I think the most important (and possibly only worthwhile) skills that came from telemarketing are patience and will-power. I’ve totally perfected the art of tongue-biting.
Oh, and I got over my irrational fear of phones.
You want me to order pizza? BRING IT ON!!! 
You got out - well done!
Then why get annoyed if we waste your time?
The marketing policy of the gutter.
My pleasure (not really).
I was all set to point out that being abusive seems to be a requirement for telemarketers, and insult you back, but then you posted:
This is a perfect summary of the whole sorry business.
Good luck in your new area (and thanks for getting out of telemarketing).
Thank you. 
Oh, and I sold crap for Sprint, so if you own, or know anybody that does own Sprint products - tell them to get rid of them. Sprint sucks, the long distant plans are horrible and waste money. They treat they’re employees and customers like shit. As far as I know, Sprint customers are not under any sort of contract, and can cancel at any time.
The thing I felt worst about when I was calling people, was the fact that they had been called up to 4 times already by that time…by Sprint…for the same fucking offer…
I believe the number is, 1-888-633-7714. Sorry if the last 4 digits are off, I’m trying to erase the script from my memory…
I suppose this is my way of redeeming myself, it’s the least I can do.
Yes, logic … is this your first time dealing with the concept?
There is, of course, a huge difference between taking an occasional telemarketing call and setting a computer to repeatedly autodial a number. The former is just the chance you take when you own a phone; the latter is deranged.
Your analogies are lousy. But at least you’re already admitted that you’re not very good at them.
And where do you figure that I don’t understand what telemarketing feels like? Do you think I have a Magic Phone that doesn’t get these calls? Of course I get them – and instead of throwing a big fit about how unfair the world is, I just say “no” and hang up the phone.
You never did answer MY question – and you do like to make a big deal when I fail to answer your questions, so turnabout is fair play. Why shouldn’t any member of the public be able to dial any publicly available number?
**
Yes, it does require sales skills. I don’t know where you get off defining what “real” sales skills are.
Me too - now that’s job satisfaction.
Strewth! Blimey! (Harmless cockney affectations, expressing surprise).
The richest nation on Earth has not got its priorities right.
Well you deserve it (similar to telemarketers, except what they deserve is very different).
Wow, a simulpost with glee. I’m, like, honored or something.
Good for you! I bet getting a dream job would kick ass…
All I want to do is work at a bookstore…sniffle
I can sympathize with that sentiment. But I don’t think needing money precludes your responsibility to NOT BOTHER PEOPLE WHO ARE MINDING THEIR OWN BUSINESS. Telemarketing steals time from people, and time is money. Your needing to survive does not give you free rein to steal money from me, even if you do it legally. As for “lashing out,” I figure that with every second of a telemarketer’s time I use up without buying anything, I am making the business less profitable. Yeah, I know, I’m just wasting more of my time, but when I have free time on my hands, I may as well try save other people the aggravation of having their time wasted, especially if I can get some entertainment value out of it (thus reclaiming my lost time by adding quality to what’s left). And, whether or not telemarketing is ethically permissible (and I maintain that it isn’t), I feel no responsibility to suffer gladly those who deliberately bother me and interrupt my life. If fiscal necessity drives you to abandon all qualms regarding intrusions on others’ lives, then you obviously can’t afford to whine about how those people treat you.
Oh, and I AM mad at the morons who buy from telemarketers.
Ah, the rapid resort to abuse that marks out the telemarketer.
Oh, what a sly dog you are.
Telemarketing calls are ‘occasional’ and ‘a chance you take when you own a phone’, but repeatedly autodialling is ‘deranged’.
Why don’t you just tell the autodialling computer “no” and hang up the phone?
Ah, the rapid resort to abuse that marks out the telemarketer.
And of course telemarketers like you need things explained in simple (aggressive) terms. :rolleyes:
Oh, so you agree telemarketing is intrusive?
You just described repeatedly autodialling is ‘deranged’. So that’s why a member of the public shouldn’t be able to repeatedly dial any publicly available number.
Also if you, as a member of the public do harass me by repeatedly phoning me, I can call the police.
And of course telemarketers aren’t phoning repeatedly as ‘members of the public’ (or don’t you know the difference there, either?).
And members of the public don’t phone back incessantly when someone hangs up on them.
