jeffd@ficc.uu.net (jeff daiell) (01/18/89)
I'm curious as to why there is such hostility to telephone
solicitors. Is their attempt to make a living not
analogous to someone applying for work at a company
that has not advertised for help?
I get called frequently, and sometimes the product is
something I want. Usually not, whereupon I politely
say so. Now, if the person persists, I get hostile,
but otherwise we part on cordial terms.
Besides, you might make a friend that way. I'm seeing a
woman now who does phone work for a rug-cleaning firm.
With computer solicitation, if you don't care to buy, just
say so, or hang up.
Keep in mind that there are people who, even in good times --
which these are not -- can make a living no other way. This
certainly doesn't oblige you to buy, but I would hope it would
pursuade you to be polite.
Jeff Daiell
(opinions my own, until taxed away)
INDEPENDENCE FOR TEXAS!
--
"You should see me when I'm rested."
-- from "Brigadoon"thomson@hub.toronto.edu (Brian Thomson) (01/18/89)
In article <2780@ficc.uu.net> jeffd@ficc.uu.net (jeff daiell) writes: > >Keep in mind that there are people who, even in good times -- >which these are not -- can make a living no other way. I have always felt that if someone is annoying you, it really doesn't really matter whether they are paid to annoy you or are just naturally pesky. "I'm just doing my job" is a lousy excuse. -- Brian Thomson, CSRI Univ. of Toronto utcsri!uthub!thomson, thomson@hub.toronto.edu
duncan@geppetto.ctt.bellcore.com (Scott Duncan) (01/19/89)
In article <2780@ficc.uu.net> jeffd@ficc.uu.net (jeff daiell) writes: > >I'm curious as to why there is such hostility to telephone solicitors. [...] >With computer solicitation, if you don't care to buy, just >say so, or hang up. > [...] >pursuade you to be polite. Well, I have two problems with such solicitations: 1) The one's by machine where they expect you to cooperate with their effort to sell you something but give you little or no chance to engage in any discussion, i.e., THEY are saving money by doing it via a message machine but YOU are expected to spend your time listening; 1) The one's done by people who do not allow you to say NO thanks before they finish their prepared message or argue with you a bit about saying so. I dislike being put in a position where I must be impolite by hanging up on a real person. Speaking only for myself, of course, I am... Scott P. Duncan (duncan@ctt.bellcore.com OR ...!bellcore!ctt!duncan) (Bellcore, 444 Hoes Lane RRC 1H-210, Piscataway, NJ 08854) (201-699-3910 (w) 201-463-3683 (h))
wwg@brambo.UUCP (Warren W. Gay) (01/24/89)
In article <2780@ficc.uu.net> jeffd@ficc.uu.net (jeff daiell) writes: > >I'm curious as to why there is such hostility to telephone >solicitors. Is their attempt to make a living not >analogous to someone applying for work at a company >that has not advertised for help? >... >Jeff Daiell Isn't this obvious? If you've ever been doing anything other than waiting for the phone to ring, then its SIMPLY A *&^*&^*&^ NUISANCE! When I'm at home, I want to be able to relax if I choose to. There's enuf interruptions (though welcomed) from family and friends. Its especially annoying when I'm on the throne, and have to finish my business quickly because I'm expecting an important call, JUST TO BE PUT ON HOLD BY A MACHINE! Or worse yet, be called by the newspaper company that I already subscribe to, just to be asked IF I WANNA SUBSCRIBE! GRRRRRR! Its also annoying to be interrupted in the middle of a QSO (amateur radio "conversation", often in Morse Code), only to find out that it was one of these nuisance calls. Here's another flaming reason! You get stuck babysitting your kids, and you get halfway thru changing a messy diaper just to be asked if you WANNA SIGN UP FOR A FUNERAL PLOT! SNARL, BITE, GRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you're not supporting this crazy nuisance! Our next phone number we get will be unlisted, and that will immediately identify the random/ sequential callers! At the moment we have a fictitious name in the phone book, so now I can immediately respond with "What are you selling?". If they don't tell me in 2 sentences or less, I hang up- BANG!!!!!!!!! Its bad enuf that everyone that is too lazy to work at a real job, comes to the door for hand outs! GRRR!!!!!! I hope I've said enuf! 73s de VE3WWG (Warren)..............LSI represents Large Scale Investment, .................transistors are "discrete", but tubes are just plain fun. ................Bramalea Software Systems Inc...!utgpu!telly \ !brambo!wwg ...................!{uunet!mnetor, watmath!utai}!lsuc!ncrcan /
