Sales calls driving me mad

[Edelweiss]

Hi all

I am so exasperated I needed to vent just a little. Hopefully someone out there will take this to heart and actually learn from it.

I get a lot of sales calls as I am marketing manager of our company. Most of the sales people who call have not done even 5 minutes' worth of research on me or the company. I am called the wrong name, I am called Mr - my photo is on our website! - I have people trying to flog me completely inappropriate stuff and then getting upset when I say no.

It has got to the point where a person calling and saying they have looked at our company and have a product they believe can be of benefit to us, get some budget out of me almost automatically. I am so impressed I can hardly wait to do business with them.

Please, sales people, please! It takes about a minute to google a company, another few minutes to look at what they do and who the players are and then you can pitch your sale sensibly.

Save me from sales people!!!

 

[jane p]

just say i dont do business on the phone!

it amazes me that people dont understand that you dont know who they are and they expect you to chat to a complete stranger.

Dont do business on the phone!

we sometimes ask them if they want to place a meat order

 

[Alicatt]

just say i dont do business on the phone!

it amazes me that people dont understand that you dont know who they are and they expect you to chat to a complete stranger.

Dont do business on the phone!

we sometimes ask them if they want to place a meat order

These days it's not that easy. The telephone is an essential business tool and it can work both ways.

For example, if a new magazine in our niche comes along I want to hear about it. I'm happy to chat to someone who will have a 2-way conversation about what sort of advertising we do and their target market etc. I'll also ask about editorial opportunities. I might not have the budget at the time but I'll keep any eye on it and if it does well might look at it in future.

But if they haven't done their homework and just ring me up and jump straight into their pitch I'll either cut them off and say "Sorry, I'm not interested" and put the phone down, or else (as I did yesterday) let them carry on and on to the end of their spiel while I do something else, then cut them off.

 

[debbidoo]

I had a sales call the other day from a woman trying to sell diesel!

"Can I speak to the person in charge of diesel purchases?" she asked.

I thought I'd misheard.

"Did you say diesel?" I said.

"Yes. Diesel for fleet cars etc."

"Do you actually know what we do?"

"Umm... erm... well, I..."

"We're a marketing company. What possible use could we have for diesel?"

She, sheepish: "Well, you might have a company car..."

I suggested she complain to her marketing department about the appalling quality of their database. Jeebus. Just look at my website. It'll give you a lot of clues about my need for diesel.

OP, I share your frustration!

 

[Edelweiss]

Alicatt, I have to agree that I don't want to completely cut off all callers because there are opportunities that come along, like niche publications, etc.

I have to admit nobody has tried to sell me diesel - yet!

 

[Poppy Design]

Hi

Yes they are a real pain sometimes!

It's the ones that won't take "no i am not interested go away" for an answer and try to force you into a sale that drive me mad!

If they ask for the marketing manager I sometimes give them a dummy name just to get rid of them!

I think there is the TSP you can sign up to which should help stop some cold calling....

Joanne

 

[Alex@AMB]

It has got to the point where a person calling and saying they have looked at our company and have a product they believe can be of benefit to us, get some budget out of me almost automatically. I am so impressed I can hardly wait to do business with them.

What's your number?

 

[telemax]

I personally cold call many, many marketing managers. I normally have an excellent conversation and find them very friendly. Then again it is always a potentially relevant service. However, if someone really truly wants to get rid of me I'd prefer if they said it quickly and directly. It does me a huge favour by saving me time and allowing me to move onto the next one.

 

[AerialSolutions]

I have registered all my telephone numbers with Telephone Protection Service. It is an offence, once registered, to call these numbers. I also used this for my home landline... Its amazing how quickly these callers ring off when you mention you are with TPS.

 

[spigwell]

I had a sales call the other day from a woman trying to sell diesel!

"Can I speak to the person in charge of diesel purchases?" she asked.

I thought I'd misheard.

"Did you say diesel?" I said.

"Yes. Diesel for fleet cars etc."

"Do you actually know what we do?"

