Cold Calls-Love Them or Hate Them?

[Iggy aka IG]

What are your thoughts on being on the receiving end of cold calls?  On the flip side, have you ever had to perform them as part of your job duties?

[swamp]

I hate them.  We get at least 3 a day.  If I wanted some service, I would go looking for it.  <br><br>No, and I won't. 

[Sharon]

I hate them and either just hang up once I realize what it is or I yell at them people if I am feeling the need to yell at someone.

[amishgal]

I hate them and would never, ever be in a job where I'd have to make them.  We recently bought a new car and while we were in the salesman's cubicle we overheard other sales people talk about all the calls they still had to make. But then, if you have the personality to sell cars, cold calls probably aren't a big deal.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I don't make any.

I get automated ones here at work all the time.  I get one more call for funeral insurance and whoever is sending me the message better check to see if their funeral policy is up to date.

[Sam_2.0]

Having worked in a call center for awhile, I have a lot of sympathy for those doing that job. I don't enjoy the calls, but I do try to be polite and hang up. I've done it before and it sucks. DH does it all the time for his work, but it's the nature of the business he is in. He's targeting businesses though, not individuals.

[thyme4change]

Hate them.  

I remember asking one gal if I could be taken off their call list, and she said "But then you wouldn't get access to the best deals we offer."  I answered "That is the beauty of America - I get to pay extra for convenience." She didn't share my enthusiastiam.   

[Chocolate Lover]

I get them at work and either hang up on them or inform them of what kind of office they're calling. And if Google robo calls my office one more time..........  

I have had to do a job that was just cold calls, I lasted a week. Hate them. Hated doing that to people. 

[Deleted]

auto calls are instant hang ups

if person...then i EXPLAIN that i am on the DO NOT CALL list

if i wanted or needed a mortgage refi, i would be looking for one

when i get the same call 3rd time...i have a small air horn next to phone.....

i dont seem to get calls from those numbers anymore.....

[sheilaincali]

I hate getting cold calls.  I only get them at work.  In our personal lives we haven't had a landline in nearly 6 years- I don't answer my cell if I don't recognize the phone number- they can leave me a voice mail.

At work we get probably 10 a day.  Annoying- I hang up on the automated ones.  The new one is to ask for "the person in charge of xyz" to try to get a name so that the next time they can call back and ask for that person directly.  I refuse to name any of the employees.  If they are stubborn I gave them the made up name that I use that way when they call back and ask for that person I can tell them she was fired, is on vacation, is in rehab, etc. 

I wouldn't want to be the person having to cold call people.  I don't think that's a job I could do without feeling like an asshole.

[Anne_in_VA]

I don't get many cold calls at home but get them all the time at work.  I work in Purchasing at a well known healthcare company and I get calls like that all the time.  Most of the time I just direct them to our site for registering as a potential supplier, but then they call me - and call me, and call me.  I especially hate the ones who call me every couple of months.  No, I don't have a need for your services and no, I don't want you to call me again!  Of course I never say that, but wish I could.

[kittensaver]

Hate them. I hang up on them.

And I've never had a job where I had to do it. I would scrounge for cans and bottles to recycle, or go hungry, rather than have a cold-call job.

[Virgil Showlion]

I get many, all from companies, charities, etc. that I've done business with previously, since I'm on the Canadian DNC list.

They all use auto-dialers and there's always a 1-2 second pause after picking up. I use it to hang up. The problem is that they don't get the hint and will call back incessantly, to the point where you need to take the call and insist they shove off.

They're smart about obfuscating their numbers, too. Different area codes, different times of day. Very hard to screen them out based on caller ID.

I don't mind survey companies calling, although when they say "The survey will take x minutes.", multiply x by 2 and add five to get the actual amount of time it will take.

In Toronto, especially around the university, charities have switched to molesting pedestrians on the sidewalks as they walk by. If you accidentally make eye contact and don't have the stomach to scream "I SAID NO! Get back! I've got a knife, I swear it!" at some point during the subsequent exchange... you're doomed.

[Deleted]

Virgil, your description is of our local mall.  From chicken samples to perfume samples to solicitations for products, it is dangerous to make eye contact. 

A siding sales person in Sears got angry when I said, "Sorry, I'm in a hurry" as I rushed by her.  I could hear her saying, "I have to earn a living, too" as I went up the aisle.

I sort of had to do it when I worked retail.  We had to keep a book that recorded your name/address/phone number and purchases.  We didn't actually tell you we were doing the latter.  We did it after you left, using the register receipt.  We sent thank-you notes, called to thank you for your purchases and see if it was working out (and tell you to bring it back if it wasn't) and offer to call again the next time we had a sale.  That is what got us around the "Do not call" list.

There's a lot more to retail than just ringing people up at the register.  Ours was a Saks store although not Saks itself.  This was back when Saks was, believe it or not, headquartered in Birmingham.

[Malarky]

As politely as possible I inform the caller that we don't deal with any company in which we do not initiate contact.  Both at home and at work.  If I need something I'm not getting from my current provider, I know how to look for a better deal.   

If they persist, I suggest that they may send something by the U.S. mail.  Which I promptly throw away.  (See my first response.)

 Iggy.  And I know it's tough to build up your client list in the insurance business. 

My insurance company is one that it was nearly impossible to get in with 30 years ago.  I won't give it up. 

