We all get the calls. I am not sure if our name is still on the "Do not call" registry or not? I think you have to update every so often? Anyway, over my real estate career I have painfully cold called for business. I refer back to the old Floyd Wickman Sweathog Days and that was the premise to the program, cold calling.
I did the calling but it was always so painful for me to do. So painful that I hired someone to do the calling for me. That actually worked very well and I have a great story to tell, but will tell that on another post. It works, there is no questions, so many calls will yield so many sales. It works, big corporations pay big bucks for cold calling. Cold calling is just not for me.
When I get a call at my house, office or on my cell phone - nervy- I try to be respectful to the person on the other end of my telephone. I figure they feel about like I did and and all the rejection they endure, they deserve some courtesy. When I tell them I am not interested, I think they should say thank you and that should be that. If they don't get it and keep talking, I at least say okay, I am going to hang up now, thank you. I try to be polite, like my mother taught me. They are just "doing their job". Until today.
I got a call from a young man at a company that wants to place on the first page of all the search engines. When he called, he was very nice and upbeat at first. I was busy with two contracts on my desk and listened to the young man and then asked if they would come up as sponsored or would they be organic links. We talked about blogging and I was told that didn't really work for SEO ranking and so went the conversation.
Finally, after he told me about his company and the program, I asked him to net it out for me and how much did it cost? He said it depended on the words and what I would want would be in the $1000.00 range a year. I just said no thanks, I am not spending a thousand dollars . . . and he just hung the phone up on me? A similar situation has happened at home too? What gives? If you call me, and ask me for my money to help you, then just be polite and and say okay, or thank you for your time - or something of that nature - not hang up on me. Pet peeve I guess?
All hanging up on me did, was get me fired up. I am busy, I listened to what you were selling, didn't think it was for me, said no thank you and you hung up on me? I just emailed his company and said I didn't really understand that kind of selling and customer relations, but I am old school. Again, I always feel for the person calling, I have been on the other side of the phone.
I emailed the company and said that I thought it was rude and not smart marketing to have their sales force hanging up on the people they are trying to sell to. The manager emailed me right back. Seven minutes as a matter of fact.
It got me thinking though. In this super small Social networking world we live in, how much damage control the manager did by emailing me in seven minutes flat? He was very nice, apologized and did the good management things all good managers do. But what if I went on Twitter, AR, or FB and said something. Not the company name specifically, but about the industry in general. It could spread like wild fire. Maybe not me per se on Twitter, but one of the heavily followed people say something not so positive, then someone picks up on it and there you go, right out of a lot of potential business. The folks I follow now are good about pointing out good things to see and check out, but it just smacks right between the eyes about how small this world really is these days.
Lessons to be learned, if you are going to call and ask for business, mind your manners. The other thing is we live in an exceptionally small world here in our computers always strive to do the right thing.
Yep,,,it reaches a breaking point
It's happened to me so many times. I have people telling me they want to help me with my pay per click. I've been teaching pay per click marketing for years. When I tell them that I am an expert in pay per click and spend up to $10k per month on it, they get testy with me telling me they can do it better. Then when I say the call is over, they make some snide remark and hang up on me. It's amazing. I have been tempted to write blogs about those companies also and might just do that. Thanks for the post...I think we have all dealt with this at one time or another!
It's happened to me so many times. I have people telling me they want to help me with my pay per click. I've been teaching pay per click marketing for years. When I tell them that I am an expert in pay per click and spend up to $10k per month on it, they get testy with me telling me they can do it better. Then when I say the call is over, they make some snide remark and hang up on me. It's amazing. I have been tempted to write blogs about those companies also and might just do that. Thanks for the post...I think we have all dealt with this at one time or another!
This was very interesting to read. At least the telemarketing company understood the importance of responding quickly to an electronic (e-mail) inquiry. The manager's action forstalled a much more serious result of his salespersons error.
Good for you telling his boss...and he did email you back...
