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Rude to Telemarketers - The Poll :)

Are you rude to Telemarketers and Why?

  • I am never rude to anyone

    Votes: 14 21.5%

  • I am only rude to callers who ignore we are on TPS

    Votes: 11 16.9%

  • I am rude to callers even though we are not on TPS

    Votes: 4 6.2%

  • We are not on TPS and only rude to unprofessional callers

    Votes: 17 26.2%

  • I am only rude where callers keep calling and we are on TPS

    Votes: 8 12.3%

  • Other

    Votes: 11 16.9%
  • Total voters
    65
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I think it's difficult to give a blanket answer.

I had a call last week from a lovely lady who was chatting about what she had to offer, and had a sensible conversation, and when I explained why I wasn't interested she accepted it. At the end of the conversation she thanked me for my time and said that a lot of people are rude to her. I told her that we are on CTPS, but because of her nature I gave her some of my time (she actually didn't know what the TPS system was).

I also had a call where you answer, and there's a couple of seconds delay, and then some over enthusiastic person comes on with 'Hi, how are you today?' straight from the latest version of the script. I'd decided then I wasn't interested, and whilst I wasn't rude, I didn't enguage.

And the third call last week (CTPS doesn't seem to be as good as it used to) was from a chap ringing up asking to speak to Mr Hemmings. We get loads of that so he must be the guy who previously owned the number. I explained that we didn't have a Mr Hemmings here. He then ignored that and started his script. I again told him I wasn't Mr Hemmings. He said, oh that doesn't matter, and carried on. Now he was fair game to be rude to, so got a rude response.
 
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I am VERY rude to telemarketers who call my number asking to speak to the previous owner of this number, who was residential (we're business) and who hasn't had ownership of this number for 3 years.
 
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I suppose it is subjective as to what people perceive as rude.

I don't consider myself rude at all, unsolicited calls get 3 words, thank you goodbye, then the phone goes down. By doing this it helps them out, seriously, they can then move on to the next person, because I'm not interested.
 
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If it's an english person who has a pleasant conversation with me then I won't be rude. I believe that if a telemarketer is very good, a person will never have a reason to be rude.

However if it's a foreign person who's been hired from overseas purely to drivel off some script with an almost incomprehensible accent then I have to admit I'm usually very rude for my own amusement.

For example, If they ask if they can ring me back I ask if they can at 3am, then when they say no I ask why not. Sometimes I just put the phone down off the hook and go back to whatever I was doing, sometimes I even make loud and unusual noises down the phone when they're in mid conversation.

:redface:

Basically if a business puts in the effort, time and money to hire a top-quality telemarketer who I can chat with then I'll be happy to hear what they have to say. If they don't then I'll use them for my own amusement :D
 
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Just a word of caution: On one occasion, I received what I thought was a telemarketing call. After a minute or so of chatting, it turned out it was a friend of a friend calling about something very important. It's important not to jump to conclusions or we could be chasing away something very important.
 
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At home, telemarketers are hung up on without comment - we are on TPS. I don't consider this rude; rude is ignoring my request not to be called and then calling me - usually at dinner time.

The only exceptions are the autodialled and voice response systems telling me I've won a cruise in the USA. Those I now keep on line for as long as possible by not returning the handset so that their bill is as large as I can get it.

On a slow day I might even press to talk to someone and then put them on hold, this increases ther bill and hurts their targets - I am hoping that these 'modern marketing companies' will get the point and take me off their list. Fat chance.

For business, I won't take any calls from telesales at all, although the really accomplished liars will pretend not to be telesales and occasionally get through the gatekeepers. They get 166.

That is rude but they are so thick skinned and convinced that they are doing the world a great favour that they rarely notice. It's fun when they do though.
 
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Scott-SCD said:
However if it's a foreign person who's been hired from overseas purely to drivel off some script with an almost incomprehensible accent then I have to admit I'm usually very rude for my own amusement.

For example, If they ask if they can ring me back I ask if they can at 3am, then when they say no I ask why not. Sometimes I just put the phone down off the hook and go back to whatever I was doing, sometimes I even make loud and unusual noises down the phone when they're in mid conversation.

