KAREN 1, TELEMARKETER 0
Posted by Karen on Apr 12 2007
Quite some time ago I stumbled upon this website:
When you speak with a telemarketer, they always seem to have a quick answer for any situation. This counter-script puts the telemarketer on the defensive. It helps you get the upper hand when dealing with people who won’t take “no” for an answer.
We don’t get too many telemarketer calls here, thankfully. When we do, they typically give their initial spiel and accept my “no thank you” as the final word. If they continue their hard-sell after I’ve said “I’m not interested,” then I pull this script out and start having some fun.
My best “customer” played along for quite some time. Simply following the flow chart, I asked him question after question and acted very interested in his answers. Here’s what I learned about him that day:
His name was David and telemarketing was a part time job for him. He also had a full time job as a pipe-fitter. He did not live anywhere near me, but was far away in Dallas, TX! I told him I had never been to Texas, and he politely invited me down and gave me a few suggestions of things I must see.
David had been in telemarketing for about 6 months and he claimed to really like his job. He told me it was fun to “meet new people” this way. He earned about $8 an hour and received commissions for products he sold. When I asked if he got time off to go to the dentist, he told me that he only worked evenings at this job. If he needed to go to the dentist, he had to take time off of his pipe-fitting job.
At this point I was cracking up but trying my hardest to stifle any audible laugh. I asked David if he thought that having good teeth was important for his line of work. He paused to think for a moment and then told me he didn’t think it was important since he called people on the phone and they couldn’t see his teeth. He was very serious about his answer.
So I asked him what brand of toothpaste he recommends. He snorted as he laughed and asked me why I wanted to know. I simply told him that I thought it was only fair for me to ask him some questions seeing as he had asked me several earlier in the conversation.
David thanked me politely for my time and hung up.
I smiled smugly and tallied the score: Karen 1, Telemarketer 0.
on 12 Apr 2007 at 11:03 am 1 Awesome Mom said …
You crack me up!!!! I don’t even bother with them, once they start speaking and I know it is not a call I wish to take I simply hang up. My husband is a lot more polite about it and will actually listen to them for awhile.
PS I do cross stitch, I have been doing it since I was eight although lately it has taken a back seat to my knitting.
on 25 Apr 2007 at 7:44 pm 2 PediaScribe Blog » ANOTHER TELEMARKETER FUNNY said …
[…] I enjoyed sharing my other telemarketer story with you. I think it helped prove a point: I had too much time on my hands before I had children. That very well could explain another telemarketer game I played. […]