Audrey,
I agree with you 100%. Sounds familiar, just had the same issue with another company. I do not think they have any clue how fast the bad news can spread on the computer. These companies need to train their sales people on how to handle themselves professionally on the phone.
Audrey, so true in our social networking world this type of lack of professionalism, like you said can spread like wildfire.
Interesting Audrey. I haven't had them hang up on me. I feel I am like you and if they don't hear me, I have to hang up on them. I think they are trained to talk over you to get their point across. BUT, you are so very RIGHT girl! If you mention it here (like you did ;0) we will take notice, you have a voice & should be heard! The same for fb or twitter....that's just completely rude. KM
Michael, Sometimes my pain threshold is not so good ;0)
Mitch, Sounds so similar to my story. They just want to argue with you all the time? What are they thinking? I even try to be extra nice to them?
Lola, I thanked the manager, he was very nice and I appreciated his fast response.
Pat, Usually I just let stuff go, but today I didn't. His boss was very nice.
Sharon, you are right. I get the calls all the time, but please don't hang up on us!!
Patty, It is amazing how quickly we all communicate with each other in these social networks?
Audrey, No matter how often I sign that do not call list, they ignore it. I'm glad you reported his rudeness but you're right, had you taken it further it would have caused real damage. People should learn respect which apparently this person was lacking.
Hey Kristin, Maybe he figured he wasn't getting anywhere with me, he should move on to some else quicker? LOL!!
Carole, Dont you think that people just don't have any manners anymore? Just say okay, thank you. THEN hang up. Maybe that just bugs me?
How unbelievably rude!! My mother in the UK had a guy actually threaten her, when she said she was not interested he said he knew where she lived and he was going to "get her". This really upset my dear old Mum. There was no recourse unfortunatly, the number was "unavailable". Now that is "Hard" selling.
If I don't answer they now leave me voicemails...geez.
I do have to credit the management for such a rapid response, but the young fellow that called you obviously needs to learn a thing or two... I always try to be polite when folks like that call me, unless they don't grasp the concept of no... then I get cranky... and they usually get an ear full of air horn. :)
Audrey - Cold calling is tough in of itself. You are almost assured going in that the party on the other end probably won't be chipper about hearing your voice. This young man needs to learn to kill them with kindness, though I think the management did well by such a quick response to your email.
Hi Audrey,
Sounds like he was having a bad day...I would hate that job! LOL! We get sooo many calls like this I give you credit for taking the time to listen to his pitch. At least management responded quickly! :)
Audrey, no question. Bad news travel fast. That's always been true, and even more true today. Lots to be learned from that call.
Alison, I have those people call me at my house, there was one kid who practically harrassed us with a private number. He finally went away. Guess it is such a bad job, that is their way of passing the time, lets mess with the masses?
Sally, I guess we are all hungry for business.
Jesse, you have an air horn? Cool. LOL The management was very nice.
Jason, I hear you, I have walked in his shoes so I always try to be polite, but I think the hanging up thing just struck a nerve. Kudos to the management.
Suzanne, I could never do that job, that is why a long time ago I hired some one to do it for me. I think the ones that are reading the script and say your names ten times are amusing too.
Audrey - I love this post! I'm like you and try and be polite, even when I'm not interested... I'm intrigued by the immediate response by someone in their company, obviously they "get it" and need to pass the information on to their sales force. You make a great point about social networking sites, just look at what happened with the Motrin Moms Ad over the weekend, people went ballistic on twitter.
Audrey
Great Post I couldn't agree more with the attitude your calling me and going to be rude...no way...
also agree the internet is a powerful tool to travel good or bad news. Looking forward to reading more of your posts.
Jeff, Thanks for stopping by.
Debbie,I think you and I twins separated at birth. We think a lot alike. I missed the Motrin Moms thing on Twitter? But that is the lightening speed of the internet, kinda scary.
Tim,the internet and info traveling at the speed of sound is very intimidating.
Audrey - it is an important reminder for all of us to provide good service and not be rude to the people we come across. If so, they might write us up on the social media !!! This is a good story.