Is that enough, or do you want to admit your analogy was worse than mine?
Because I know what sales skills are, and you obviously don’t.
As I said:
My mate reached a senior sales position in a top company by hard work (not ‘reading a script’, which any fool can do):
Define what you call sales skills.
Lets see how many of them telemarketers use.
You telemarketers are easily amused aren’t you? :wally
Don’t forget to tell us about what you think sales skills are.
For a guy who delights in abusing telemarketers, you sure are thin-skinned. When I’m nasty to you, it’s “abuse.” When you’re nasty to me, well, I guess that doesn’t count or something.
**
I didn’t say that anyone should be able to repeatedly be able to dial a number. If a telemarketer calls more than once in defiance of your request to put you on their “Do not call list,” then you CAN call the police, which is what I would do if you put some autodialer on me. Guess we can include “unable to quote accurately” to your list of skills. Or is it “abusive” of me to note your inability to quote me accurately?
You mean, I’m not a “real” salesman if I don’t do market research or organize product launches? Here I thought that sales just involved getting someone else to buy something (or, in my case, make a charitable donation to the Sierra Club).
The scariest people to be noted are the telemarketers that LIKE what they do…there are a few…and they’re frightening.
As for the sales skills question, there really isn’t any. It’s basically all luck. On any given day, I could make the same amount of sales, or even less, than the person next to me who talks in monotone, can barely speak english, and is eating a bag of chips while taking calls…
That right there says a lot about the intelligence of this country.
Sorry, I really hated that job…
I said I left telemarketers waiting in silence. If you call that ‘abuse’, what do you call telemarketing?
You said right from the start that (bolding mine):
“And I’m going to be very happy at the thought of having inconvenienced you yet again.”
So you admitted that telemarketing is an inconvenience, and that you really enjoy harassing people.
And you wonder why we are rude to you?
How many telemarketing companies are there?
Whenever a new one starts up, they can legally phone everyone on the planet.
Your implication was that telemarketers were just like a member of the public.
Just imagine everyone who doesn’t like telemarketers phoning you precisely once.
Then you’d begin to understand why we don’t like your attitude.
And (at last) here is your definition of sales skills:
Sales does indeed ‘just involved getting someone else to buy something’.
Of course that’s not what I asked.
Typical telemarketer - never listens.
In order to sell, what skills do you need to apply?
It’s immoral to call your published phone number and interrupt you for a sum total of 30 seconds – if you choose to answer the call, which is something wholly within your own control?
Immoral? :eek:
I really think you have a strongly overinflated notion of the seriousness of receiving a phone call.
Again, that’s a ridiculous overstatement, but the answer to dealing with what you feel is excessive telemarketing calls is very simple: you control the problem on your end with the means available to you.
1.) Tell the company not to call you again. Keep a notepad by the phone and get the operator to give you the exact company name and address, if possible, who they’re selling for, the operator’s own name and operator number. If you’re in the U.S., you can tell the operator that you have recorded the information and that if you receie any further sales contact by their company you will invoke your right to monetary damages against the company pursuant to US law. (Do a Google search on collecting damages from telemarketers to see examples of people who have done just that.) If they call again, don’t let them get away with it.
2.) If there are times at which you simply do not wish to be bothered by a ringing phone, shut the phone off or do not answer it. You can always make those decisions, and then you absolutely will not be bothered and it will be on your own terms.
3.) Get Caller ID and other privacy-ensuring devices as offered by your telecom provider and use their functionality. If a call comes up as “Out of Area” or “Unavailable” then don’t answer it! No legitimate business call will appear with those designations. (Though certain businesses have “Private Number” designations for various and understandable reasons.)
4.) Join your state’s Do Not Call list, which will automatically and immediately cause all telemarketing that reaches you to be illegal and punishable with a fine payable to you. 27 states currently have such a list – you can find more information about the list and see if your state has one here. If your state (or country) doesn’t have one yet, contact your state attorney general (or whatever legal authority is in your area) to inquire as to how to protect yourself and to request a do not call list be initiated in your area.
5.) Have your number unpublished and be vigilant about what companies have your phone number and what their privacy policies are. If you give away your phone number without being sure that you’ve opted out of having your personal information shared or that the company policy is not to share information, you will likely end up on telemarketing lists. Your information is yours, you bear some responsibility for controlling its dissemination and (mis)use.
