IamA Telemarketing Manager and we bother you during dinner! AMA!

First thing you did wrong was being a telemarketer doing an Ask me Anything. Good luck.

Do you try to find loopholes in the "laws"?

Not really. Sometimes the firm you work with/for may have shady practices. The most common one being changing Caller I.D. information.

If the telemarketer violates the law, the company gets a fine but so does the caller personally. When I was on the phones it was 1K per offense to the caller and could be up to 10K for the company.

Interesting. Have you or someone in your office get an offense?

Yes, I've had more than one actually. They can happen for the smallest things.

For example. When working in debt collection, you are required to say, verbatim within the first 10 seconds of speaking to the person who owes the debt "this is an attempt to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose".

If you forget to say this, or say it too late in the phone call you have technically violated.

Do you have a few minutes to discuss the second coming of our Lord?

I'm an atheist.

I guess that one didnt land.

[deleted]

Ha. No man. Youre in telemarketing, I was pretending to be a door to door jesus peddler. Maybe the only thing more annoying than telemarketers.

Sometimes I go door to door and sell "No Soliciting" signs.

PS: They sell.

Ive got one and they dont work.

Well, it would work on me if I was selling them door to door. I would have no interest in approaching your property.

I'm sure that people are responding like this to just piss you off. And, it looks like it's working.

My personal favorite is to put the phone down and let you guys talk for a long time pretending that I'm interested occasionally throwing in a, "yep." I'm typically satisfied when I've got about 20-25 minutes of your time. I don't do the do. It call lists. I like to get the blacklist. If I get more calls then cool more time wasted while I go about. Y regular day. If no more calls them cool, too; I've done my job.

Nobody on our crew would ever do that. Everything we say is based on response and interest. If you aren't engaged in the conversation or interested in the product we're happy to tell ya, "Have a great day Dom, sorry if we bothered ya!".

Do those "Do not call lists" actually work?

They do work for certain things. First off, if people are trying to "sell" you something, I.E. magazines, insurance, etc, they are required to put you on their internal DO NOT CALL list if you request it. Say it verbatim. "PUT ME ON YOUR DO NOT CALL LIST".

With charities and political campaigns, it's a different story. The best way to start is to register at http://www.donotcall.gov

This will register you for the National Do Not Call Registry and if the company operates within the law any numbers on this list are scrubbed and removed every 30 days. You may not stop receiving calls immediately after registering but they should slow down within 30 days.

When it comes to charities and political fundraisers/campaigns, we all know the government will never enact laws that restrict their ability to raise money and gain popularity.

I know that it's a violation to change your caller ID information, yet it's done all the time. When you do that how are you able to be tracked by the FCC? Or is it impossible?

You can definitely be tracked by the FCC. It usually happens because the company will call a prospect and that prospect will be have some knowledge on the laws. They contact the right people and have the right information and they start an "investigation" or whatever term they might use. I'm not sure about how the caller I.D. information is changed, but I do know that most reputable companies are very aware it's a dangerous thing to do.

Why is this comment voted down? Shit guys and gals, I've answered every question and I'm not promoting the practices.

you are being mass downvoted, most likely because of your comment above where you say that people should be polite to telemarketers because they can easily make your life more difficult, then equated what you do to fast food workers.

whether or not you agree with it, you work for the lowest of the low. and you try to equate what you do to advertising, and it is in no way the same thing. the closest thing to what you do are those people in the mall who spray perfume on you when you walk by.

your job is intrusive, invasive, manipulative, and frankly just annoying. people don't like what you do, and are probably going to down vote everything you say here

Fair enough. Everyone has the right to express their opinions and I can understand that thought process as well.

Are people more interested in telemarketed products than I think, then? I cannae imagine me picking up the phone, somebody trying to sell me something and myself genuinely being bothered to stay on the line and listen to this person.

These days, the actual "SALE" isn't made over the phone. Typically the telemarketer is used to generate or gauge interest in the product or service. If there is genuine interest, a salesman (often the telemarketer him/herself) will make an in person sales call to attempt to close the deal.

