Great 'Best Cold Caller Rebukes' Hunt

bobcoates

After their initial speech I usually reply
"Do you have the number of the extension you want sir?"
...putting on my "company switchboard" voice.

Geoffsave

This is the only sensitive reply I have read so far!

brandedcentaur wrote: »

What is the point of being rude to some poor wage slave who is just trying to earn a living? YES, we all hate receiving these calls and NO they should not be allowed.

I hate them as much as anybody else, but I always remember that, at the other end of the line, there is someone who has had the guts to go out and find a job (ANY job!) rather than sit in the house or pub, moaning about there not being any work!

Either say "No thank you, sorry" or buy a trueCall. There is no need to be rude or waste their time. Those people are paid commission and you are just breaking their will to work at all.

klarapie

Hi,

I've been reading this post with interest, as I've done cold calling for jobs in the past.
Let me just say that charities are not put off by TPS, they get through on a technicality. And numbers are taken from internet surveys and the like.

As an ex caller, I know a lot of the tricks people use. What I just want to say to all of you is that do you know that cold calling sales jobs are some of the only fast, available jobs in the market at the minute? They are paid low amounts when they're desperate for work, and have axes above their heads for not meeting targets, or sufficiently pushing customers who say they have no money. We are trained not to take rebukes at face value, if you want to think about it, you often lie that you couldn't spare 2 pounds a month. I'm unemployed and struggling, but even I could spare that. If you argue with them, they're trained to objection handle.

What used to really really annoy me, is when customers hang up on you/make an excuse/say you're busy.... because company policy means we have to call them back!
If you don't want callbacks, SAY you don't want callbacks, and to come off the database. I got to the stage where I was even telling this to customers... I got reprimanded for it by the company though...
After you call them back after they were busy the first time, they say 'oh, you already called me', expecting you to apologise and ring off, but I used to ask questions regarding what I was calling about, and watch them stutter answers.
I'm not proud of cold calling, but I've worked a lot in customer service, and I am one of the far less pressurising, sympathetic callers, and I am always polite and expect people to be polite back, and it's infuriating when people are rude.

I think that the people who don't deal well with cold calling have assertiveness problems themselves. It doesn't take much to calmly and politely ask to be taken off the database. How hard is that? No tactics needed.
Cold callers often hate their jobs, and need to do it to stay afloat, so give them a break and just be polite and grown up about it, and you can be just as effective.

waddelldj

If I have time, I'll engage with them, even beyond their own knowledge if possible. You can do this if you use google as you go, asking pertinent questions about their product. My dad is a quantity surveyor and delights in asking highly detailed questions about windows ratings when double-glazing salesmen call.

Sometimes I am asked security questions by callers from the bank, etc. Eg DoB, or the first line of my address. I parry with "What is your DoB" or "What is my post code, before I tell you the rest of my address." It doesn't seem reasonable for someone to ask me personal security questions if I can't ask a few of my own. It is my personal information after all.

waddelldj

klarapie wrote: »

Hi,
Cold callers often hate their jobs, and need to do it to stay afloat, so give them a break and just be polite and grown up about it, and you can be just as effective.

Just noticed this post. I do feel tempted to play games with the callers. It is not personal (except in rare cases!). In the end, it is costing their company time and money and that's why I do it. Call centre workers are the ambassadors of their company and I expect them to feedback their experiences to their bosses.

GiveItBack

I try to ge polite but if the person lies to me, all bets are off.

We get calls for the previous owner from time to time and usually a request for removal from lists works. One chap tried to tell me he'd spoken to the previous owner the week before - which is unlikely since my place is an executry.

>Can I speak to 'Mr Smith' please?
<which company are you calling from?
> it's john from his bank, we spoke last week

(You have to get the voice right here,a mix of surprise, fear and spookiness)
<Last week? But but... But Mr Smith's been dead for over a year...

WestonDave

When I bought my last house it was from a relatively recently widowed lady who then went off to live with her family elsewhere in the country. Obviously it takes time for the databases to update, so when I got cold calls asking if they were speaking to Mr "widow" I could quite truthfully respond with "No, he's dead!" That tended to curtail the conversation somewhat because there is no uninstrusive follow up to discover who I actually am!

Now I'm registered with TPS the only phone calls I get tend to be recorded ones which I just leave to run so it maximises the cost of their bill, or doorsteppers who are simply told that I don't buy anything on the doorstep without researching their claims so they are welcome to leave their company name and I'll check it out online - funnily enough my paper recycling hasn't increased as they don't want to give out details!

Primrose

There's a hilarious e-mail/web link doing the rounds about an American called Mr. McCabe who's being interrogated as a suspect in a potential murder enquiry in a spoof telephone selling incident. If anybody has received it, perhaps they would post it here. It's a real winner.

euterpe13

I used to use several of the above techniques until a few months ago, when I lost my job and had to work in a call -centre to pay the bills, because it was the only job I could find ( and the comment about finding a "real job" is certainly the nastiest thing that you can say about call-centre employees) - it's one of the most soul-destroying jobs there are : you have a script to follow, obligatory questions, a quota of calls to reach and all your calls are monitored. Trying to talk to someone who does not want to hear from you is hard enough, having them waste your time or be rude is worse. And doing this 8 hours a day, and being upbeat for every call is a real challenge.

So having been on the other end of the line, now when I receive a cold call, unless I really am interested, I thank them politely and ask them not to call again - I know that they will then mark my number as "not interested" - I know how horrible their job really is... and all for about £6 per hour before tax...

flip2000

euterpe13 wrote: »

I used to use several of the above techniques until a few months ago, when I lost my job and had to work in a call -centre to pay the bills, because it was the only job I could find ( and the comment about finding a "real job" is certainly the nastiest thing that you can say about call-centre employees) - it's one of the most soul-destroying jobs there are : you have a script to follow, obligatory questions, a quota of calls to reach and all your calls are monitored. Trying to talk to someone who does not want to hear from you is hard enough, having them waste your time or be rude is worse. And doing this 8 hours a day, and being upbeat for every call is a real challenge.

So having been on the other end of the line, now when I receive a cold call, unless I really am interested, I thank them politely and ask them not to call again - I know that they will then mark my number as "not interested" - I know how horrible their job really is... and all for about £6 per hour before tax...

While I have sympathy for your situation, it's really hard being polite when

a. It's the 5th call that day
b. It's woken you / the baby up
c. You've repeatedly asked the company not to call

Ultimately it's the company who is exploiting both the call center worker and the homeowner (and the government for failing to provide laws to prevent this type of harassment), and I have to wonder if each person who receives an unsolicited call phoned up the calling company on their free-phone number (which the company gets charged for) how quickly they would stop ?