:redface:

Basically if a business puts in the effort, time and money to hire a top-quality telemarketer who I can chat with then I'll be happy to hear what they have to say. If they don't then I'll use them for my own amusement :D
Click to expand...


Never done the loud and unusual noises, thanks for the tip;)
 
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The ones that pee me off the most are those that briskly ask to speak to the owner of the business!

Conversation goes a little like this normally:

ME: Do you know the persons name?
SALES: I don't know their name. I need to speak to the business owner
ME: Regarding what?
SALES: It'sa confidential call for the owner of the business
ME: So they are expecting your call?
SALES: No
ME: So how is you telling me what your selling a confidential matter?
SALES: Because you're not the owner of the business and this is a business call.
ME: I am the owner if the business - what do you want?
SALES: I need to speak to you about your gas supply
ME: Are we a current customer of yours?
SALES: No but blah blah blah
ME: So you have nothing confidential to say, you're a liar arn't you?

*Gone*

Harsh I know but they waste my time too. Besides I hate people that try and sell by being sneaky, unclear and hoping to lead the conversation their way.

I also swear sometimes If I make clear I'm busy and they want to continue gabbing - is this wrong?
 
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At home we're on TPS, I accept the call, pretend to be extremely interested, then I make an excuse to put the phone down for a moment, "Someone at the door", or something like that. Then I get on with whatever I was doing, and every minute or so I just pick up the phone and say, "Just hold on please, I'll be back with you in a minute!", until they give up. Sometimes this takes amusingly long. They never ring back.
 
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If most people hang up on/are rude to/refuse to talk to telesales people and telemarketers, what chance do businesses have in terms of using this to get customers! :( I was hoping to start a telesales campaign soon, but it seems no one ever has the time of day to listen, so it might just be a waste of time, effort and money.

Just out of interest, those who are rude to telesales and telemarketing callers, do you use this method to promote your business and gain customers?

Also, on the point of foreign telemarketers reading from a script - whilst I understand it's frustrating, it's not that person's fault! They are only doing their job, and the real pain in the arse is the company who hired them to get a cheap deal on telemarketing costs!
 
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To me, the overriding objective is to rid myself of the caller with no input in terms of time and temper.

Friendliness is paramount to achieve this. Everyone in the office always - and very gently - says: "Oh, he/she is away on holidays, would you perhaps like to phone back in a couple of weeks?"

We have tried arguing and shouting, but it is too costly in terms of emotions.
 
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biomed86 said:
If most people hang up on/are rude to/refuse to talk to telesales people and telemarketers, what chance do businesses have in terms of using this to get customers! :( I was hoping to start a telesales campaign soon, but it seems no one ever has the time of day to listen, so it might just be a waste of time, effort and money.

Just out of interest, those who are rude to telesales and telemarketing callers, do you use this method to promote your business and gain customers?

Also, on the point of foreign telemarketers reading from a script - whilst I understand it's frustrating, it's not that person's fault! They are only doing their job, and the real pain in the arse is the company who hired them to get a cheap deal on telemarketing costs!
Click to expand...

I'm never rude off the cuff. However if I say I'm busy and they don't take the hint instantly or they try and mislead me (i.e. saying they work on behalf of a company I do deal with to get me a better deal...) then as far as I'm concerned they just jumped into the lion pit and I'm free to humiliate them as I wish.

I will happily remind anyone that tries to be clever with me or treats me like an idiot that they are the ones worrking in a call centre because they were unable to sell themsleves into a decent career in the first place.

I don't imagine they are hurt by my words. Surely they expect people to e thouroughly pi**ed off a lot of the time? Either that or they're idiots. And I don't want idiots calling me anyway!
 
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biomed86 said:
Also, on the point of foreign telemarketers reading from a script - whilst I understand it's frustrating, it's not that person's fault! They are only doing their job, and the real pain in the arse is the company who hired them to get a cheap deal on telemarketing costs!
Click to expand...