tbetz@spies.UUCP (Tom Betz) (01/27/89)
Quoth jeffd@ficc.uu.net (jeff daiell) in <2780@ficc.uu.net>: | |I'm curious as to why there is such hostility to telephone |solicitors. Is their attempt to make a living not |analogous to someone applying for work at a company |that has not advertised for help? It doesn't bother me if someone solicits my business via telephone. However, I rarely have the time nor the inclination to listen to a (usually scripted) telephone sales pitch. At the first opportunity, as politely as possible, I say, "I'm afraid I don't have time to listen to a sales pitch right now. However, if you will mail me a brochure or catalog of your products, I'll be happy to review it and call you back when I do have the time." So far, I have not a) had one of those phone calls last more than 15 seconds longer, or b) had a single brochure, or even letter, sent to me from one of those solicitors. If a salesperson is not sufficiently interested to follow up on the opening I offer, why should I expect that salesperson to be offering me either worthwhile products or worthwhile service? |I get called frequently, and sometimes the product is |something I want. Usually not, whereupon I politely |say so. Now, if the person persists, I get hostile, |but otherwise we part on cordial terms. I prefer to make my position firm at the beginning of the conversation. If the solicitor will not accept my terms, then both of us benefit, and neither of us wastes our time. |Besides, you might make a friend that way. I'm seeing a |woman now who does phone work for a rug-cleaning firm. Well, you are fortunate to have time to spare for such purposes in the midst of your business day. Some of us do not. -- "One of these days the Hoover factory | Tom Betz EAA#48267 is gonna be all the rage in those | ZCNY, Yonkers, NY 10701-2509 fashionable pictures." - Elvis |------------------------------ UUCP:tbetz@spies or ...philabs!spies!tbetz | "Empty, try another." - Joni
rjg@sialis.mn.org (Robert J. Granvin) (01/29/89)
>However, I rarely have the time nor the inclination to listen to a >(usually scripted) telephone sales pitch. At the first opportunity, >as politely as possible, I say, "I'm afraid I don't have time to listen >to a sales pitch right now. However, if you will mail me a brochure or >catalog of your products, I'll be happy to review it and call you back >when I do have the time." It's nice to see someone take a civil and polite resolution to the situation for a change. >So far, I have not a) had one of those phone calls last more than 15 >seconds longer, or b) had a single brochure, or even letter, sent to >me from one of those solicitors. > >If a salesperson is not sufficiently interested to follow up on the >opening I offer, why should I expect that salesperson to be offering >me either worthwhile products or worthwhile service? Unfortunately, here's basically the root of the problem... Nearly every company that does telephone soliciting does not, and does not want to maintain, an inhouse telemarketing force. This type of staff is generally expensive, and is better handled by professional marketing firms. You have labor costs (telemarketers may not be exceptionally highly paid, but you have a lot of them), space costs (they have to reside somewhere), and nearly all such systems require a computer based telemarketing package to make the system work efficiently. So, throw in a computer system, a slew of terminals, and everything else associated with that. The drawback here, of course, is that the telemarketer may or may not be familiar with the product. It depends on how well the marketing firm trains it's staff, and how well the contracting company supplies adequate information. In addition, most companies make a decision to either market their product by phone, or market their product by mail. They usually do not choose both. Therefore, brochures may not exist. (On the other hand, if they did, you'd probably still receive one (the mailing list would more than likely be identical), and would then be considered "junk mail"). The telemarketing staff also probably does not operate on commission, but on an hourly wage. Whether they make a sale or not may not be of concern to them. Unfortunately, some companies will offset a low pressure sales pitch with high volume calling. :-( There are many different types of telemarketing firms in existance too. The ones you remember