Support Your Local Telemarketer
by Telemarketers are annoying, no doubt about it. They interrupt you at dinner time, they try and sell you things you don’t need, and they are a general pain in the neck. But behind every annoying telephone call is a living, breathing human being trying desperately to make a living.
There is another way to look at telemarketing. Yes, telemarketers are annoying, especially if you don’t want what they are offering. But think of it another way. I worked for two separate telemarketing companies; the first offered mobile windshield repair service, and the second was a company that sold windows and siding. If you had a cracked windhsield, the first company I worked for would quote you a price over the phone, set up an appointment to come out and repair or replace your windshield, and they would even deal with the insurance company for you! All you had to do was answer one phone call and you’re windshield was fixed. It couldn’t be easier!
With the windows and siding we would set up an appointment to come out and give you a demonstration of the product and a quote. If you liked it, we would contract the work, warranty the product, and handle the financing. Again – a minimal amount of effort on the part of the customer was exteneded.
A good telemarketer can make a decent wage. I generaly averaged between $12 and $14 an hour – a lot more than I made pushing a cart around in the casino. Personally I think this is better than sitting at home and letting the tax-payers foot the bill. On that note, telemarketers are tax-payers just like the rest of us!
Now I have no love lost for the new trend of robots who telemarket. To me these should be outlawed – they are clearly preying on only the most desperate and lonely potential customers. The companies I worked for were never trying to scame anyone – they had a genuine product or service that they offered, and telemarketing was a good, direct way to market that service.
Finally I learned a lot as a person from telemarketing. One of the first things I learned was how to handle rejection. In a good shift of telemarketing you might generate four solid leads. That is one lead per hour. All the other phone calls are “no thank yous,” hang-ups, answering machines, or less polite ways of saying no. You learn to move quickly past the nos and find those “yes” calls. Because you are saying the same things over and over again, you really learn how to hone a pitch. There is some writing involved – the exercise is how to make your point completely and concisely, and then how to deliver that pitch quickly and clearly. I learned a great deal about enunciation and communication.
I’m glad I don’t telemarket now – it is sort of a transitory type of a job with no benefits or long-term security. But I don’t regret my years as a telemarketer. I learned a lot, I paid my own way, and I managed to maintain my integrity.
The next time you get that annoying phone call, remember that there is a living breathing person on the other end of the line who is just trying to make a living.
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