Cold Callers

[melissa]

I'm not rude to cold callers because I used to do a fair amount of telemarketing. I did it as an employee and for my own business. In the US, if you request to be placed on the Do Not Call List, they aren't supposed to call you back and they can receive stiff penalties if they don't comply.

I wish Canada was like the US then Us Canadians just got the do not call list just a few years back but let me tell you its garbage. Its like you literally have to tell every telemarketer individually that you don't want to be called.

[Amazing Gift Boxes]

I used to be nice to them as well but some of them were so aggressive and pushy that they messed it up for legitimate ones.

Jerry

[Scrat]

I havent the time or patience to listen to the idiots, especially the clowns who are obviously calling from a call centre in India yet claim their name is "Nigel" or something equally British sounding. I'm afraid I've now reached the point where I bsimply tell then nto Sod Off and put the phone down.

[MyDigitalpoint]

I have voicemail system for my business and a digital voicemail on my home landline, so the way I tackle cold callers is by not answering the phone personally ever.

For home, however I have a "secret code" consisting of a number of ring sequence. When someone do that sequence, I know the caller is someone close to me, hence I pick up the phone personally.

[rajeshfgh]

I try and reply to them with respect. After all, they also have targets and wish that they would win a potential customer. Having said that, I personally have done cold-calling for a month and surprisingly the result wasn't that bad. More so, because it was of a product which had a very good reputation in the market.

[sillylucy]

Cold calling is making a huge come back. People are hurting for business these days and it just turns me off. No one wants to be bothered. I hear the name of the company and instantly think "I am never doing business with them."

[kelthereth]

In harmony with some people here, if you feel as though you are being harassed by cold callers, you should not only put your business number on the ‘do not call list’, but you should also double enforce it by having your phone network track back any cold callers who dials your number while it is on the ‘do not call list’ and press charges for harassment against that company…

[AnonaMoss]

Hey Jerry,

Naturally, I feel the same way. But I try to view the situation from the cold callers perspective. It is their job to make these calls. I honestly don't believe that they enjoy bugging people and getting hung up on immediatley a majority of the time. So rather then just pushing the little red button, if I have time, I like to just listen to their pitch for 20 seconds, then simply tell them thanks for calling but we are not interested at the moment. Furthermore, I ask them to please remove me from their list. You will start receiving less calls since they will keep calling if you hang up, and often the lists they use are sold to other companys. So if you take your name and number off that list, you should start noticing alot less cold callers in the future.

Any other suggestions?

I agree. It can be an annoyance, but it's the way someone has to put food on the table. I think that it's best to be as polite as you can, while being firm. If they are still persistent then tell them to have a nice day and hang up. There is no reason to be rude.

[Danhanes]

As a Canadian I can tell you Melissa is absolutely right; the no call list is pretty much useless. 20 calls a day!

[even]

Well, I know its annoying but that's their work. Just tell them you are not interested in a nice way. -secretstaff.com