The Case Against Telephone Marketing

Telephone soliciting in general covers a great deal of area - from the charity on their annual fundraiser, to the soft drink survey, right to the telephone marketer. Everything bad about the phone solicitor has usually derived from the telephone marketer.

The telephone marketer unlike charities or demographics surveys are attempting to sell you a product or service. Telephone marketers are the proverbial salespeople who will try to get their foot in your door.

I am not going to do a rundown on the amount of telemarketing categories in our country because there are too many under many varied sales campaigns: newspapers, magazines, furnace cleaning, house siding, carpet cleaners, encyclopedia sales, real estate, funeral homes, insurance, and the list goes on.

Each telemarketing firm has their own agenda, aside from the fact of trying to sell you their product whether by their own staff or through another firm.

Telemarketing companies themselves are contracted by other businesses to do the footwork for their clients. They are therefore under a quota - a goal they must reach to validate their service. It means coming up with a particular spiel or sales speech to sell you, the consumer, on their goods. It means touting the best deal and best sounding proposal you have ever heard in your lifetime.

The private telemarketing campaign requires the business itself to run their own phone sales room. The deal is basically the same, reach a quota and promote their services to the public.

The goal, or quota, is a main reason why those telephone solicitors are so pushy, but not all of it. Telephone marketers go by a spiel written by their boss. In some cases, telemarketers rely on a step1-step 2 method: if a doesn't work, try this; if this works, go to step 3. Telephone marketers are armed to the teeth with information tactics at their fingertips.

Let's go back to being "pushy". The telemarketer is an employee. In this case the employee is a salesperson plain and simple. If they do not meet a set quota of sales per day as set out by their boss, they are outa there. Gone. Salespeople that do not perform are of no use to a company.

So let's go back to the sale itself. What are telemarketers selling. Essentially they are trying to sell you a service or product. They have to enter your home in a manner of speaking to do so. They do this by introducing themselves like a comfortable guest or friend. Their next tactic is getting your curiosity piqued with a deal, an offer, or time limited convenience. They key word there is your home. Most solicitors do not realize they have entered your private home as a guest. Their conduct should be appropriate as such. Most of the time it isn't.

WHO ARE WHO?

Let's assume for the sake of argument, you hear what a telephone solicitor has to say . Who are they? Is it a charity? Is it a survey (some are run by the government to get public feedback)? Some are follow-up calls to services or product requests you initiated yourself at some point in time. Some may be radio stations or local groups calling to tell you that you have won a prize (Don't laugh. I once heard a woman on a radio phone giveaway actually tell the DJ on the air she "didn't want any", slam her phone down, and hence forfeited the prize which went to the tenth caller to the station.). Find who is on the other side of the phone first before you make an error in judgement. Then decline if you so wish. I might add, some surveys offer a little token of appreciation after you complete their questions.

If they are selling, you will know soon enough. Usually by their stating they are conveniently "in your area", they have a great discount going at this time, or they straight out offer you a no obligation demonstration or introduction to their product/service.

THE SCAMS

This is most important. Learn to spot the scammers straight off. Learn the legitimate companies and offers from the false ones. This pertains to all phone solicitors. Find out if they are genuine.

If they are a charity you have not heard about then find out their federal or charity number, learn more about them, discover their mandate, and how long they have been around.

With companies, get all the pertinent information you would require of any business you intend to do business with. Find out about them: who they are, how long they have been around, are they listed with the better business bureau, and even find out what kind of satisfaction guarantee they offer.

You do not get nothing for nothing in most cases:

Aside from the lottery or that ticket Aunt Betty signed your name to, you do not get nothing for nothing.

You do not pay for a prize .. Ever! No shipping, no handling, no office charges, and you do not have to attend a meeting or go to a specific locale to pick up a prize before being eligible.

Never, ever, give your credit card number away to anyone!!

Do not give any personal information out over the phone ever. If they insist or are persistent, hang up. Some companies will even try to eventually get a bank statement out of you to prove your worth. Run the other way, you have not won a thing and stand to lose a lot.

If scams or suspicious sounding companies try to call you back, hand all the information you have over the police and your local telephone company. Unfortunately, if they are phoning from the white pages (the cold call), telling to take you off their list is obviously not going to do much. Odds are they will call you again just by averages alone. Yet reporting them can make the authorities aware of who they are.

VERIFY. VERIFY. VERIFY.

Let's use the charity fundraiser as an example. Yes, you discover it is not a marketer but a charity that sounds interesting to you, yet you have not heard of them. Take down their number and a little information, then invite them to call you back after you verify their identity. They will be only to glad to convenience you. A note, though: if you really do not intend on calling back or looking into them, please do not say you are doing so - you are wasting your time, and theirs.

For a product or service you are unaware of, research them in the same manner. Talk to someone who might have heard of them. Phone the Better Business Bureau. Ask questions: What are their guarantees. Do they have insurance? Everything depends on track record and reputation. In final retrospect, "Let The Buyer Beware." The moment you sign something you become committed to a contract - read it.

CONSENSUS

Telemarketing is here to stay at least for now. The government agencies are looking into the telemarketing field and trying to scope out those disreputable companies from the legitimate. Personally, the way I see the telemarket field growing is new laws and regulations will have to be looked into to regulate them. As it is now, the only one I see of use, is the law which states, telemarketers can only operate between 9 am and 9 am.