"Umm... erm... well, I..."

"We're a marketing company. What possible use could we have for diesel?"

She, sheepish: "Well, you might have a company car..."

I suggested she complain to her marketing department about the appalling quality of their database. Jeebus. Just look at my website. It'll give you a lot of clues about my need for diesel.

OP, I share your frustration!

Dont suppose you got a price? I could do with some cheap diesel for my car.

 

[lockie]

I still laugh when people ring to sell me a watercooler.As a mobile locksmith i do wonder where it would go in the van.

Better still the poor rep yesterday trying to get me signed up to their various directories only to find out im above them for virtually every search term they mentioned.

If only they did their homework first as the OP says, a quick google and they would know its a waste of time.

 

I still laugh when people ring to sell me a watercooler.As a mobile locksmith i do wonder where it would go in the van.

Better still the poor rep yesterday trying to get me signed up to their various directories only to find out im above them for virtually every search term they mentioned.

If only they did their homework first as the OP says, a quick google and they would know its a waste of time.

hehe I must admit i still look at it as sport when they ring me up to offer me all sorts of rankings on google.

I play dumb, and get them talking, reeling them in, then get them and me in front of google (to look at the competitors I want shifted) and give them some of the terms I am interested in..... when they see I am top for most of them, they tend to back off quickly lol.

 

[helenthemum]

As with #12 I find them good for entertainment value when they say they can get you to the top on Google for our main keywords.

I get them to type in the main keyword and low and behond the phone goes dead.

Its cold outside are the worse as they still think they can do better, how can you better than top 2 places in google.

I even had a rep for a phone directory in my B&M telling me I would appear top in msn by going with them, his face was a picute when I did exactly as he asked and I was top and his company were no where to be seen.

 

[Rhyl Lightworks]

I have registered all my telephone numbers with Telephone Protection Service. It is an offence, once registered, to call these numbers. I also used this for my home landline... Its amazing how quickly these callers ring off when you mention you are with TPS.

We are also with tps. This cuts down the no. of sales calls dramatically, but some do still call. What you say is true, and I would never buy off a company anyway that does not have the tps software to do a check in the first place.

Barrie

 

[patientlady]

Yesterday
Can I speak to the owner of the business please
No sorry he isn't here
Oh when will he be
Sorry I don't know
But its urgent
Oh what is it about
Your electric contract
Oh what is the problem , why it could be so urgent, can I help you.
No it has to be the owner of the business
Phone goes dead

He didn't find out that we do not have an electric contract, as we pay the landlord all inclusive
He didn't find out the owner of the business name
A good time to catch him
oh i could go on.....frightening

 

[jackyliu]

hi,everybody
I am the same as you, I have met same thing,as a mangager of the marketing, my personal informations are delivered on the web, so i often receive a strange call,it is pain sometimes,especially when i were busy at that time. but i have no choice but to face this truth,i will be happy if the call is from my potential customer.
as a result, i want to say that you can not sell the cow and drink the milk
Jacky

 

[funkychef]

We get various SEO call to help us get to to be found on Google. We explain that we are just a year old, and THE most popular search term 'chef whites' (or a variation of plurals) is already #1 or 2 on Google. 'It would be unusual for a young business to rank highly so soon' they explain. in the background i can hear the tapping on a keyboard, then it goes quiet. 'Oh..........you've done well..............erm......if there's any other terms that you'd like to.......'!! Yeh Bye bye

Do some homework before you call me. If you can really help me, then i'm happy to listen. And if i get another email trying to sell me asbastos gauntlets from china...............!!!

 

[Silent Web Solutions]

Sales calls are something that all businesses get even if they are using the TPS but sometimes, just sometimes it can be a good thing. Due to receiving sales calls I have managed to gain some very good suppliers at very good rates. It is them that are calling you so in effect you have the power to gain the very best deal that you can.

Think of it another way! Does your business telephone other businesses up with the outcome of generating new business? Now what would happen if every single business signed themselves up to the TPS overnight. Great I hear you say, no more sales calls but instantly you have just put thousands and thousands of people out of a job and closed down thousands of businesses overnight.