I also disagree with that last paragraph. It incenses me when people are excused from bsing rediculous or ineffective because they 'are just doing their job'. Absolute rubbish!

You choose to take a job. It doesn't matter what your statistical chances of getting a better job may or may not be. All that stands in the way of getting yourself a good job you can be proud of rather than settling for the job handed on a plate is intelligence, imagination and determination to do better.

If a company makes you look like an idiot in the course of doing your job YOU are still the idiot for sitting their day after day. The companies goal is to make money and they will use fools so long as fools are happy to remain fools.

My point being that I talk to sales people as if their companies policies and methods are their own. If they disagree they shoud find another job. Until they do they represent the company and their methods themselves.
 
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Firstly, TPS I assume is the opt out service? If so I think we have on the advice of someone on here that advised me how to do it, regardless we still get marketing calls which are irritating. If I want a particular service I will phone them, I don't want to be interrupted while I am trying to run the business and thats what I see this as. I don't know what the answer is to get people to be more receptive to this type of call, but I don't know many people that are that polite to telemarketers? I'm never rude, but always firm.
 
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I don't believe in gratuitous rudeness, but we are on TPS and I resent having our business day interrupted by time wasters trying to sell us things we couldn't possibly want or need.

We have caller ID and, if the caller's number is withheld or unavailable (as with most of the unprofessional outfits), it goes straight to the machine which has a handy delete button.

We seem to be getting lts of 'debt consolidation' offers at the moment in the form of recorded messages from people with jovial voices. :rolleyes:
 
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What irritates me most is when someone rings up obviously trying to flog me something we don't need and I tell them that we're reigistered with the TPS. The number of times I get the response "but you're listed on yell.com" is unbelievable. I tell them that they're breaking yell's T&Cs as well in that case.

Why do people not understand that I can have my business phone number in a directory so my customers can contact me and be registered with the TPS so people like them don't call me.
 
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biomed86 said:
If most people hang up on/are rude to/refuse to talk to telesales people and telemarketers, what chance do businesses have in terms of using this to get customers! :( I was hoping to start a telesales campaign soon, but it seems no one ever has the time of day to listen, so it might just be a waste of time, effort and money.

Just out of interest, those who are rude to telesales and telemarketing callers, do you use this method to promote your business and gain customers?

Also, on the point of foreign telemarketers reading from a script - whilst I understand it's frustrating, it's not that person's fault! They are only doing their job, and the real pain in the arse is the company who hired them to get a cheap deal on telemarketing costs!
Click to expand...

They can deal with it, the business shouldn't have went down the cheap route should they :D

I don't think businesses realise the concept of ROI when they embark on telemarketing campaigns. They attempt to cut costs and think every telemarketer is the same. Then they end up getting a few sales from a LOT of calls and pissing many people off in the process.

There's even a few telemarketers on here who have refined it down to an art and are able to get a lot of warm leads out of comparatively few calls.

Telemarketing can be a very effective form of marketing so I'd recommend you still go for it. However, hire a high quality professional to do it. The cost may be much higher but you'll get many more sales as a result.
 
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movietub said:
I'm never rude off the cuff. However if I say I'm busy and they don't take the hint instantly or they try and mislead me (i.e. saying they work on behalf of a company I do deal with to get me a better deal...) then as far as I'm concerned they just jumped into the lion pit and I'm free to humiliate them as I wish.

I will happily remind anyone that tries to be clever with me or treats me like an idiot that they are the ones worrking in a call centre because they were unable to sell themsleves into a decent career in the first place.

I don't imagine they are hurt by my words. Surely they expect people to e thouroughly pi**ed off a lot of the time? Either that or they're idiots. And I don't want idiots calling me anyway!
Click to expand...

I can understand your points - if you're busy etc and you say so, and the marketer still persists, then they are in fact the ones being rude. But i'm talking about being rude from the word go. It just makes me nervous about doing a bit of cold calling myself - almost seems pointless if you know what I mean. Better get a professional in...

It's just a shame because I would have thought telesales was quite an effective way of reaching potential customers, but if the customer doesn't want to be called anyway, then how is telesales as successful as it's said to be?