are usually the bad ones. Some small "Mobile Carpet Cleaning Sheisters" employ more telemarketers than carpet cleaners, and they're instructed to be high-pressure. These types stick out in your mind for a long time (up to eternity) even if you only get one call like it. Other larger companies may employ an inhouse telemarketing staff, or hire an external one, but base their wage on commissions. They can be just as bad as the above. The worst and most offensive calls I have ever gotten were from USA Today. A newspaper (if you can call it that... People magazine in a daily form) doesn't need to verbally offend a possible customer when that persons is showing signs of not be currently interested. Of course, they also shouldn't be spending excesses of time on a long distance call to that person either. :-) Interestingly enough, USA Today never responded to my letter of complaint. Oh well. Anyways, a large majority of companies are much more responsible. If you get called by them, it's because your demographic information matches their requirements. This means that there is a fair chance that you may at least be mildly interested in the product. Most of these firms do not employ a high pressure sales tactic. They don't need to. Since they're not just hitting "gobs o' people" in an area, they're hitting various "reasonable people" in that area. So instead of using the saturation bombing approach, they work on a surgical strike method. What's _really_ unfortunate (or fortunate, depending on how you look at it), is that you will get very few calls from these types of firms. However, you'll always be innundated by the saturation folx. When you get 10 calls, and 8 of them are high pressure or offensive in some way, or you're just plainly not interested, it's apparent what your opinions will be of the whole service. Also, if everyone used a logical approach to selecting who to call, the volume of actual sales calls you receive may go down dramatically and the interest level may go up. Too bad a lot of firms don't do this. The last general type of firm is a very specific type of marketing firm. If someone is selling a new product, they will only call the identified purchasing representative of that firm and explain the product. Similarly, these types of firms also may be in the "fulfillment" business. If they call you it's usually because you have responded to a mailing or some other method and indicated an interest. In any case, these firms almost always are hired to also mail a sample of the product to any interested company or person. (These are the kind of telemarketing firms that is difficult to get angry with. After all, you told _them_ that you were interested). >I prefer to make my position firm at the beginning of the >conversation. If the solicitor will not accept my terms, then >both of us benefit, and neither of us wastes our time. With the majority of friendly, reasonable telemarketing firms, or at least the telemarketer, this is more than reasonable. They don't want to interrupt you at home and then convince you buy something that you don't want, but they do want to do their job. By making your position clear with most people, you not only don't waste your time, they don't end up wasting their time. Phone Solicitor bashing is a popular sport around here. It keeps coming back. But your best method for sending a signal to the people causing the calls to be made is to mail a letter explaining why you are offended to the company of the product being sold. However, as with everything else, don't lump the friendly courteous and responsible firms into your bashing. These are the ones that are actually trying to provide you with a useful product, not just line their pockets in green. -- Robert J. Granvin "A cowboy should know his horse, but it National Information Services seemed to the podners at the Triple Q rjg@sialis.mn.org Ranch that Vernon McChew had gotten TOO {amdahl,hpda}!bungia!sialis!rjg close."
jf@cci632.UUCP (Jens Fiederer) (01/31/89)
Does anybody make a device that intercepts the ringing of your phone, picks up the phone, allows the caller to enter (touch tone or pulse) an n-digit security code, and only physically rings the bell if the right code is entered? It seems to me that would be a better way of handling the telephone solicitation problem than just complaining about it. If you DO want unsolicited calls, the option for those who don't pass the security check might be to leave a BRIEF message that you can thereafter review in batch mode..... Jens