It seems like telemarketing has taken a marked upturn in the last month. At home and on my business phone, I’m seeing a significant increase in these calls. The increase has come from businesses with whom we’ve had no prior relationship. As I understand it, only “relationship” companies are technically waranted to call … as well as nonprofits. At least, that’s my loose interpretation of the telemarketing changes. I guess the business downturn has created this telemarketing upturn.
I do understand that the people who make these calls are just doing their jobs. I feel for them as I hang up the phone. But that doesn’t mean it’s not an intrusion. So recently I tried to find a middle ground with one of these poor souls. At 6:30pm as I was preparing dinner the phone rang. The call went something like this:
Me: “Hello”
PMS (stands for “poor marketing soul”): “Good evening, Mrs. Boswell, this is not a sales call …”
Me: I interrupted, “Boy I’m glad of that because I’d hate to think that you’re calling to try to sell me something. What is your name?”
PMS: “My name is Felicia, and this is not a sales call …”
Me: ”Yes, Felicia, I’m really glad of that and glad you called. I was really getting lonesome and I’d been wishing I had someone to talk with” I quickly went on, “but I’m making dinner, so if you’ll give me your number I’ll call you back.”
PMS: “We are not allowed to give out our phone numbers, Mrs. Boswell, but I’m calling to find out when you last evaluated your life insurance coverage.”
Me: “Wow, Felicia, that’s a scary thing. You know I’ve been feeling kinda blue lately and just to think about life insurance is a downer. But what I’d like to talk about is health insurance for my dog. Do you know anything about that?”
PMS: “No, Mrs. Boswell, but I do know how important life insurance is for everyone and we have some advice that you might like to know about.”
Me: “Gee, Felicia, if you hadn’t told me that this was NOT a sales call, I’d think you might be wanting to sell me some life insurance. Since you’re not, let me tell you about my dog and why I’d like to get some pet coverage for him,” very quickly forging ahead, “but first I’ve got to tend to the risotto that’s on the stove. I’m going to put you on hold for just a few minutes, OK?”
PMS: “Mrs. Boswell, I’ll call you back tomorrow.” CLICK
Did I ever hear from the non-sales person, Felicia again? You guessed it, nope.
I actually had fun on that call. At the same time, if I had the hapless job of being a telemarketer, I’d hate to reach a person like me on the phone!
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