Also you mentioned people working in call centres were not able to sell themselves into a decent career...I'm assuming some of the telemarketers/telesales people on here might be a little offended by that comment!
 
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movietub said:
I also disagree with that last paragraph. It incenses me when people are excused from bsing rediculous or ineffective because they 'are just doing their job'. Absolute rubbish!

You choose to take a job. It doesn't matter what your statistical chances of getting a better job may or may not be. All that stands in the way of getting yourself a good job you can be proud of rather than settling for the job handed on a plate is intelligence, imagination and determination to do better.

If a company makes you look like an idiot in the course of doing your job YOU are still the idiot for sitting their day after day. The companies goal is to make money and they will use fools so long as fools are happy to remain fools.

My point being that I talk to sales people as if their companies policies and methods are their own. If they disagree they shoud find another job. Until they do they represent the company and their methods themselves.
Click to expand...

I'm not really excusing these telemarketers - i'm just saying, a lot of the foreign based marketers are literally being paid to read scripts. They haven't been recruited to do a 'proper' telemarketing job. Fair enough they choose to accept the job - fair point taken movietub, you're right, maybe they shouldnt continue to work for these companies. However, I'm sure in some (not all) cases, that might be the best opportunity for work for some of these telemarketers. That's what I mean by just doing their job.
 
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biomed86 said:
I can understand your points - if you're busy etc and you say so, and the marketer still persists, then they are in fact the ones being rude. But i'm talking about being rude from the word go. It just makes me nervous about doing a bit of cold calling myself - almost seems pointless if you know what I mean. Better get a professional in...

It's just a shame because I would have thought telesales was quite an effective way of reaching potential customers, but if the customer doesn't want to be called anyway, then how is telesales as successful as it's said to be?

Also you mentioned people working in call centres were not able to sell themselves into a decent career...I'm assuming some of the telemarketers/telesales people on here might be a little offended by that comment!
Click to expand...

No offence meant! I was reffering to the aforementioned cheap ass persistant script reading foreign call centre types. If such people are on these forums then once again they have barked up the wrong tree!

Telesales is effective in as much as it can be. No matter how crap the sales banter is a tiny % will be pursuaded and you get a few warm leads... a small % of which turn hot through to a sale. So if you can pay a small enough amount of money to get a lot of calls paid then you can turn a small profit. Scale it up and that small profit is worth it. The side effect is that for every succesful call you are responsible for irritating a few hundred people!

It depends entirely on what you are trying to sell. If you have a specific product and service and you have targetted businesses which are actually relevant and will probably have some use for what you offer then you will no doubt get a much better reception.

Here's an example of what not to do via telesales - Gas/electric/phone.

I really couldn't care less if some bloke in India reckons I'm paying £1000 more for electric and gas than I need too. I don't even care if he's right. I don't care how short the process is or how much money I could save. Once every few months myself and my business partner review all our costs and with a clear head look into the options ourselves. If we need to call a company for advice or clarification we will do.

My point is that if I'm not calling them about utility costs then I don't want to talk to them!
 
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Biomed,

What do you want to sell via telesales anyway?

I do believe that anything can be sold via any channel if it's done so thoughtfully.
 
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movietub said:
I really couldn't care less if some bloke in India reckons I'm paying £1000 more for electric and gas than I need too. I don't even care if he's right. I don't care how short the process is or how much money I could save. Once every few months myself and my business partner review all our costs and with a clear head look into the options ourselves. If we need to call a company for advice or clarification we will do.

My point is that if I'm not calling them about utility costs then I don't want to talk to them!
Click to expand...

That really winds me up. Do you a) know which supplier I'm with b) know what I'm paying them c) know my annual consumption.

As the answer is no, how do you know you can save me money?
 
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Mattonella Tile Studio said:
That really winds me up. Do you a) know which supplier I'm with b) know what I'm paying them c) know my annual consumption.

As the answer is no, how do you know you can save me money?
Click to expand...