The next time you receive a sales call just think that the person at the other end of the phone is just trying to earn a living to keep a roof over their head and feed their family just like you and me.

I do admit though that some of the sales people that phone up just do not have a brain and the stories can go on forever. I too received a call to one of my businesses saying that they could get me to the first page of Google and when I said "please could you tell me how you found my business" their answer was "I searched Google and you was on the first page". I just paused for a second and thought to myself 'is this person for real'. I then asked "then if you telephoned me because you found my business listed on the first page of Google, why are you trying to sell me a service that gets me to that very same first page? So what you are really saying is please sir is it OK if I rip you off". No answer, end of call.

 

[Edelweiss]

Silent Web Solutions, as I said in my original post, I don't mind taking calls and I do understand and commisserate with the person trying to do a sales job - cold calling is not a fun job. But I do expect the person to spend at least the minimum of time finding out a little about the business. Too much to ask? I think not.

 

[Silent Web Solutions]

But I do expect the person to spend at least the minimum of time finding out a little about the business. Too much to ask? I think not.

You are perfectly right to think this and it is not much to ask at all. I would never ever think about cold calling someone without doing a little research into their company and confirming that they do actually need your products or services.

On the other hand most of these people who are calling you are just doing what they are told and following orders. They sit at their desks 9 - 5 in front of a list of telephone numbers and get targets thrown at them from management. I myself know someone within this industry and they are told that they are not allowed to spend more than three minutes on each call and they must get through so many calls per day.

It is the company that employs these people that are at fault because in reality what they do not understand is by spending the extra time doing a little bit of research into the person they are calling will boost their sales figures up no end.

It seems that nowadays these bigger sales agents have given the smaller telesales people that do things the correct way a bad name and this is why businesses feel they are forced into using the TPS.

 

[cjd]

We transfer them to 0843 1760166. Try it

 

[Ashley_Price]

Having just read a wonderful book (see my other threads to save me "spamming" this one) on how to cold call the right way and the number of cold calls we receive as a phone answering service it doesn't surprise me why cold calling has got such a bad name.

We get so many asking for the "Owner of the business" or "The head of ... department", etc. In fact I've just taken a call for a client where the person asked to speak to the owner of the business. As soon as I said "I'm sorry he's..." they hung up.

The book recommends that if you are doing cold calls you should do it in the following manner:

First
Of course you research firms that you are calling. The best way of checking if you are calling the right type of business? Well, do you have any other clients in the same industry?

Second
If you don't (or are not sure you do) have the right person's name, then make a prospecting call first. Be polite, explain to the person who answers why you are calling and that you'd like to know the relevant person's name to call back in a couple of weeks. So they are aware you don't want to speak to them right now.

However they reply to that, you are polite and thank them. You may get a brush off, but you may get the name you need.

Third
When you do phone to speak to the right person, again you should be open and polite to the person answering the phone. Mess them about and they'll mess you about. When/if you get through to the person you want to speak to then you give a very brief (a couple of lines) explanation of the reason for you call and then ask if they have a few minutes to chat with you now?

You then continue in this vain as you move through each stage of your "sales call". So you ask permission to go onto the next step.

But the three things to remember are to be open, polite and give complete information.

So, for example, I did some "prospecting" calls on Tuesday and I did the following when my call was answered:

Me: Good morning. I am not sure who I need to talk to. So if I explain to you the reason for my call, would you help me?

What person answering the phone is going to refuse help? They don't know the reason for the call yet.

Gatekeeper: Sure

Me: Thank you. My name is Ashley and my business provides a service whereby we answer phone calls for businesses when they are very busy. I am just trying to find out if this is something your firm would be interested in. Would you help me and tell me the name of the person I'll need to speak to about this?

Often at this point, I found out I was speaking to the right person (I was targeting small firms) but they wouldn't be interested. However, out of 11 calls I got three names; two to call when I get from Dublin next week and one who is interested in the service!

