80’s and 90’s. It was the telephone companies that started all this harasement. I think the sooner they can’t make money harasing people on the phone the better.
Move here. Telemarketers are living in bliss. It’s not illegal to call cell phone numbers (which is what most people have anyway) and the text messages are quite often from telemarketers.
Another problem is that when I call someone in the US from my Korean phone or using one of those Internet telephony programs, the receiving phone’s caller ID usually says “uknown caller, unknown number.”
As to the question raised in the OP, my first response was, “Who cares?” But the answer most likely is that the return (purchases made) on the investment (dirt pay for the caller) is big enough to justify paying hordes of drones to make annoyances of themselves.
Yep, the phone companies started (and still do) sell the equipment to tele-marketers to make all these calls, and sell them the lists of peoples phone numbers.
Then they get extra money out of their customers, by selling them services to fight the tele-marketers:
unlisted numbers.
voice-mail with previewing.
caller-Id services.
Now the phone companies are selling tele-marketers more sophisticated calling systems, where they give the phone number to things like 911 service, but can conceal it (or give a fake number) to individual phone customers.
And then the phone company offers phone customers (for an additional fee) a service that automatically reject of non-caller-id calls (or requires the caller to enter a real phone number before it will connect).
Seems like a technology war between the tele-marketers and the phone customers who just want a quiet evening at home. But with the phone companies sitting there making money from both sides in this war!
Telemarketing works. I did it for about 18 months. I had no trouble making lots of sales. There are many tricks to it. But the main thing was that we had good products with a great deal.
I know there are many scams out there which put people off telemarketers.
But most people will trust you if you sound confident and are selling ligitimate products. I was.
The main thing was we gave great deals. First I sold home delivery for the best newspaper in the city- trial 10 weeks at 60% off the price. Easy sales even ice-cold calling. Many people would talk. Most people read some news. Enjoyable job.
Next I sold ‘Switch to our Electricity company. Same price plus $100 rebate.’ Easy sale. No credit card details to collect.
Next I sold cable TV. Deal was people got free installation and first month free. Saving of $250. Easy sales.
That is what good telemarketing companies do. Give a great deal on a great product. Plus the deal is only available from telemarketer.“NOT SOLD IN SHOPS”(That kind of guff. If you want a great deal, listen to those telemarketers.
I cannot understand the whole “I will not pick up the phone to a call that does not show caller id.” That is how international calls show up on my phone and many others.
If I were lounging around home with nothing better to do than see if I could get a good deal on something sold by telemarketers, I might be happy to answer the calls. My experience, however, is that said good deals are few and far between (frankly I don’t recall ever having run across one). And almost always, the calls are an interruption to my doing something I have an interest in - eating dinner, watching a TV program, talking to my wife or friends, etc… There’s never been a reward to me for allowing the interruption to intrude upon my day. I don’t worry about legitimate calls that show up as “unknown” on the caller ID because they always start to leave a message on the answering machine, signalling that it might be someone I actually want to talk to.
It’s much worse at my shop. Answering the phone umpty-ump times a day for what are without exception crap propositions is a major problem. It pulls me away from productive work on a job and plays hell with my ability to actually earn my living. Being able to identify and ignore telemarketer calls is a godsend. And again, the few legitimate customers whose phones register “unknown” (generally due to the type of phone system at their workplace) start to leave a message, and I don’t miss the call.
I’m glad you had a chance to be one the few with a reasonable product or service to offer, but be assured that the great majority of telemarketing is for crap that no one in his right mind would go for. No way am I going to wade through all of that on the off chance something good might come up. I have a life to live and a living to make.
It’s become an artform in my household guessing if an “unknown” phonecall at 9am is from an East-Coast telemarketer or an overseas relative staying up late. Strangely, about half the time, some number pops up on the caller id when getting a Korean phonecall. It’s usually garbled or missing digits, but since telemarketer calls rarely show any number, it’s better than nothing.