How To Stop Those Annoying Calls Or… Improve Your Membership Percentage

We are still being deluged by unwanted telemarketing calls and I thought it would be interesting to take a closer look at the phenomenon.

I read several articles online, and found a lot of 'expert' advice on how to get Telemarketers to not call you. One of the most innovative ways to decrease the number of calls you get (and one of my personal favorites) is to say "Hold on, please," lay the phone down and walk away. The theory being that the person's call time will skyrocket which negatively impacts the Telemarketer's paycheck and your phone number often gets flagged as "No-Recall".

We have become so distraught over the invasion of our privacy many people are purchasing things like TeleZapper. I decided to take a look at similar devices and what I found was less than encouraging. In fact, some of them only emitted a shrill shrieking noise like a fax machine on steroids and that's all you get for your money. I also found them for sale on Ebay for around $4.00 so I decided that probably was not the way to go.

But, one of the funniest techniques I've ever seen anyone use to stop persistent calls came from my husband, Tom, who has a delightfully upbeat sense of humor with a little 'dryness' thrown in for good measure.

It was early Saturday morning and he was standing with his back to me fiddling with the telephone.

"What are you doing, babe?" I asked. I thought he was dusting the phone… should have known better, though.

"Oh, nothing. Just re-recording our answering machine message."

"Really. Are you sure you want to do that?

"Yep; pretty sure. I've already done it. Wanna hear?" he said eyeing me mischievously.

"Sure."

"Ok, here goes," he said as he hit the PLAY button:

"Hello. You have reached 813-555-0515. Your call is very important to us. Please leave a brief message with the time of your call and we will get back with you before the end of the day. If this is a telemarketing call, kindly log into my PayPal account, enter your credit card number and we will be happy to take your call. The charge is $2.00 per minute, so I'd make it fast if I were you. Have a good day!"

As I thought about the massive amount of personal information some of these companies have collected about us, it quickly became clear to me if I could harness even half of their technique, I could improve my membership percentage by a good margin. After all, seasoned telemarketing companies have a near monopoly when it comes to getting into our homes and keeping us on the phone.

It was then that I realized I wanted to be a Telemarketer! I wanted to be the one who had the biggest contact list in the history of marketing. I wanted to be the one in control of that much personal information. And I wanted to be the one who cashed in! But how could I do it?

As I sat pondering my dilemma the phone rang. You guessed it. It was a telemarketing call, but it wasn't for long distance service. It was for St. Jude's Children's' Hospital.

I wanted to hang up, but I simply couldn't do it. I listened politely and responded when I had to, and made a donation. As I mentally kicked my own shins, this is what I heard:

"Dev, thank you for your courtesy. I really appreciate it. The donation didn't hurt, either, ha ha, but it was a nice call. I don't get those often. Is there anything I can do for you before I hang up?"

WHAM! My palm smacked my forehead in the 'ol "Sure wish I had a V8" gesture, the mist cleared and I heard myself say, "Thank you. It was good talking to you, too. You have a tough job but you do it very well. And, you know? I was thinking that with your polished communication skills you would be a perfect fit for my team. I'd like to tell you a little about what I'm doing to earn extra money from home. It might be a great way for you to supplement your income. I know you can't talk now, but if you give me your home phone number and email address, I'll call you later this evening. How does that sound?"

"Sounds good. I'll be home around 8pm; will that work for you?"

It didn't take me long to understand even the most irritating intrusion can have a wonderful and potentially profitable moment which propelled me to think about the people trying to earn a living in call centers; doing a tedious job and trying to do it well. I made a vow that I would try to take a higher road from now on. After all, it didn't cost me anything except time and maybe, just maybe, I'll make another 'contact' and friend along the way.

================================================== The National Do Not Call Registry gives you a choice about whether to receive telemarketing calls at home. There are a few exceptions; however, most Telemarketers have up to three months from the date you register to stop calling you ... If they do not, you can file a complaint at The National Do Not Call Registry. You can register your home or mobile phone for free and your registration will be effective for five years. Go online or Dial: 1-888-382-1222 to register. ================================================== Interested in having your own successful, home-based retail and MLM business? Dev has been helping people grow financially stable businesses for over 20 years and you can have a successful online business, too! To see how, visit http://www.GoDebbyGo.com to learn more. ================================================== Additional resources for your reading pleasure: http://www.junkmailstopper.com/telemarketing.asp http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/script.html For tips on recycling junk mail, link to the Internet Consumer Recycling Guide. Keywords: Stop Telemarketing Calls, Do Not Call List, Free Money, Work-At-Home

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