"If You're Going to Call, Do it Right"- July 25, 1994 Edition
Contact: Larry Jaffe, Senior Editor,
DM News, 100 Avenue of the Americas, New York NY 10013
Phone: 1(212)925-7300 Fax: 1(212)925-8758 e-mail:editor@dmnews.com
I have to admit that I enjoyed
Carol Skolnick's' May 23 piece about telemarketing. However, unlike Carol,
I've come to accept the inevitability of the medium. Since telemarketing
obviously works and is obviously here to stay, I thought I'd offer some
thoughts on how I prefer to be approached. If you're going to call me, you
might as well do it right!
- Remember that you're coming into my home. Let's pretend
for a moment that your car broke down in front of my house at 6:30 in the
evening. If you wanted to ask me to use the phone, wouldn't you be deferential?
If you heard my children in the background and heard my wife telling men
not to forget that the steaks were broiling, wouldn't you take that into
account? Why is it, then, that three out of four telemarketers who call
at 6:30 launch into their act without any cognizance of me or my environment?
(Surely they hear my kids in the background.)
- State your FULL name, firm and reason for calling before sating
anything else. In this day and age, I give out NO INFORMATION
unless I know who I'm speaking to and why they're calling. I expect to
hear a formal introduction, as if you were a sales rep calling on a buyer
(which in fact is what you are).
"This is Kathy from Dermaglass to tell you about a great bargain for your home," doesn't cut it. I want to hear, "This is Kathy Sampson from Dermaglass in Boston. We're contacting homeowners in Norwell about our new window installation offer.
- I ONLY WANT TO HEAR ONE QUESTION AFTER THE INTRODUCTION. YOU
DON'T ASK IT, THE CALL IS OVER.
That question is (drum roll, please): "Is now a good time to talk?"
Forget that that it's plain courtesy. Forget the fact that it happens so rarely that anyone who says it automatically gets a hearing form me. It benefits you more than me. If it isn't a good time form the recipient. You're not going to make a sale. Ask if I have the time--and save yourself time.
Don't do what most do here, and ask me a question. ("Can you hear me?", "How are you today," etc.) We know the logic --get someone to say "yes" right away to break down resistance. WRONG. Force a response and the response will be "no". I'm in my home--my refuge from conflict. The minute I get the feeling of negotiation or manipulation, down goes the switch-hook.
- Use a script, but use it well. Scripts are great.
I was sold on them at 16, when I used one to ask Kendall Farr out. However,
the scripts telemarketers use on me are to long and too inflexible. (So
was the one I used on Kendall, but I was a 16 year old Cheech and Chong
refugee. You, as a professional telemarketer, have no excuse.) A good script
should do the following: tell them what you're going to tell them, tell
them, and then tell them what you told them. And do it in about 20 seconds.
While we're at it, don't try to script every situation. I once had my credit card company call after I had opted out of their telemarketing offers. When I very politely informed them of this, the operator started reading a minute-long script about how they valued their customers! How about proving it by letting me get back to dinner?
- DON'T leave a message on my machine asking me to call, and
implying you have some other business with me. A major national
discount store has done this to me several times, in their persistent attempts
to sell me service contracts. I DON'T RETURN CALLS FOR SALES PITCHES. MAKE
THE PITCH ON YOUR DIME!
I suspect the logic is to make the recipient think that the credit department is calling, or that a catalog order is ready. I'll leave you, the FTC and the state attorney general offices to ponder the legality/morality of this tactic.
- If you don't get the person you want, DON'T just say "I'll
call back later" and hang up. Introduce yourself. I thought
that was phone etiquette known to everyone over the age of 12. I'd say
two-thirds of the telemarketers who call me don't know it.
I once had someone call for my wife five days in a row without introduction themselves. The fifth time they were told not to call again until they identified themselves and stated their purpose. We haven't heard from them since.
- DON'T play "overcoming objections" with me.
Out of courtesy (and assuming the telemarketer has been courteous), I will
give a one to two sentence statement explaining why I don't need or am
not interested in their offer. Let it go after that!
The "overcoming objections" game is part of the 9-to-5 world I'm escaping from at home. Draw me into it, and --you guessed it--switch-hook time!
- Be prepared to two step.The best you're going to get
from me on the phone is a request form more info. You MAY get a sale later,
but I don't buy on impulse, and don't buy from someone I'm not familiar
with. If you want to give me space and build trust, I may have business
form you later.
I'm surprised how many telemarketers don't have ancillary materials to offer those of us who prefer mail, video or the Internet. (Are they afraid that if we do reflect on their product, we'll see it for the poor value it is?)
So what does get me to buy? The right person with the right offer at the right time. Sound nebulous? It sure is. And I will grant you hat I may not be representative of the prospects you call in the course of your business. What I will guarantee is this: Engage in any of the tactics I outlined above, and the only thing you'll get from me is a demand that you remove my name from your phone lists per the 1992 Telemarketing Consumer Protection Act.