EDIT: Back in the day (1990's- Early 2000's) we sold EVERYTHING over the phone. You'd be amazed.

Follow-up question: do you worry that your job will become obsolete?

Well, I guess the downvotes tell me how popular it is, but it will never be obsolete. People want to deal with other people when it comes to certain transactions.

Again, don't confuse inbound and outbound... Having a person to ask is not the same as having a person who asks; just ask circuit city.

I have to agree with you on this one. Takes a better salesperson for outbound.

How does it feel to have your AMA downvoted into oblivion?

Dont take it too seriously bro... its the interwebs, and theyre just imaginary internet points!

Ive done direct sales, and know its hard out there to get your commissions... GL in life CMonte420

I couldn't care less. I answered the questions I was asked and as my post says, I'm new and not a "Redditor" so It won't hurt me too bad.

Has anyone ever messed with you? (Reverse prank call, lying, avoiding questions but not hanging up, etc.)

Of course. I have examples of all of those except reverse prank call. Which one would you like to hear a hilarious example of?

For some reason, lying just seems like its be obvious and ridiculous but I'd like to hear that.

It's awesome. My favorite is this one.

Me: "Hi, Mary?" Her: "No, who is this?" Me: "This is Craig, I'm with Dan's Dildo Depot, I was calling about the request you sent us?" Her: "This isn't Mary, she's not home can I take a message?" Me: "Oh, I'm sorry, who's this?" Her: "This is her sister"

I've known this was Mary from the jump because of her voice and hesitation. I've also never spoken to Mary so I have no idea who she is or what she sounds like.

Me: "Wow, you sound just like Mary, when can I reach her?" Her: (Weird Silence trying to figure out what is going on) CLICK

EDIT: Adding this. When the prospects "lie" its just a tool they use so they don't have to say "NO". It's actually a strategy they use because they are nice people. They would rather make up some crazy bullshit than just be straight up and say NO. Trust me, we would all be much happier if you just said NO.

Trust me, we would all be much happier if you just said NO.

And we'd be much happier if you wouldn't fucking call us during dinner.

You shouldn't be eating dinner while I'm calling.

Tom Mabe style? Yeah it happens. If you don't know who Tom Mabe is, look him up on YouTube. For those of you who despise telemarketers you will love Tom. In particular, see

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8vrfDmr2C4

Problem is, the telemarketer has a lot of phone experience. They can hear inflections in your voice, and they have taken sooo many calls they know when things "don't sound normal".

If you're trying to "turn the tables" on a telemarketer, you should be in the telemarketing business. If you can pull it off, you're a better phone worker than the idiot calling you. If he can't recognize somebody trying to play a prank on him by instinct, he'll never work for me or any firm I consult for.

Most people can't pull it off as well as Tom Mabe and my bet is neither can you.

In our industry they say you read the call in the first 5-7 seconds. I usually know by the 7 second mark if I have a viable prospect or a throw away.

In the Toronto area almost everyone I know has been receiving daily (no exaggeration) calls from 'Air Duct Cleaning'. A Google query led me to a message board thread with tons of complaints. It seems this telemarketing call center is located in India. The callers are very persistent and rude. When I said 'I'm gonna start booking appointments and see how you like me wasting YOUR time, I received several calls in quick succession - asking me what I'd be wearing and if I'd be alone.

I now usually hang up as soon as I realize it's a telemarketer. I feel sorry for the legit telemarketers and my question is - How do you feel about this type of shady telemarketer, and is it effecting your sales?

Absolutely. That's one of the reasons I made this AMA. There are a TON of shady telemarketing companies all over the world. That has given a stigma to the industry that doesn't apply to everyone. There are some great telemarketing companies out there working for charities and other worthwhile causes and they provide a lot of revenue that would otherwise never be seen.

Take a look at this and consider the impact of 3rd party debt collection companies on economies as a whole. This is based solely on telemarketing.

http://www.acainternational.org/economicimpact.aspx

Shady telemarketers really hurt the legitimate firms and that's probably something that will never change. It's an easy industry to be shady in.