Harassment by phone is a defined, illegal act.
The word harassment does not attach until the party in question is calling someone repeatedly without a legitimate purpose and without regard to the recepient’s wishes, (often, when speaking of statutory definitons, explicitly stated wishes) that the calls end.
If you were to call the police and make a complaint of phone harassment, the police are going to be quite useless to you if they find out that you’re complaining about one call from a company each day, or even two, which are made with a legitimate purpose, and a sales call is legitimate whether you like it or not. In this country, they’re going to be even less useful to you because all legitimate telemarketing activity can and will be stopped with a simple demand and in the majority of states, you can opt out of all telemarketing with a single toll-free phone call or by filling out a simple web form.
It’s simply not harassment, not a criminal act, as much as the rabid (and rapidly spirally into illogical raving) anti-telemarketers would like to pretend that it is.
Given the number of remedies to the problem, I’m beginning to believe that some people simply enjoy having something to complain about and a group of people they’re free to take their frustrations out upon by treating them badly on the phone.
Persuasion, quick thinking, fast talking. The same skills you need to sell cars or appliances. Maybe you don’t think those are “real” sales jobs either?
Telemarketing is more than reading off a script. At the place where I worked, you could easily tell who was a great telemarketer and who was shitty by looking at their statistics. There were guys who would get 10 rejections for every sale they made, and other guys who would only get 2.
It’s not luck - it’s about building rapport, projecting confidence, being familiar with what you’re selling and with customer responses and questions, and picking up on the customer’s state of mind.
Yeah, I do wonder why, given that so many people are able to say a simple “no” to me without being rude. I explained that earlier.
Typical anti-telemarketer – can’t read.
My number isn’t publicly available. Autodialers manage to get around that fact. AGAIN- why do we have to pay money for you to NOT do something to us? Wouldn’t it be easier and more polite for you to just not do it in the first place?
You have a computer, and it’s connected to the Internet. Does that mean that I have the legal right to upload a trojan to it, so it’ll do what I want? Of course not. That would be illegal. But according to your logic…
And hey… remember when Colorado was trying to reach people to tell them to evacuate, when the forest fires were threatening? A huge percentage of people couldn’t be reached- because the Reverse 911 system registered as “unavailable” over caller ID! In other words, the annoyance created by telemarketers actually threatened lives!
Can I assume that you believe that email spam is a valid and perfectly acceptable form of advertisement? After all, they do it to everyone, and everyone they send it to has a “publicly available” email address (even if, as in my case, they try hard as hell to make sure that only friends know that address). What was the latest estimate? Something like 30% of all email is spam, at this point- once again, costing us money.
Wow… I just couldn’t resist answering these suggestions.
So the public has to invest effort and time to prevent you from doing something to them. Nice.
And don’t worry about emergency phone calls, either.
Uh, no. When I was looking for work, I had to answer the phone EVERY TIME IT RANG, as a lot of the companies and recruiters I was hoping to hear from came across as “Out of Area”. Also, certain cell phones in my area come across as “Unavailable”. Also, I’ve noticed that lately many telemarketers are starting to allow their phone numbers to come across on Caller ID- they’ve figured out that people don’t answer “Out of Are” and “Unavailable” in an effort to not be called by telemarketers!
In other words, we have to legally enjoin you to not call us- and it costs us money, though, admittedly, not much. Still, though- why do we have to pay for it AT ALL? Shouldn’t telemarketing companies- the very companies we’re trying to avoid being called by- have to bear this cost?
Autodialers.
Most telemarketers, in my experience, don’t actually use the phone book anymore. They just dial numbers in sequence, to see who they can reach. Sooo… have an unlisted phone number, people you might legitimately want to talk to won’t be able to find you in the phone book (old schoolfriends, etc.), and telemarketers STILL get around it.
And until telemarketing is made illegal, telemarketing companies will do ANYTHING THEY CAN to get around whatever tactics the public uses to avoid being called. Of course, telemarketing lobbyists are doing all they can to prevent this from happening. This, in my opinion, is the very definition of a loathsome business.
Did you think this through before you typed it in? Uploading a destructive trojan and making a simple phone call aren’t in the same BALLPARK.