So if done correctly cold calls are much easier on both parties!

 

[jane p]

The next time you receive a sales call just think that the person at the other end of the phone is just trying to earn a living to keep a roof over their head and feed their family just like you and me.

its not our problem though. You cant go anywhere these days without being hassled its wrong!

We had a caller at nearly 9 oclock last week, we told them not to phone again, the next night someone else tried. Its an impertinence.

 

[CMSOLUTIONS]

I have a good friend who used to work for a large company in telecomms and communications.

When he left he set up his own business with the knowledge that some of his old customers were paying more than they "needed to".

He knew he could save then £1000's each year. But he says that some businesses will not even acknowledge his call or say 'we do not take these types of calls'.

He doesn't care. He's happy doing good business with the ones that do !
(and saving them cash).

 

[Ashley_Price]

Don't expect the TPS to offer much protection.

In all the years they've been in existence I don't think there has been a single case of a company being fined for cold calling people registered with the TPS.

We also did transcripts of discussion forums which included some industry leaders and they said that in most cases the big companies now completely ignore TPS and ring the numbers anyway.

I think the reason TPS has failed is simply, as people have said on here, as soon as you mention you are on TPS the caller hangs up. So you may not have any details of who has just called you. Or they say "Sorry, I must have misdialled". So how do you prove it was someone purposely flouting the TPS rules?

 

[Christiane]

I had the pleasure of wasting a salesman's time this week

This company cold called me for a product I already have and had actually just renewed the contract, hence what's the point of seeing another company. Hangs up, calls again a few days, didn't recall talking me, I say ok, he arranges a meeting. Nobody turns up on the day, a few days later get a letter to confirm the meeting at a different time from what we'd agreed on the phone! This week (2 weeks later) the salesman calls to say he's going to be late for our meeting at 1pm. I said ''what meeting?''. Apparently they re-arranged the meeting without asking me, I told him I would have never agreed to 1pm as it's my busiest time of the day, told him to come at 2.30pm. As soon as he arrived, I said he's wasting his time, explained about the contract, etc. Must have been his shortest visit to a potential customer ever

 

[Silent Web Solutions]

I had the pleasure of wasting a salesman's time this week

This company cold called me for a product I already have and had actually just renewed the contract, hence what's the point of seeing another company. Hangs up, calls again a few days, didn't recall talking me, I say ok, he arranges a meeting. Nobody turns up on the day, a few days later get a letter to confirm the meeting at a different time from what we'd agreed on the phone! This week (2 weeks later) the salesman calls to say he's going to be late for our meeting at 1pm. I said ''what meeting?''. Apparently they re-arranged the meeting without asking me, I told him I would have never agreed to 1pm as it's my busiest time of the day, told him to come at 2.30pm. As soon as he arrived, I said he's wasting his time, explained about the contract, etc. Must have been his shortest visit to a potential customer ever

If you was a potential customer you would have lost all trust in this guy anyway with all the messing around. Personally I would not have made the guy visit you in person before telling him you already have this product from another company.

 

[sjr4x4]

Don't expect the TPS to offer much protection.

In all the years they've been in existence I don't think there has been a single case of a company being fined for cold calling people registered with the TPS.

TPS is a toothless agency. We used to coldcall, got to start somewhere , buying those "new company" start up lists that have been used 100 times before you ever make your first call.

We were nervous about the TPS penalty, £5000 fine etc, so one of my guys tried following the process after getting a sales call at home and being TPS registered.

You have a load of forms to fill in, you need the full name of the agent that spoke to you, their supervisor name, there were loads of other questions, can't rem them all now, but it was a really convoluted process, which basically ended up with them saying basically nothing would happen.

That said, registering with TPS does drastically reduce unwanted sales calls at home, so the threat of a fine seems to work.

The latest tatic seems to be these annoying evening "survey calls".

I can handle a sales call in the office during working hours, but my home is sacred, and I'll bite the head off any call centres uninvited evening phone call. Trying to keep a roof over their head or not!