Nothing like giving your company a bad reputation acting like that. Too much opportunity in the world to act the way he did. He lives a life of scarcity and not abundance.
Audrey... That was a masterful post and very true! The nerve of people! Congrats on the Feature!
Audrey- That's a new angle for Telemarketers: Hanging up on their prospectives! Wow! He could have saved everyone grief by just not calling in the first place:-) I think it's great that you sent an email to the company to let them know what happened and to give them a shot at "correcting" the problem. Kudos to the manager for keeping his email polite and sending it in a timely fashion. The manager could have certainly gone the other way and then this story would have had a whole new direction!
Audrey...
Excellent point! I try to be courteous too. As a salesperson myself, I am sympathetic to the other person's feeling. But like you, I expect the same in return. Congrats on the feature. Good job!
We've all been there! It is irritating at best and down right infuriating at worst - good for you for actually emailing the company, and at least they had the decency to get back to you immediately.
Maybe not me per se on Twitter?
Every Twit on twitter is a individually indexed page on google.
So don't under estimate the power of twitter.
Christopher and Stephanie, So true, I never really thought about it until then?
Tony, you are right, what people do instantly attach to the company?
Hi Melissa, thanks - glad you stopped by!!
Matt, you know you are so right. I would never name someone out right, but I think we get the drift.
Richard, Don't ya just think common human courtesy has sort of gone by the way side?
Christine, you know the manager getting back to me so quickly just made everything right. He is a smart guy, good for him.
Jeff, I guess I don't think that I have that big of a following on Twitter and might not make a difference, but maybe I , and all twits, should rethink that?
You probably get the same calls I get all week..at least 3 a week and one guy got really nasty with me....so I told him I AM THE WHOLE FIRST PAGE!
Neal, Probably the truth, but I almost spit my coffee across the computer laughing. That is funny. They don't like it when you say I am already there. LOL!
I would have written to the company too. One thing that always stays in the back of my mind...if the person I am on the other line with has a memory like I do, then I better be really really nice. If I had been hung up on by a company trying to sell me some service...I would probably never use their service...that is something that will stick in my mind since it was so frustrating.
Gosh I can soooo relate to your tale.
I, too, always try to be polite as possible, but sometimes it just does not work.
I had someone call me about 6 months ago from one of those companies that wants to sell you leads. I told him I was busy at that moment, but would like to hear what he had to say AT ANOTHER TIME.
He harrassed me mercilessly with messages and phone calls, always at inopportune times, sometimes 10x a day. I tried to be as nice as pie, but when he left me a nasty voicemail saying they would never hire a realtor who didn't return phone calls promptly, I notified his company to tell them that I would never pay for leads from their company if they continued to hire phone solicitors like that young man.
I do two hours of cold calling a day and I rather enjoy. I guess I don't get the nasty people and I would certainly never be nasty to someone for not wanting to talk to me.
Nice article Audrey.
Too many times I start reading a featured ActiveRain article only to find the article was featured due to "who ya know" ActiveRain politics. I read every bit of this one and enjoyed it. My husband and I pretty much have the seo thing down, but have neglected the social networking side of things. Your cold caller was dead wrong about the "blogging doesn't help seo" point. We rank for the main keyphrases in our area, but 92.6% of our traffic comes from longtail searches (per, hittail.com). Our longtail searches are coming from blog entries, at least for the most part.
Great points. :)
Can't stand it when they are rude. I usually say to telemarketers, 'no thank you, good bye.' When they are that rude, I have no problem clicking on donotcall.gov & filing a complaint. To begin with they shouldn't be calling me as it is.
Hi Audrey~ In this day and the computer age, the bad gets around even faster! Don't 'cha just love the ones that won't take NO for an answer? I try to be nice too, because I KNOW being in sales isn't the easiest job in the world....
Audrey, those lessons that our Mom taught us "if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all" do come back to play in this age; but in the written word also. The written word flies around the Internet!!
Audrey, I think that people typically forget the things that got them to the "show". Once they have been successful, they decide that these things are beneath them.