Idk your other answers make me think you are shady as well.. You said you could make someone's life hell for a year because they were rude. Guarantee they'd be called over and over... Do you not see how that's borderline harassment?

I'm not the person who enacts these practices, I'm just trying to tell you how the business works.

Just because you have the capability does not mean you would do it. Or even still, not be punished by your employer when they inevitably find out what you did.

THANK YOU!

Wow thats really insightful. I've heard drinking half a gallon of bleach will make you the worlds best telemarketer. You should try it.

Will do, thanks for the advice.

Does telling the caller to put you on their do not call list ever not work? I.e., do some organizations just go through the motions with you on the phone, and then call you back next week?

And, what was your most memorable experience on the phone with someone you called, good or bad?

I wouldn't use the term "not work". If you are really rude to the telemarketer, and you ask to be added to the DO NOT CALL LIST and he just "happens" to hit the wrong button, you go back in the queue.

If companies operate shady to begin with, they may not even worry about the DO NOT CALL list regulations because it's very rare that companies are ever caught or punished for violations. People don't know how to move it forward Pro Se.

I forgot to tell you the most memorable experience! How could I not answer that. I have sooooo many good ones.

1. Called a guy named Shitley Fitts. He was very friendly. Yes this was his real name.

2. Many people answered the phone during sex

3. Interesting conversations with drunk people (I always keep them on as long as possible, I probably have recordings).

4. Sold insurance to a lesbian couple both with ambiguous names. Was hard to discern what was going on until I came out and asked "Are you a same sex couple?". Akward.

I could come up with more if I thought a little harder, or ask some of my employees I bet they have some great ones.

How do you possibly get people to answer in this day and age of caller ID and texting? If I don't recognize the number, I simply deny the call. I figure if they know me, they'll text me. I didn't even set up a voice mail. People just text me if they need something and I'll call them back if I recognize the number in the call list. And as far as the home phone that comes with cable? It doesn't even have a phone hooked up in the house. It just exists.

That's a great question. Most people don't know there are different laws regarding cell phones. Knowing the industry, I've done the same thing you have. No voice mail on my cell. "This customer has not set up their voice mail".

Believe it or not, a huge portion of the country (mostly seniors) still have land line phones. Laws regarding telemarketing cell phones are currently becoming more flexible because everyone is moving to mobile technology.

Regarding your line hooked up to cable with no phone attached, you are right. It just "exists". If someone calls it, it just rings on their end and nobody answers.

Do you need toner?

No, our industry is pretty much cloud based. Not much paper required.

Is there any call that sticks out as a memorable call?

I'd have to say the most memorable call I ever had was a guy in Arkansas. No matter how many times I told him I was calling about insurance, he kept saying "I don't vote". He must have been in his late 60's or early 70's.

No matter how clear or succinct I was with why I was calling, he insisted my call was related to politics. He proceeded to bash Barack Obama and the democratic party for about 30 minutes. He was extremely racist and although offensive, it was very entertaining to hear. Dude was super passionate.

After he ranted for what seemed like an hour, I asked him, "If you're so passionate about the president and politics why don't you vote?"

His response was priceless. He sat for about 10 seconds in silence and responded "Bars and liquor stores are closed on election day, and I wouldn't vote for any of these dirty fuckers without being drunk as fuck."

Touche' sir. Well said.

what's the easiest way to extract fines from a telemarketing call hitting a cell phone number (I'm assuming cell #s are treated more seriously by regulators)?

If they call your cell phone once, tell them it's a cellular phone and they are not permitted to call it. If they call it again they are in violation.

Be sure to ask the name of the caller, the name of the firm calling AS WELL AS THE COMPANY THEY REPRESENT.

If the caller dodges giving you their name, INSIST on talking to management. They are required to tell you who they are and who they represent.

Document it all, the numbers the calls come from, the people you speak with, record the calls if you can.

Depending on the type of call you are getting violations vary.

EDIT: GREAT QUESTION, IF YOU WANT MORE INFO LET ME KNOW

Where or who would you call to report something like this. I hadn't really thought about it, but I've received 3 calls from the same company trying to sell me newspaper subs and have been on the do not call registry since 2008 (according to the verification I just completed at donotcall.gov ) .