 

[FE]

I had a sales call the other day from a woman trying to sell diesel!

"Can I speak to the person in charge of diesel purchases?" she asked.

I thought I'd misheard.

"Did you say diesel?" I said.

"Yes. Diesel for fleet cars etc."

"Do you actually know what we do?"

"Umm... erm... well, I..."

"We're a marketing company. What possible use could we have for diesel?"

She, sheepish: "Well, you might have a company car..."

I suggested she complain to her marketing department about the appalling quality of their database. Jeebus. Just look at my website. It'll give you a lot of clues about my need for diesel.

OP, I share your frustration!

We get them a lot and guess what! we already sell discounted fuel cards for diesel and petrol its all over our website, brochures etc. When we explain they are trying t sell us something we already sell i.e. they are selling us or own product at a more expensive rate they just do not listen and keep reading from their script!

I think the worse is where you get cold calls from suppliers you already use asking if the product would be of inerest. I personally had one last week from a supplier where we are their biggest customer!

 

[Rhyl Lightworks]

tps does have an effect - maybe not as much as some of us would wish - but it does dramatically reduce the number of telesales calls. Their service does depend on people making complaints to them. I have found it takes about one minute to fill in their complaint form on line, and if you don't have all the info they ask for fill in what you can - the name of the company and/or the telephone no. from which they ring you are the most important things.

Here is a link to orders made by the ICO (who enforce tps info) in the last few years (Carphone Wharehouse and their subsidiary companies particularly): http://www.ico.gov.uk/what_we_cover/privacy_and_electronic_communications/enforcement.aspx

Barrie

 

[Draugen]

I took a terrible sales call from Makro yesterday.

"Good afternoon sir, I am calling to inform you that your business now qualifies for a Makro trade card"

"Ok..."

"Great! Are you aware of Makro and what we do?"

"Yes, I'm a member"

"Well, we can sign you up today for a new trade card"

"Is that different from the card I currently have?"

"Well Sir, your card may have expired, when did you last use it?"

"Last week as it goes"

"Well the cards expire if you do not use them for a certain period of time, so I can sign you up for a new one now"

"Right, so has my card expired?"

"I wouldn't know Sir, the cards expire after a period of inactivity, so I can simply sign you up for a new one now"

"So the cards expire if you do not use them for a week?"

"No, but if you don't use them for a period of time, they do expire"

"So has my card expired or not?"

"I don't know Sir, you'd have to find out next time you use it"

"Ok then"

"Thankyou for you time Sir, goodbye"


Utterly pointless call! :|

 

[UKSBD]

The reason why a lot of the calls start with
"Can I speak to the business owner" is because most directories now
know they are being abused by the cold callers harvesting information
so no longer display names of people with listings.

Chances are if anyone starts with that line, they have just been trawling
through online directories to get numbers.

 

[AerialSolutions]

THANK YOU cjd!!! That is priceless!! Cant wait for Monday now...

 

[cjd]

THANK YOU cjd!!! That is priceless!! Cant wait for Monday now...

You're welcome.

If you're a Voipfone customer you just press 'transfer' and dial 166. We all have 166 direct transfer buttons; still amuses us.

 

[Tej]

Having just read a wonderful book (see my other threads to save me "spamming" this one) on how to cold call the right way and the number of cold calls we receive as a phone answering service it doesn't surprise me why cold calling has got such a bad name.

We get so many asking for the "Owner of the business" or "The head of ... department", etc. In fact I've just taken a call for a client where the person asked to speak to the owner of the business. As soon as I said "I'm sorry he's..." they hung up.

The book recommends that if you are doing cold calls you should do it in the following manner:

First
Of course you research firms that you are calling. The best way of checking if you are calling the right type of business? Well, do you have any other clients in the same industry?

Second
If you don't (or are not sure you do) have the right person's name, then make a prospecting call first. Be polite, explain to the person who answers why you are calling and that you'd like to know the relevant person's name to call back in a couple of weeks. So they are aware you don't want to speak to them right now.