DH's family was in the insurance biz for lots of years.  His car, the house and DS and soon DD all go through that.  Maybe some day I'll cave and get on the family plan. 

I'm not swayed by promises on the phone, or enticing little lizards or promises of ridiculously low rates.  I pay for reasonable coverage at reasonable rates. 

[Miss Tequila]

I despise cold calls. As soon as I realize what the call is I say "no thank you" and hang up.

When my oldest was about 2 I used to out her on the phone with the telemarketers...a few "I'm Jane, what is your name" and the called normally got the hint

When I was in college I was a telemarketer for two nights. It was awful! Even then I hated being bothered by telemarketers and there I was bothering other people. I kept apologizing when people would get angry!lol

[mmhmm]

I've never had to make such calls, and I do not like to receive them.  I'll just hang up.

[susanb]

I have never done cold calls, but I did attempt door to door sales in high school.  It was miserable, so I try to be nice to people doing cold calls.

It seems like the number of calls one would have to make to get a sale must be crazy.  I have only entertained one cold call.  It was from a credit card company and I was planning on getting a new business card that week, so it was just luck. 

Recently, I got a cold call from an accountant.  Not a telemarketer or employee, but the actual accountant.  It didn't give me much faith in his business skills. 

[Virgil Showlion]

When I was in college I was a telemarketer for two nights. It was awful! Even then I hated being bothered by telemarketers and there I was bothering other people. I kept apologizing when people would get angry!

You sound like you made a lousy telemarketer.

If you find yourself empathizing with the elderly woman who'll need to sell her cat to pay for the gym membership you just tormented her into buying, you're not cut out for telemarketing.

[Miss Tequila]

May 13, 2013 18:02:21 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

When I was in college I was a telemarketer for two nights. It was awful! Even then I hated being bothered by telemarketers and there I was bothering other people. I kept apologizing when people would get angry!

You sound like you made a lousy telemarketer.

If you find yourself empathizing with the elderly woman who'll need to sell her cat to pay for the gym membership you just tormented her into buying, you're not cut out for telemarketing.

I know! I got reprimanded for not going in for a hard sell...and while I wasn't terminated, when the manager heard me apologizing he nicely told me he didn't think I had the personality for itl!lol

[Virgil Showlion]

May 13, 2013 18:41:42 GMT -5 Miss Tequila said:

May 13, 2013 18:02:21 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

You sound like you made a lousy telemarketer.

If you find yourself empathizing with the elderly woman who'll need to sell her cat to pay for the gym membership you just tormented her into buying, you're not cut out for telemarketing.

I know! I got reprimanded for not going in for a hard sell...and while I wasn't terminated, when the manager heard me apologizing he nicely told me he didn't think I had the personality for itl!lol

"Miss T., there's... really no diplomatic way of saying this, so I'm going to be direct. Do you remember what we said during orientation about getting rid of the 'em'?"
"Yes."
"Excellent. Remember: we take the 'em' out of 'empathy', and what do we replace it with?"
"Socio."
"Right. And right now, I'm seeing too much empathy and not enough sociopathy out of you. Too much 'I'm sorry for bothering you.' and not enough 'Buy it, you cheap whoring son of a bush pig.'"
"I'll do better, Mr. Bottlesworth. I promise."
"And what was that I heard about 'cancellation fee'? Remember the orientation. The only 'fee' is how good they'll FEE-l when they're going to the gym."
"But she asked me if there was a cancellation fee."
"And the answer is 'We're so confident you'll love it, you'll get double your money back.' Remember?"
"Yes but that isn't t--"
"Remember the orientation, Miss T. 'It isn't lying if it's over the phone.' You remember that, don't you?"
"Yes, Mr. Bottlesworth."
"It sounds like we're back on track. So go get 'em, tiger."

[Deleted]

Not everything is cut and clear....Is there Virgil.

Good night everyone.

[Virgil Showlion]

May 13, 2013 20:08:59 GMT -5 @snowbird said:

Not everything is cut and clear....Is there Virgil.

Good night everyone.

More things are cut and clear than people want to admit.

[Deleted]

May 13, 2013 20:21:26 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

May 13, 2013 20:08:59 GMT -5 @snowbird said:

Not everything is cut and clear....Is there Virgil.

Good night everyone.

More things are cut and clear than people want to admit.

maybe so in many cases. Not much so in human mind we like to make it more complicate than it's need to be. That's what I think.  

[Deleted]

Good night, friends.

[Deleted]

HATE

[Deleted]

I don't even like making regular phone calls, so making anything even resembling a cold call is my idea of hell on earth.

[Deleted]

May 13, 2013 20:43:49 GMT -5 @craftysarah said:

I don't even like making regular phone calls, 

Same here.

[marvholly]

HATE THEM!!!@!

if it is by phone I 'remind them' about the penalties for calling someone on the do not call list.

If its someone at my door I just do NOT answer.

[Cookies Galore]

I don't like the few that I get, but if i answer an unknown number on my cell for some strange reason, I politely say I'm not interested and hang up. There's no need to be rude.

I had to cold call before. It was the worst four months of my life. I threw up every morning and cried in the bathroom every day at work. I left a job with a university to work for a friend. I was supposed to be their business blogger and proof/edit and promotional material from the ceo/another friend. The words "cold" and "call" were never mentioned when discussing the job, but on my second day I had a sales guy training me. Getting laid off was the best day of my life. My poor stomach.