1 post tagged “telemarketers phone first job college”
The other night, I was having dinner with my parents. It's 7:30p and the phone rings.
Ring ring....ring ring...
Dad: Hello?
[Mom and I lower the volume of our conversation, but continue on just the same..]
Dad: Who's calling?
[Me and mom still talking....]
Dad: This is he. What do you need?
[Mom still talking...]
Dad: No, no. I don't want to refinance. [slightly raising his voice] What? Why do you need to know who my bank is? I said I don't want to refinance.
[now mom and I start giggling, trying to see how Dad's gonna get outta this one.]
Dad: Sir, I said no. I don't want to refinance. Good night. What? Huh? No. No. What? No. I said no!
click.
Dad will humor them for maybe 30 seconds *if* they're lucky, but that's about it. Mom, on the other hand, likes to have a little bit more fun with them...you know, keep talking like she's interested or gonna buy something, and then sike! She figures that she's "letting them down easy" using that method whereas Dad's just straight up no-nonsense "No!".
My advice to my parents was that if a telemarketer calls, they're better off using Dad's method. It saves everyone time, plus is probably a courtesy to the telemarketer so they can move on to the next call that might increase the 1 in a 1,000 odds that the next call will sincerely "bite". Within a matter of seconds, I immediately flashed back to my first college job as a telemarketer for a financial planning company down in Orange County (SoCal) who, for the sake of anonymity, we'll call "Whoa is Me Financial Planning".
I'm 19 years old and frantically looking for a job that isn't retail, is close to home, and pays more than $3.75/hr (minimum wage back then). My friend, Kiki, sees an ad in the school circular that says, "pays up to $15/hr." $15??!? To talk on the phone? Sign me up!
A phone call and interview later, we find ourselves sitting in a small office each in neighboring three-walled cubes at 5:50pm on a Monday night with nothing but a phone, highlighted phone book, and a stack of empty lead sheets. I got my headset on my head, my handy dandy script with my intro and list of responses for any possible kind of negative reaction and I'm ready to go! I've rehearsed the script, got my pencil on the empty lead sheet, finger on the number and am dialing my first *ever* telemarketing call. Oh yeah, bring it on. Just 3 short hours and I'll be rollin' in my $45 paycheck for the night. Eaaasy money, baby. Easy money.
Ring ring...ring ring...
[a lady's voice answers pleasantly]: Hello?
Me: Oh, hi. Is Mary* home? [in my pretend-like-you're-calling-your-old-buddy voice]
Mary*: Yes, this is Mary [in a happy-and-ready-to-be-surprised voice as if she just got a call from her old buddy]
*Names have been changed---as if I'd remember what the real name was anyway.
Me: Hi, this is Sheila from Whoa is Me Financial Planning, and...
Not even 3 seconds in my opening line and Sybil busts into full force:
Mary [EXTREMELY pissed off]: What?!? Who the h*ll is this?!? How did you get my number? Who the h*ll gave you my number? You know I can sue you for calling me? Don't you know it's dinner time??!? Don't you have a conscience?!? How can you have the audacity to sit there calling and disturbing people during dinner time??!? Don't you have a life?!? Take my phone number OFF your list IMMEDIATELY before I call the Better Business Bureau on you. I know my rights! I can send you AND your boss to jail for this.
Me: [freakin' the frick out cuz I'm believeing everything she's saying] uh...uh....[scrambling through my script of quick comeback responses to negative reactions. "No thanks", "Not interested at this time", "I'm already investing." Dangit! Where's the "Crazy Lady Who Wants to Bite My Head Off And Put Me In Jail" response?!?] uh...uh....I apologize for disturbing you, ma'am. uh...uh...
Mary: well? What do you have to say for yourself?
Me: [click.]
oh. my. gawd. I'm going to jail. I'm only 19 and I'm going to jail for calling some lady during dinner time. What kind of illegal operation is this?!? But wait, she couldn't possibly remember the company's or my name. I didn't give her my number. Why am I shaking? Huh, what? Calm down...calm down...it's just a phone call.
...but then, my phone rings. I pick it up...and guess who decided to try her phone's brand new *69 (call-back) function? Yup, Mary.
crap!
Mary: Who in the world do you think you are calling ME during dinner time and then hanging up?!? How rude!!! I'm going to call your company tomorrow and report you! CLICK!
She did it, too, and chewed the managing principal out while she was at it. My first ever telemarketing call and it's some woman who wants to send me to jail. All I could think about was, "Damn. I'm gonna get fired, go to jail *and* I have 3 more hours of this?!? crap."
But in retro, I'm oddly glad I did it. The benefits were just realized later in life. See, when she called to chew out my boss, he didn't even flinch. In fact, nobody did. That's what sales was all about---making those calls, keeping up the motivation, getting those leads and believing you can do it. It actually built character. It toughened my skin to rejection and taught me how to be persistent without ever losing sight of the goal. I know I sound like one of those motivational posters with the eagle soaring high above the plains with the blurb about Teamwork at the bottom, but it's true.
That night, I only made $24.75. Turns out that they pay on a sliding scale: 0-10 qualifying leads pays $8.25/hr (still higher than min. wage), 10-15 qualifying leads pays $12/hr. and 16+ pays $15/hr. I stuck with the job for quite a few months after and on occassion did get the $15/hr (and two job offers over the phone from the occasional entrepreneur looking for tele-sales people for his startup). In the end, it wasn't such a bad job after all.
Would I do it again? Heck no.