However they reply to that, you are polite and thank them. You may get a brush off, but you may get the name you need.

Third
When you do phone to speak to the right person, again you should be open and polite to the person answering the phone. Mess them about and they'll mess you about. When/if you get through to the person you want to speak to then you give a very brief (a couple of lines) explanation of the reason for you call and then ask if they have a few minutes to chat with you now?

You then continue in this vain as you move through each stage of your "sales call". So you ask permission to go onto the next step.

But the three things to remember are to be open, polite and give complete information.

So, for example, I did some "prospecting" calls on Tuesday and I did the following when my call was answered:

Me: Good morning. I am not sure who I need to talk to. So if I explain to you the reason for my call, would you help me?

What person answering the phone is going to refuse help? They don't know the reason for the call yet.

Gatekeeper: Sure

Me: Thank you. My name is Ashley and my business provides a service whereby we answer phone calls for businesses when they are very busy. I am just trying to find out if this is something your firm would be interested in. Would you help me and tell me the name of the person I'll need to speak to about this?

Gatekeeper: Thinks...Jeez.. this plonker is trying to take my job away from me.. Yeah!.. speak to "Chris".. but he is on a safari, and won't be back for awhile.

Often at this point, I found out I was speaking to the right person (I was targeting small firms) but they wouldn't be interested. However, out of 11 calls I got three names; two to call when I get from Dublin next week and one who is interested in the service!

So if done correctly cold calls are much easier on both parties!

Seriously.. has this worked so far for you?

How many new customers have you had this week?... honestly!

Noticed that you read the book over the last weekend break.

give it a few more days...

 

[mike1337]

We transfer them to 0843 1760166. Try it

LMAO Shall have to try that one

 

[virtuallysorted]

Why aren't these calls being screened by your receptionist? Good screening actually removes over 90% of them, without putting off real clients.

1) May I ask what it's regarding, so I can direct your call properly? (this makes them them you all the info)
2) Can I ask you to send information to <generic email> and the person who deals with that will get back to you if it's of interest. No, please don't call back, we'll call you if it's of interest.
3) I'm sorry we're not interested, please can you remove our number from your database? Thank you.

I actually don't have a problem in speaking to people who are genuinely offering something we might be interested in, and I'll read their email and get back to them. But people who are blatantly phone-spamming us get 166-d. My amusement at this offsets the annoyance of being interrupted!

Caroline

 

[debbidoo]

Why aren't these calls being screened by your receptionist?

In my business - and I'm sure it's the same for many UKBF members - I'm the MD, the Marketing Manager, Head of Accounts, admin assistant, Operations Manager, Head of IT, Purchasing Manager, Sales Manager, tea girl and cleaner. Oh, and the receptionist...

So I really must give my receptionist a b*ll*cking for not screening my calls effectively!

 

[vvaannmmaann]

Not really relevant,but a friend has the conservatory people ring him.Being fed up with their calls,he played along with it.
Short story long,they got around to doing the site visit.Only then did my friend mention he was on the seventh floor of a block of flats.
They didn't call again.

 

[davco]

I had a call from a software company offering their full range of products at a discounted price.

I am a good customer of the company and explained that I already had half of their range. As for the other half, I either had alternatives or no requirement for the product.

I could not get rid of this guy. He had obviously been on a "how to overcome objections" course and was good at talking and rubbish at listening.

Anyhow, I had to be quite rude to cut the conversation. I was furious that a good customer (me) was being hounded in this way.

I posted this story on the company's support forum, along the lines of "I love your products so why alienate me by getting some 'erbert to hassle me over the phone."

My posting had been live for less than 10 minutes when the company's Sales Director emailed me. He had listened to the telephone conversation (isn't it illegal to record a call without the customer being aware of it?) and agreed his salesman had been too aggressive.

I was then sent the entire product range FOC. Some were newer versions of what I already had (nice, I could use them) and the rest I flogged on eBay.

Result!

Ian D