Phone Etiquette for Salespeople & Tele-marketers

If you have been besieged by telemarketers and salespeople before or even by any other unknown callers, then you would have experienced the many types of people and their 'conversation style'. My brother, mother and I have had our fair share of these unwanted callers and truth be told, I have to say I wonder how their company trains them in phone etiquette. Here are some manners I wish 'customer support' people would learn.

• I know that for certain companies, they would never tell their call centres to start with 'Is it convenient for you to talk at the moment, sir/madam?'. The reason behind this is that once the caller asks that, the customer is then able to straight away answer, 'No, I'm not free. Call me later.' Well, it's rude of you to assume that we're free and not ask for permission to set aside our valuable time for you. Thus far, I've only had ONE company whose caller asked that after introducing himself. This doesn't just apply to telemarketers, it's also a good habit to adopt for anyone who has to call people, whether friends or business associates. (1) Just because you're free to talk, it doesn't mean that the person on the other end is free to listen. They may answer the phone but they may, in fact, only have a minute to spare. Put yourself in their shoes and think about that.

• Some callers wouldn't dare to be rude to their customers. This is mostly because they have to introduce themselves and the company so the name and contacts are available, but the main reason behind their politeness is that their conversations are often recorded for 'training purposes'. A telemarketer once called my mom to promote something and she told him over and over that she wasn't interested. He finally yelled at her that she was 'uneducated' and slammed down the phone. YOU are the one calling US, YOU are the one wasting OUR TIME with your job which you are being paid for, we are YOUR CUSTOMERS of which you are trying to sell us something, and that is how you treat us? (2) Should you decide to be rude to your customer, remember that there are now caller IDs, Internet search engines, Internet forums and newspaper complaint pages. A salesman from BMW Glenmarie decided to leave a very rude voice-mail on my phone and I not only called back to chastise him, I went straight to the office in question to make a complaint. Either be polite or risk having your and your company's image ruined.

• Many people on the Net have been complaining, asking and commenting on these MLM companies in Malaysia. There's one in particularly that just pissed me off, peaklifestyle.com or enjoygreatlife.com. Stupidly of me, I filled in my contact number at their website to get more information on their 'home based business', which I totally forgot after that. The woman who called me was brisk and sharp, making an appointment for me to 'meet up with them' without me even knowing who or what they are. At the end of the conversation, I asked where she had actually gotten my contact and she said, "I only have 2 minutes for you." What the hell? To me, you are being dismissive and rude like a sergeant to his wayward soldiers. (3) Today's customers cherish their privacy. Yes, we DO want to know who leaked out our contact and yes, we DO want to know what you're selling before we attend your seminar. When you don't offer at least a little bit of information to peak our interest, why should we believe anything you say? For all we know, when we go to your 'seminar', you might just sell us off as slaves or something. :P

• When we say 'no, we mean 'no'. I had the people of Fitness First calling me up again and again, and there were all different callers. One will call me and I'll tell them I'm not interested, only to have another call me up the next month. (4) You have a customer database, so when a customer says 'no', just jot that down beside their name and move on. If you keep calling the same disinterested customer, you're not just irritating them and marring your company's name, you're also wasting your time, energy and money.

One day, if I'm really irritated, I think I'd do exactly what my brother did; play with them. My brother got so fed up that every single telemarketer who called him received a very long round-about conversation. :twisted:

A Lesson in Stress Management

You know, sometimes junk mail aren't exactly 'junk' mail. All those forwarded e-mails that you receive everyday are not all useless, pointless or a waste of time. There are golden eggs amongst those rotten fruits, and here's one egg I almost threw away.

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, 'How heavy is this glass of water?'

Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g.

The lecturer replied, 'The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it.'

'If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance.'

'In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.'

He continued, 'And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on.'

'As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.'

'So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can.'

If you've ever wondered why experienced people tell you, 'Leave your work at the office. Don't bring it home.' or 'Leave your personal problems at the door', this is why. It's to help you relieve your stress burden.

The Fastest and Funniest Management Course

In the business world, it seems almost every manager is trying to motivate himself/herself and their employees by seeking out and applying the newest and latest method in management. How we have seen as time and time again, a new management guru appears, driving new theories and new ways to motivate and inspire the business organization only to be replaced with yet another newer guru. Well, I found a faster and entertaining way to learn management which I'm sure will transcend the ages.

While waiting idly for my friend, I was browsing through a magazine called 'The Address' when I came across the '2-minute Management Course'. I don't know who came up with it, but it's a must for sharing. :-D

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Lesson 1

A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out.

The Genie says, "I'll give each of you just one wish."

"Me first! Me first!"  says the admin clerk. "I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world."

Puff! She's gone.

"Me next! Me next!" says the sales rep. "I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life."

Puff! He's gone.

"OK, you're up," the Genie says to the manager.

The manager says, "I want those two back in the office after lunch."

Moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say.

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Lesson 2

An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing.

A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing?"

The eagle answered, "Sure, why not."

So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

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Lesson 3

A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy."

"Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull, "they're packed with nutrients."

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.

Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree. He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story: Bullshit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

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I hope you learned something from this short management course. If not, well, I bet you definitely got a laugh out of it. :D