Audrey-What a jerk! He won't have that job long, it sounds like. Kudos for his company in responding so quickly. That is pretty impressive!
Audrey-your situation sounds very similar to mine. Before I've gotten into sales, I used to get pissed off when telemarketers called my house, especially on early weekend mornings, stirring me up out of my sleep. When I would ask them to take me off the list and that I wasn't interested, some either got snubby or hung up the phone. Today I am on the other end of that stick. I cold call, but not to often and I have come accross people who have gotten rude with me, however I always stay polite taking into consideration, well maybe they are just having a bad day. If they tell me that they are on "do not call list", I apologize and thank them for their time. I also direct them to a sight www.stoptriggers.com that can guide consumers on how to stop telemarketing calls. And instead of them getting mad at me, since they are already on "do not call list", they simply thank me. Using that approach, it gives me the upper hand to prevent damage to my reputation as well as my company.
What is so annoying about these types of calls is that many are auto generated calls. Not even a live person. Lately it's been nearly daily calls from the Auto Warranty industry. And yes, I'm on the "do-not call" list.
Tiffany, I had his info down because we talked about the name for a few minutes. The manager did a good job, maybe the telemarketer just didn't want to listen to me anymore and move on to the next person, but still, just mind your manners, that's all.
Dee, That is so ludicrous, you just want to tell them to get a life. Sheesh.
Charles, my hat is off to you. Cold calling is tough I hope you get lots of business from it.
Colleen, thank you for your compliment. Wow, I am so impressed by your SEO knowledge. Look, I just learned something new. Thanks.
Marc, I didn't know you could file a complaint? Just learned something else ;)
Vickie, I swear I try to be nice because calling people on the phone is the worst and being in sales I can relate, but just be polite.
Marchel, you are so right and it just made me think, what if I was someone that would rant? I wont but there are those that do. Also, we all have to be careful because it could really be a problem for anyone of us.
Danny, Well said. I think you are right.
Elizabeth, Seven minutes!! Bet it is a record. LOL!!
Radmila, You are perfect. You take the high road and you know what, that takes all the wind out of anyone's sails to be upset. Good for you, you are a true professional
Myrl, You are right, you know when you can hear the "white noise" then someone comes on, I just hang up before they get to me. If I don't recognize a phone number at home, I just don't answer the phone anymore.
Agree, there are these random calls they make -- and we have been treated badly as well.
Hi Audrey,
I must admit you are more patient and polite than I am. I say "no thank you immediately and hang up--I do not give them a chance to get into their "spill". What really burns me is when they call right back! I'm sorry I really was raised to be polite and treat people respectfully but I've found that most of these callers do not understand "no".
I've been getting a lot of these calls and they have been getting my contact information from my AR site.
Audrey,
Thanks you for the compliment. When people get mad for calling their home, all you simply have to do is apologize and you can direct them to this site www.stoptriggers.com I had people who actually went from being upset to being thankful for helping them to stop further telemarketing calls. You are absolutely right, it does take all the wind out of anyone sails, when you do that. Once again, thank you for the compliment.
Sincerely,
Radmila
Audrey,
I enjoyed reading your story. I agree that cold callers should be polite even when we say, "no thanks." I had a guy call me at work one day trying to sell supplies for the canon copier we're leasing. I told him we already had a company we purchased our supplies from and so we wouldn't need his service. He was really rude, mumbled something profane and then slammed the phone down on me. After this incident, I finally started to see why more companies include that popular line at the beginning of customer service calls, which is: "this call is being monitored for quality control purposes."
Cynthia, I hear you, I won't ever call you LOL!! I guess I just have soft spot for the ones trying, but the rude ones . . . no way.
Bob and Caroline, I think they we all have.
Todd, I have had people sellin tell me they find me here. I guess it is kind of a cative audience if you will?
Radmila, I am going to bookmark that site so I can pass it out to the folks too. Thanks again.
Tracy, You know, I always thought that was to record the consumer more than the employee, I think you have a point.
the only way to handle phone solicitors is to say no thank you and hang up.