Telemarketing - A Challenging Job

Telemarketers can earn RM3,000 per month if they’re really good at making a sales pitch over the phone. Here are some telemarketer sales tactics, followed by some tips you should learn to help you resist them so you don’t have to keep parting with your money.

1. They follow a rather awesome script - The script starts off jovial, friendly. Then it addresses the problem (don’t waste money by paying for non-investment linked insurance, because you’ll never get it back), and POW, the solution (25-year investment-linked insurance that promised some returns back on your money).

Whatever excuse the customer might have, they have an answer for it.

“No time to talk? No problem, when’s a good time to call you back?”

“Already have insurance? There’s no such thing as being over-insured, and you’ll get to claim more if anything happens.”

“That’s expensive? But you’ll get your money back after 25 years, do you really want to opt for insurance without money back?”

“You don’t need it? Ah, but does anyone else in your family need it?”

“Where did I get your number? The numbers are ‘special customers’ selected from [bank name].”

In fact, the only time telemarketers are allowed to cross-off a customer’s name is (1) when the number is out of service, or (2) when the customer explicitly refuses to purchase the product and requests to never call them back.

Anything else gets re-scheduled through an automatic software.

Tip for you:

• If you receive cold calls, the first 10 seconds is important. They will ask if it’s alright to take five minutes of your time. It’s never five minutes. 

• The products aren’t necessarily bad. It’s just another way to sell a product to the public. So if you are shopping for that product (insurance, membership, whatever), you can still hear them out.

• If you are not interested, then say “no” clearly. This is important. You might want to be all polite and say stuff like, “not right now”, or “I already have it”, or “I don’t need it”, hoping they might get the hint and go away. No dice.

This might sound rude, but “No, I am not interested to buy, thank you for your time, please don’t call me again” works best.

2. They are instructed to close sales right then and there. The thing about telemarketing is that they only have their voice to convince people. No facial expressions, no other social cues. So when they manage to hook people in through their voice, they want you to stay enchanted. They don’t want anything to break the spell.

They are told to complete the sales right on the phone, no interruptions. Everything. From filling up the forms to asking the customer to fax the signed forms back to them. They try as much as possible, to avoid the “let me talk to my spouse, contact me again tomorrow” statements and its variations.

When that happens, they ask for the spouses’ phone number and talk to them. They don’t delay. If a potential sale takes more than a few days, it’s probably a gone case. They use the fake “limited time offer” tactic, the “only selected customers get this chance” tactic, and everything in between. Basically, they don’t want you to have time to do your own research.

Tip for you:

• Do your product research. The product might be good, but make comparisons first. Get telemarketers to email you the product brochures.

If they give some excuse like it’s not ready (probably doesn’t exist), or it’s not available for the public, the product should a major “no”.

• Don’t buy a product simply because “the nice lady spent 30 minutes explaining it to me”. You wouldn’t believe how many people get guilted into paying hundreds of ringgit every month for 25 years this way.

• The telemarketer is the friendliest person you know but do not laugh along with him/her. Do not even like them. It builds rapport, and once rapport is built, selling insurance is like asking a friend for a personal favour.

3. They smile a lot - For some reason, smiles travel across the phone. Even fake smiles. Most of the time, when they “hear” a smile back, they know they can get a potential sale out of it.

Tip for you:

Just be aware of it.

Telemarketing is a tough job – so have a heart - Just to be clear – sales agents deserve respect. For every sale they close, they are rejected anywhere between 20-100 times. It takes a thick skin and to be in pure survival mode to make it in this industry. So in every encounter you have with a sales agent, you should treat them with respect. Some people are so rude that telemarketers can be reduced to tears. Some people shout expletives at them. Some people make sexual, suggestive remarks. So, coming from a former telemarketer, here’s how they would like to be treated if the customer isn’t interested in the product.

• Within the first five minutes of the sales pitch – say sorry, thank you for calling, but you are not interested in the product and/or will not buy over the phone – this saves time.

• After full-blown explanation – say sorry, thank you for calling, but the product is not what you’re looking for and you are not interested in buying – this allows them to strike your name off the list instead of calling you again.

• Don’t lead them on – sometimes customers ask to call them back many times, because they were too “polite” to say no. Some just ignore subsequent calls.

• Don’t get angry at them because they called you. This is impersonal. They have nothing against you. They are not trying to ruin your life. Your number popped up and the system made the call. That’s it.

If you are interested in a product, please buy from the sales agent who worked the hardest to serve you. It’s frustrating for sales agents when you end up buying the same product from someone else, because they don’t get the commission.