Sorry to interrupt but any chance of a conversation?

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Member of the Federation of Small Businesses

“Let’s be frank about it, one of the things that gives telemarketing in the UK such a bad name at times is when telemarketers make contact with no interest whatsoever in having a productive conversation, but actually simply wanting to read a script at you in the hope that if they impose their will on you for long enough and “get the script out” you’ll cave in and agree to whatever it is they are asking you to do. These calls are prevalent in both B2C and B2B telemarketing sectors. The fact is that by taking this approach they are immediately alienating people who may well have a need or requirement for what they have to offer but because of the way that they’ve been approached they simply put up the barriers from the moment they realize its “one of those telemarketing calls”. At Calls That Count we call these kinds of calls “Telephone Dalek” calls (if you’ve ever seen the Daleks in Doctor Who you’ll know why!) The other night I was at home and the phone rang. I picked up and said “Hello” That was the last word I said. For the next few minutes the telemarketer who was from let’s just say one of the largest household names in the country read a script at me which really was designed to make me feel that my boiler could pack up at any time and probably within the next 30 seconds and that it really would be a good idea to replace it. I tried a couple of times to interject and get a conversation going but absolutely no chance of that happening. Actually I would have been quite open to discussing it with them but they wouldn’t let me! In the end the telemarketer got to the end of the script and said to me “How does that sound to you?” I replied with “Sorry to interrupt but is there any chance of a conversation about this?” The reply was (as clearly my response was not one of the scripted answers) “Er…what do you mean” That in a nutshell is why many business people conjure up in their minds some pretty negative stereotypes when they hear the word telemarketing. The good news is that day in day out professional telemarketers are setting sales appointments and generating sales leads for their clients that add real value. Not by being Daleks but by simply having productive conversations with both people on the call participating. Must go and have a look at that boiler”……

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