You would want to call the Attorney Generals office in your state to file complaints against any telemarketers.

Call your state Attorney Generals office. They regulate these activities.

Sorry you are getting so many downvotes on all of your responses, I find all of this fascinating and I appreciate your honesty on telemarketing practices.

The question I have if I am not too late to the party is: What has been the easiest and most difficult item/service to sell?

Also, what would you assume the call per close is for the industry?

Thanks!

The easiest thing to market is charitable donations. People like to give money away to make themselves feel good. The hardest thing to sell is probably insurance services.

Close ratios vary, but I can tell you this. Pick up a phone book, make up a charity, create a name and call people at random and ask them to donate. A good caller can secure a donation out of 10 percent of their calls.

What dose your day actually look like? Do you have a schedule, a quota, or just list of numbers?

Another great question. I wouldn't say you have quotas, at least not in our fields. You have expectations. Based on the employees you have and the time they work, you can estimate based on data from previous months what averages should be.

Naturally you always want to increase these averages and make things more efficient.

As far as schedule goes, it is legal to call any area from 9am-9pm LOCAL TIME. A 12 hour window, so if you operate as a telemarketing firm you have the ability to make calls for 15 hours per day.

Bottom line is, produce as much as you can, so you can turn clients and have them order again. Clients will not order again if you're not doing the job well and helping them close deals/raise money/promote business.

If they don't call back, we fucked up.

Once my ex had a call from a telemarketer and was in a particularly bad mood, so the second he realised he shouted 'fuck off you c*nt,' and hung up. Not 20 seconds later the phone rang and somebody shouted, 'fuck you too, sir!' and hung up.

Would that person have got into trouble, or would their boss have been laughing their ass off like I was?

In any respectable firm they would have been fired on the spot. I have fired and witnessed many telemarketers fired for things just like this.

Unacceptable.

EDIT: If this call wasn't too long ago, you can probably still get a nice settlement from the company. Regulators don't play with this kind of thing when it's taken through the system correctly.

Jesus ass-fucking Christ. What the fuck are all you stupid jack-wagons doing downvoting ALL of these responses? Reddit must be full of the Xbox I-fucked-your-mother crowd who couldn't be shitheads in CoD today.

NO SHIT! People are so fucking negative!

Nah it was years ago (sadly, that settlement part sounds good lol). I got a chuckle out of it, but I hope it was worth it for him if the bloke lost his job over it!

Well if you guys complained to upper management and that call recording was pulled and reviewed, he definitely lost his job. If he didn't, you wouldn't want to be doing business with the company he worked for to begin with.

EDIT: WIN/WIN

Is it true that you guys cannot hang up during a call?

That is not true. As long as you end the call without being rude you can pretty much disconnect it whenever you want. You are not allowed to hang up on a prospect out of anger or because they want an answer to a question you can't provide. Basically, you can't do anything that would be construed as "mistreating" the consumer.

REALLY? Telling you guys how it works gets down voted? WTF guys/gals?

Do you actually make sales? I've never met anyone who has bought something from a telemarketer.

Absolutely. You'd be surprised at how many financial services are sold via telephone.

So... like the beginning of Wolf of Wall St.

It was kinda like that back in the mid 90's. I was making 18 bucks an hour working part time during high school as a telemarketer in 1998.

Oh financial services? So you're like, a WEAPONS GRADE piece of shit, huh?

No. We don't sell financial services but it is a huge industry via telesales.

I'm going to risk this post to say thank you for making this AMA. While I hate telemarketing calls and have the same feeling as others on telemarketers who post here I take an objective view for education purposes. You know we all hate your industry, but so goes the controversial job and position of any good AMA. The boring ones are usually on something/someone everyone loves. Don't feed the trolls and try to remain objective in your replies. Why bother? Why not just be professional (which is regardless of what you do for a living) and just wipe all illegitimate replies?

I upvoted all your legtimate ones, but I downvoted your "piss off" replies too.