Exactly. Becasue I have 'a brain' I can instantly work out that they are full of sh*t and if I was stupid enough to believe anything they say they would take advantage. Besides why would any of us want someone from another country calling us at work and suggesting we have made crap choices with our suppliers and are being ripped off without noticing?

This is not just telesales - if anyone interupts me at work and goes on to lie to me and pretend they are 'helping' me while trying to sell me something I would have the same attitude. They are rude so I will be honest with them about the way they present themselves and how pathetic their job is.
 
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biomed86 said:
It just makes me nervous about doing a bit of cold calling myself - almost seems pointless if you know what I mean. Better get a professional in...

It's just a shame because I would have thought telesales was quite an effective way of reaching potential customers, but if the customer doesn't want to be called anyway, then how is telesales as successful as it's said to be?

Also you mentioned people working in call centres were not able to sell themselves into a decent career...I'm assuming some of the telemarketers/telesales people on here might be a little offended by that comment!
Click to expand...

If you want to put yourself on TPS or CTPS link here http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/ctps/number_type.html

If you want to check if your number is on TPS/CTPS the you can do a free check here http://www.tps-check.com/

Don't worry about doing cold calling yourself but just take a bit of advice as this thread confirms

1) Don't call people who are on TPS/CTPS. It is worth taking the time to check them to avoid abuse and to increase chances of receptiveness

2) Plan your call, don't sound like a twit with your opening phrase, and just be yourself :)

Telemarketing and Telesales is a very effective sales tool. This is why I wanted to post this poll to see what difference TPS made if anything to the people who had had crap experiences of doing telemarketing themselves (to use An Oasis word :) without TPS checking and whether people who are going on about how rude they are to telemarketers were only when they were registered on TPS or whether they were generally rude to all cold callers regardless of their TPS status or not

As for being offended by the comment about not being able to sell myself into another job I am not offended at all :) Don't know about the other telemarketers on here
 
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maxine said:
As for being offended by the comment about not being able to sell myself into another job I am not offended at all :) Don't know about the other telemarketers on here
Click to expand...

That comment was not aimed at all telemarketers! Only the ones that do it for no other reason than they 'got that job' and just say what they are told to by a company that makes them sound like fools.

If you're good at something you should of course do it.
 
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I suspect that if TPS was opt-in instead of opt-out, there would be no more sales calls.
 
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After reading threads on this topic here, I have actually become less rude, but I still don't take their calls and I do ask if they know we are on the TPS and that usually gets rid of them toot sweet.
 
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cjd said:
I suspect that if TPS was opt-in instead of opt-out, there would be no more sales calls.
Click to expand...

Don't you just think that there would be more people ignoring TPS than there is now? I don't know of anyone that has actually been fined so it's all a bit meaningless in my opinion other than the reception people get when they call which effects their stats & conversion rates :)
 
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Part of the problem is once they have called they have already disturbed me so I then have the time and mental capacity to be rude in new and clever ways.

Normally during working hours I'm too busy to mess around ruining a cold callers day but once they force me to lift my head I find I have all the time in the world to be thorough with them ;)
 
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.Spiralling. said:
What irritates me most is when someone rings up obviously trying to flog me something we don't need and I tell them that we're reigistered with the TPS. The number of times I get the response "but you're listed on yell.com" is unbelievable. I tell them that they're breaking yell's T&Cs as well in that case.

Why do people not understand that I can have my business phone number in a directory so my customers can contact me and be registered with the TPS so people like them don't call me.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is a common view unfortunately. I speak with business owners some large companies some small who do think this is how things work and even other telemarketers or senior sales and marketing consultants who ought to know better

Comment on this site shows exactly what you are saying

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/apprentice/F12985772?thread=6438868
 
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maxine said:
Don't you just think that there would be more people ignoring TPS than there is now? I don't know of anyone that has actually been fined so it's all a bit meaningless in my opinion other than the reception people get when they call which effects their stats & conversion rates :)
Click to expand...

The list does at least stop legitimate companies calling us and makes it easy to hang up on the abusers.

My point really was that virtually no-one would opt in to a 'please call me and try to sell me something' list would they?
 
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