Telemarketers call to gather information, sell products, make appointments, solicit donations, influence voting, and encourage existing customers to buy more. They may work in call centers, offices, or from home, and often work on commission or minimum wage. To avoid unwanted calls, use caller ID and voicemail. If you are interested in what a telemarketer is offering, verify the legitimacy of the company before giving out any personal information.
A telemarketer is usually a person (although sometimes an automated voice called a robocaller) who calls your home or place of business to perform one or more of the following tasks:
1. Gather information for research purposes
2. Sell a product or service
3. You have made an appointment with a salesperson, in person, over the phone, or sometimes via Internet conferencing.
4. Have you donate to a charity
5. Get to vote in a specific way or in a specific election
6. Get yourself, as a pre-existing customer, to purchase new products or services.
Telemarketers can also receive calls generated through advertising or promotions and then try any of the above options.
The telemarketer can work in a call center, office, or at home, and some are particularly unrelenting on calling during family hours or dinnertime, or calling much later in the evening than you’d like. You certainly don’t have to wait to hear all the rant from telemarketers, and with Caller ID, you also have the option of not answering phone calls from unknown sources. Alternatively, you can let your voicemail answer calls from telemarketers, to avoid calls you simply don’t want to answer.
It’s important to understand the telemarketer’s role and also a little bit about their job, so that you can meet these people with polite refusal when you are not interested in their services. First, telemarketers in general tend to work on a commission or minimum wage basis. Some people really enjoy the work, while others do it because they have to. Most are employing the practice of cold calling which means they will get a rude response from many. There’s no need to be rude to these people; just be direct.
Instead of getting mad at this phone salesman for doing his job, simply politely inform the person that you are not interested, wish him the best of luck in his endeavor, attach a final statement such as “Good night” and hang up. Talk about them when necessary to get your point across. When you’re really disinterested, don’t waste these people’s time by letting them participate in a sales pitch and then criticize them with comments about how rude you think they are for wasting your time.
In many countries and states there are no call records, but they do not apply to all types of telemarketers. People who are conducting legitimate market research, making a politically motivated call, collecting money you owe, or raising money for a charity can still call your home and in many cases are exempt from the Do Not Call Record . However, you can request that these people remove your name from the call list and generally, except debt collectors, they must comply with this request, although this may vary in different countries.
In addition to often being considered unwanted intruders, many phone scams have been perpetrated by seemingly innocent telemarketers. This has left many people with a distinct distrust of all telemarketers in general, even though many are legitimate telephone salespeople doing good work for a market research company or for a reputable charity.
If you are legitimately interested in something a telemarketer might offer, prudence dictates that you do the following:
1. Ask the telemarketer for the company’s actual business address and phone number.
2. Ask the telemarketer for the employee’s full name and number so that person can be credited with a sale.
3. Look for the business on the Internet and check its legitimacy.
4. Use the website and not any telephone number provided by the telemarketer to contact the company.
5. If the company checks out, make sure the company is conducting telemarketing, especially before giving out private details like your address, full name and information like your credit card number.
6. When you cannot verify a legitimate business, do not buy anything the company offers or provide any information to the company.
Many telemarketers are absolutely legit and the products sold or charitable requests are real. However, in the age of information theft, it’s very important not to be tricked into giving away information that could be used to your detriment by a good sales pitch.
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