Here is my question: With regards to cell phones. How do you identify whether or not the number you were fed is a cell? how are the numbers harvested primarily before getting to you?

There is really no way to know you are calling a cell phone unless the prospect tells you it's a cell phone. Numbers are "harvested" from data providers. Many companies (Google, Facebook, etc) are collecting metadata and storing digital information every time you complete a form online. You may not know it, but the Terms Of Service for most of these companies states they can and will share your information. They sell your name and phone number to data providers and telemarketing firms like mine pay (usually between 2 and 5 cents per record) for the data.

And by the way, thanks for the understanding, it's greatly appreciated.

With the do not call list, have you ever seen it abused by a shady company as an actual harvest list? Is it's release controlled in some way?

Its not controlled, for a telemarketing agency you can download the updated list each month. If you're caught calling people on the DNC you can be fined 1K per offense as a company along with a fine allocated for the telemarketer personally.

How do people you know personally (friends, family etc.) feel about your profession?

What have your experiences been when a new acquaintance asks what you do for a living?

Telemarketing isn't a bad profession. The only thing that really matters is what contracts you are working.

If you're working for a shady company or any organization that conducts business that looks suspect of course your family wouldn't want you associated with those people.

I've been lucky enough to be associated with reputable companies and keep my ethics intact in a difficult industry.

Did you honestly expect a positive turn out on this thread? I mean its pretty common knowledge that you have one of the most hated professions in the western world.

I already consider the outcome positive. I've gotten some really good questions and have tried to answer them to the best of my ability.

Do people actually buy stuff from telemarketers still?

Absolutely.

What's a typical close rate?

That depends on the product you are marketing as well as the area you're focused on. Our company calls over the US and close ratios vary from not only state to state, but county to county within states.

The most amazing thing I've noticed with close ratios is the affect of lunar cycles. As crazy as it sounds, people are different (as a collective) during a full moon. I've documented that our closing ratios drop by an average of about 6 percent on full moon lunar cycles. It sounds absurd, but it's true.

EDIT: VOTE DOWN ALL YOU WANT, IT'S TRUE. I'VE TRACKED 24 FULL MOON CYCLES (2 YRS) AND THE NUMBERS TELL THE STORY.

That's the stupidest fucking thing I've ever read.

Well, read a little. Lunar Effect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_effect

Is there any truth that if you subject the telemarketer to racist abuse that the company can't call you again because they cant make their staff listen to it again?

No, that's ridiculous.

What's the rudest response you have had ?

Did you take it personally?

Once you've had EVERY rude response in the world, it's hard to pick one. When you first start (i was 16), you do take it personally. It's really hard to listen to somebody you don't even know rip on you for what seems like no reason.

After it happens about 50 times, you become numb to it. I can literally be kicked back reading a book and delivering a prepared script over the phone to a prospect. Once you learn every single aspect of the approach and technique it becomes robotic.

You don't remember insults and you don't take them personally because you LITERALLY will not remember them in a matter of SECONDS after disconnecting the call.

Hang up a call, I can ask you 10 seconds later what the lady's name was that you just spoke to and you won't remember. A seasoned telemarketer won't remember her name, her insults or anything else she said unless he closed the sale/donation/lead/promo.

[removed]

I'm glad you recently learned the meaning of the word "summarily" and I'm happy to afford you the ability to use it.

Couple more questions if I may.

1) What's to stop a telemarketer from putting a call down as a "yes" instead of the "no" they got? There've been cases in my country (Finland) where telemarketers would call people and offer them a product, get a "no thank you" and send the product anyway. This particularly has been happening with a company selling "subscriptions" to socks and shaving supplies. They sell it as a free sample whereas it's actually a subscription you automatically agree to unless you call and cancel, but their phone numbers aren't actually manned. So you either pay or the bill goes to a debt collector. My grandfather got hit with this shit.

2) What's the fastest way to get a telemarketer to give up and end the call? "No thank you" doesn't seem to be doing the trick.

