# Why do telemarketers lie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 11, 2011, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-telemarketers-lie/585154 "2011-06-11T21:46:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-telemarketers-lie/585154/1 "2011-06-11T21:46:13Z")
I’ve been getting more telemarketing calls lately, after a long hiatus of no calls. Not sure why that’s so. Anyway, when the caller asks for “Mr or Mrs. Baker”, mispronouncing my surname as they do so, I put on my best chilly voice and say, “This is Ms. Baker” Then the caller goes into their spiel. _“Hi, I’m Peggy from Sears/ATT/roofing company/insurance sellers/”_ etc, etc. and so forth. I break in to say “What are you selling?” _“We’re not selling anything, we want to offer you this wonderful…opportunity/deal/ package/”_ etc, etc. and so forth. At this point I hang up. I don’t scream at them, curse, or otherwise abuse them, but I refuse to waist my time listening. And I know damned well that whatever they are calling about will cost me money, **so that means they are selling something**. Why do they lie then, that they are not selling something? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-telemarketers-lie/585154/2 "2011-06-11T21:49:45Z")
They are following a script. When you train to be one, the trainers anticipate all the questions people will ask, such as “What are you selling.” Then they train you, the telemarketer how to overcome that question. Telemarketers do a LOT of training and when scripts don’t produce they are changed ASAP to produce results. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-telemarketers-lie/585154/3 "2011-06-11T22:14:48Z")
A friend of mine worked a telemarketing job. You keep them talking until they either buy or hang up on you. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-telemarketers-lie/585154/4 "2011-06-11T22:22:32Z")
Right, as **dalej42** says, a common scripting tactic seems to be to not say anything that might give the person called a chance to say “No thanks”. There’s an outfit ringing the business I work at every few days, apparently from a call center in India or Pakistan. They claim to be from a some sort of local weekly greensheet, and if I understand their thickly accented English properly, they are saying that we have been offered a free ad in the paper. Thing is, the company I work for doesn’t deal with the public, so such an ad would be useless, even if it was free, which I seriously doubt it is. I don’t get a chance to convey that message, however; I first get a lengthy spiel about the wonderful benefits of advertising in their paper, followed by a cheery “and who am I speaking with today?” At that point I usually just hang up. Same outfit called the other day and this time asked for “Daniel”. We’ve got three people here by that name, so I asked which Daniel they wanted to speak to. The poor shlub apparently couldn’t find this contingency in his script, so he just kept saying “Will you connect me to Daniel, please”, until I finally hung up. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-telemarketers-lie/585154/5 "2011-06-12T13:21:46Z")
What else they got? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-telemarketers-lie/585154/6 "2011-06-12T14:57:56Z")
[Lie right back at them.](http://www.killsometime.com/videos/2309/Telemarketer-Crime-Scene) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-telemarketers-lie/585154/7 "2011-06-12T17:54:19Z")
I do my Yoda impression on telemarketers. Amusing for all. ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-telemarketers-lie/585154/8 "2011-06-13T01:32:23Z")
A lot of telemarketers are transient workers as well. They’ll work a week here or a month there and move on quickly. They’ve got nothing to lose from lying, they just want to get as many sales as they can as quickly as they can, so they’ll tell you what they can to get you to sign up, then they’ll fuck off. After sales support is someone else’s problem and they don’t give two fucks about that part. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-telemarketers-lie/585154/9 "2011-06-13T04:57:22Z")
Because only an extremely small number of people will buy their shit if they tell the truth. But a larger percentage can be conned into buying the lie. Simple math. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-telemarketers-lie/585154/10 "2011-06-13T07:23:25Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > [Lie right back at them.](http://www.killsometime.com/videos/2309/Telemarketer-Crime-Scene) That was a thing of beauty. I’d never be able to pull off anything even close to that. I salute the perpetrator.