I am convinced that all telemarketing companies hire the same girl. You know the one… super nasally voice and an odd way of NOT inflecting her speech. I can’t understand a word she says. I mean… really… can we try adding some inflection to the words? A few ups and downs in tone and a breath now and then. I know she is reading from a script, but that doesn’t mean she needs to be lifeless.
So, as bad as she is… does she actually sell stuff? I’m assuming she must, or the company would push her out the door. And how did she actually get hired in the first place? She had to audition for the job… right? Perhaps the hiring manager was afflicted with the same lack of verbal ability and thought she sounded great. Maybe the manager attributed her garbled speech to an overload of wax in his ears, rather then marbles in her mouth.
And really, it isn’t just all telemarketers. Lots of retail stores hire BAD choices. Ones who roll their eyes at the customer, or never smile, or completely ignore customers.
And don’t even get me started on those guys from India providing tech support. If I can’t understand what you are saying, then there is no way you can help me fix my computer. It just isn’t going to happen.
I thought, briefly, that perhaps there weren’t many applicants to choose from for the job. Then I realized that we are in a down-economy right now. People are BEGGING for jobs. Good people too! You know.. all those people you would love to hire but already have great jobs. Yeah.. them. They are lined up looking for nearly anything that will put food on their table.
Now is the time for all the hiring managers to expel the chaff from their ranks and re-fill those positions with people who can speak clearly and intelligently and can do their job properly the first time.
UGH! (can you tell I’ve been deluged with telemarketing calls lately?) OK.. enough rant.
Now on to a legitimate question… when the telemarketers call you, how do you answer? Do you just hang up, or do you get creative? Are you rude or polite? Do you listen to what they have to say or get off the phone quick when you realize they are selling?
Me? Ok, I’m actually quite polite but I never listen to what they are selling. As soon as I realize that they are telemarketers, I just say “Thank you but I’m not interested”, and hang up. I’m polite, not cursing at them, but also not letting them eat into my busy day.
How about you? Your best tactic? Your funniest prank on a telemarketer? Please share.
[tags]telemarketers who can’t speak, tech support in India[/tags]
[dels]telemarketers who can’t speak, tech support in India [/dels]
March 15th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
My husband’s ‘trick’ is to let them speak for a full three or four minutes (you know how they do it without giving you a chance initially to speak)
and then say ‘no thank you’ and hang up after they’ve wasted their time.
The other day one called and he was silent for about a minute, while she spoke, and then apparently she said ‘I can’t pronounce this name…I don’t know how.’ She spelled out his name (which is long but she didn’t even try, not even a half hearted effort and she was rude about it like it was his fault he had a name she hadn’t heard before.)
My husband said politely, after a minute or two,
“if you can’t pronounce the name, you can’t speak to that person.”
She was quite taken aback, and then she hung up. She might make an effort next time.
Otherwise, I don’t know any way to deal with them except have fun at their expense.
This was a good post, I enjoyed reading it.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Oh I hear ya! We have been getting calls from every police/firefighter organization in the country. We give every year to our local organization. This year, after the state organization called, we gave to them as well. But then, we got calls from other cities, counties, then other states . . . enough was enough. I told the last caller I was tapped out and that my charity was not taking food out of my little one’s mouth. Thankfully I was holding a fussy baby at the time–hopefully he believed me!
March 18th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Thanks for the comments.
@Elementary: I give your husband points for wasting their time. I just can’t be bothered to take up MY time while wasting theirs. LOL And I love that he told the one that she couldn’t talk to him if she couldn’t pronounce the name. That is HYSTERICAL! Sounds like your hubby has a real sense of humor.
@LaskiGal: I can’t stand being badgered for charity donations over the phone. I’ve gotten to the point where I just tell them that I don’t donate by phone. And I don’t. I have a few charities that I donate to, but I will go to them. I don’t want them coming to me. The state trooper organization is the worst for calling me too. And I have never ever donated to them. Don’t know why they think their 14th call will net a different result than their 1st call.
March 21st, 2008 at 12:37 pm
…when exactly do you realize that they are telemarketers? I work at a call center updating information for insurance companies and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people hear the tone of my voice, yell “I’M NOT INTERESTED,” and hang up. I used to think messing with telemarketers was funny, but I’ve worked at this place for almost a year and I’ll never think it’s funny again. I hate when people complain about us calling late…there are worse things than getting a telephone call at seven at night…plus, it reminds me that these douchebags are at home relaxing while I’m working until eight-thirty trying to convince said douchebags that I am not trying to steal their identity. Sure, sometimes the aggressiveness gets out of hand, but it’s most companies’ policies to let the customer go once they state that they are too busy, not interested, etc. One of our biggest problems is people hanging up before we can explain we aren’t selling anything; it doesn’t take them off our calling list because we have to explain who we are before we can take them off, and that just results in their insurance company sending them a letter telling them they HAVE to call us. People whine about it taking too long (most reports take under five minutes), but any person at my work can fill one out in that amount of time if the people weren’t spending half the time bitching at us. That’s THE WORST, when the convo goes:
WORKER: Okay, (whatever question).
PERSON: I don’t know that…this is such an inconvenience…blah blah blah blah.
WORKER: If you’d like I can call back later.
PERSON: (exaggerated sigh) NOO….Let’s just get it over with…
If you’re going to bitch the whole time, turn the interview down. It’ll just waste everyone’s time and put us both in a bad mood. Sure, it’s annoying to be interrupted for two seconds, but you can’t really complain unless you’ve worked a job like that. Do you know how much it sucks to be on the phone with crabby people all day? Telemarketers are annoying, but their jobs and their pay depend on how much they sell, or in my case, how many reports I finish. THEY ARE FUCKING PEOPLE TOO.
March 28th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Kelly,
We seem to have struck a chord with you. I’m sorry if the things we said upset you… and I do understand your point. The job of a telemarketer is completely hellish. I couldn’t imagine having to do that.
For the record, I will say that I am never rude to the people who call. I have been put on do-not-call lists, and continue to nicely tell them I’m not interested. I do hang up very quickly, as they have been trained to try and overcome my objections that I’m not interested. Their training directly causes the way they are treated. If I tell you I’m not interested, then I expect you to tell me to have a nice day and disconnect the line. Don’t go for the hard sell. I’m not interested.
Your situation is a bit different, but just as difficult. My only suggestion is to try and find a way not to sound like a telemarketer. I can’t, for even a moment, understand how awful it must be to deal with that day in and day out. I would go insane. I hope you at least get a few nice people to cheer you up.
Now - back to my main point for the post… if your (not you Kelly… the general “your”) job is to speak on the phone and try to sell things, you owe it to yourself, your boss, and the people you are calling to speak well and make sure everyone can understand you.