1. All companies have a quality control process. Typically callers are also listened to at random.

2. Just say "i'm not interested" and hang up.

Do you have to tell people you are recording the phone call?

If the call is being recorded, yes it's required that you advise people. If things haven't drastically changed you must advise them of recording within the first 30 seconds of the call. They say the calls are recorded for "quality control" because it's true. The only reason we record the calls is in order to audit our telemarketers and make sure they are doing their jobs correctly.

What can we do when a telemarketer won't give their name or won't give their last name?

Eh, any decent telemarketer would have no reason to withhold this information. If they won't give you that you're probably dealing with a shady company and the best idea is to research that company, maybe call back and try to get a "higher up" on the line and see what you can learn. Any telemarketer who won't identify has something to hide.

Worst -most angriest- response you have ever gotten from someone?

That's a tough one to answer. You get a lot of just "fuck off" or whatever they might want to say before just hanging up.

Sometimes you get some really creative people that wanna run with it. They will talk to you for 30 minutes telling you to go fuck yourselves. We actually love that because it provides us with a "break" in our day.

We laugh about it and tell the guy next to us, it's just like any other office.

EDIT: FOR THE MOST PART PEOPLE ARE NICE. REDDIT HAS BEEN MORE CRITICAL THAN THE PEOPLE WE ACTUALLY CALL. IMAGINE THAT.

I was at a friend's once and he received a telemarketing call for from a telco trying to get him to switch his phone/internet etc to them. He straight starting to pretend he was a 85-year old lady who didn't understand a thing about what it involved (he's actually an IT tech :p ) and got the poor telemarketer to try and answer each of the stupid questions he would ask, often 2-3 times each (hey, 85 year old). He kept it going for a good 20 minutes then ended it with something like "I won't change anyway because I have an emergency device that calls out if I wet myself and I don't want to risk it not to work because of the change". I was literally ROTFL during the whole time, trying not to laugh too loud to be picked up through the phone. The most awesome is that it was so well played that the caller very likely never realized he was being pranked... definitely didn't feel like a break for him this time. Was one of the best laughs of my life though, and we'd have paid to know how he explained the call to his coworkers at the end of the day.

Terrible telemarketer. That's all I can say.

Can you make me a new sandwich? mine got cold when I picked up the phone

Hell yes. What kind would you like?

cheddar, buffalo chicken, barbecue sauce. thanks!

I'll E-Mail it to you. I only have whole wheat bread, hope that isn't a problem. As soon as you start to eat it, I'm going to call you and try to sell you a diet plan.

Does the company you work for and who solicits purchases also handle the billing for them? If not, and I am called cold by a telemarketer and buy something, how do you make the distinction clear to me that I am not in fact entering an agreement with you, but with a third party? Furthermore, if your firm is hired by, say, a cellular operator to push their new product, do they grant you access to their customer records?

We would typically be granted limited access to customer records. These accesses would be controlled by the company contracting us.

Typically we would handle billing for any client we are working for. We don't really have to "make it clear" that you aren't entering into an agreement with us as any "deal" you complete will be done via the processes of our clients and within their internal systems using their documents and contracts. The distinction would be evident on any and all paperwork you completed to close the deal.

I have a question:

Can you please never call me?

Done.

Just one: How do you sleep at night?

Horizontally.

Telemarketing Manager is that another name for Operations manager?

Procurator telemarketing. That's Latin, asshole.

How does it feel to be second best? What are your plans to become better scumbags than debt collection companies? No I didn't win a trip from Visa, you lie.

E: I'll put an actual question in here. Why does no one seem to actually remove you from 'the list'? Like, is it a different list for every client?

E2: Why would a legitimate business have a need to mask their phone numbers?

We don't work in debt collection. That's something I was in years ago. If they don't "remove you from their list" it's for one of two reasons.

1. The telemarketer didn't feel like it
2. The company doesn't "scrub" lists even if telemarketer does it

A legitimate business wouldn't mask their phone number. I've never advocated that but I do acknowledge it's a practice that causes problems for other firms that try to operate under the law.

If the telemarketer isn't removing the numbers, it's because the company operates with shady practices.