What would you HONESTLY do??

As someone with some mental issues ... I actually hate the sound of the phone ringing so I usually am not real nice when I answer but then to hear someone want to try to sell me something makes me ... You may be very helpful but I will call you for a quote

Honestly, I tend to 'mess with people' when they call me ....so I probably would have just messed around with you or if i were in a rush, thankyou for calling and tell you that I was not interested and have a nice day.

Originally Posted by Trouts mom

So, I sell insurance for a living, and once a month we have to cold call people to see if we can quote them a lower auto/home insurance premium...

Some people are so rude and I don't get it...we are trying to see if we can save them money

What would you honestly say to me if I called you? Just curious.

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I would check caller id and not answer the phone.

Honestly, when I get any kind of commercial calls I politely tell them I'm not interested, wish them a god night and hang up. You're just trying to make a living...no use being rude!

I also purposely did NOT put myself on the do not call list. If we phase telemarketers out, or even company reps who make calls as part of their jobs, then we'll lose jobs and the people the telemarket exclusively are generally speaking not the people who would appreciate losing their jobs.

We're pretty happy with our insurance, and I'm not going to discuss financial matters on the phone with a stranger, so I'd ask you to mail me the info. If you have my phone number, then you probably have my address. If you don't, I'd say no thanks.

I'd much rather get information in the mail than on the phone.

Cheers, from
SwampWitch

well if i am at home, there is like a 99% chance i wont even answer.
people i know just call me cell or leave messages on yahoo.

on the off chance, i do answer the phone, as soon as someone startes a sales pitch,
i will tell them take me off you call list and hang up.

lol now sometimes i get these calls at work, in which case i may play along ,
haha, even more so if the person is female and sounds cute .

if you said hi this is Natalie or Trouts mom, i would say hi, then ask how you got my number

Seriously, you should introduce yourself as Trouts Mom - it would get people interested enough to keep them on the phone

It's been interesting to read the responses. Like many others here, I'd let it go to voicemail if I didn't recognize the number. (I only have a cell phone, so I really don't like it when someone's gotten a hold of my cell number.) I generally assume cold-callers are scammers, particularly after my brother had his identity stolen. I'm very suspicious of anyone calling me about quotes, deals, etc. If I'm interested in getting a deal or finding new _____ (fill in the blank) I'll look for it when I'm ready from places I trust.

It's nothing personal against the caller. I do get frustrated though when I try to wrap up the call - politely - and they continue to push. I'm sure they have guidelines where they have to get in a last-ditch effort, but it's annoying. To top it off, when they get pissy with me for saying 'no thank you' I get very short tempered.

So now you know why most people hang up or never answer. But occasionally you will get someone who is interested...like I had a sales call from a company that comes to your home or work and repairs chips in car windshields. 99% of the time, I would want nothing to do with them...but when I had a chip in my windshield, they were a lifesaver! Came to my work and fixed the chip, and I paid them. Never even compared costs.

So it is possible to initiate a sale with a call, but those that hang up aren't really being rude (unless they say something rude). Would you rather spend 10 minutes talking to someone who will never buy from you, or keep it short and sweet.

And if you get an answering machine...be brief, speak clearly, and let people know that just 5 minutes (or whatever) of their time will give you a chance to show them how to save money on their insurance. If they were thinking of asking for quotes, they will call you back. If not...message deleted.

It is cruel that you have to make the cold calls...do you ever end up with a sale from doing it?!?

Just to clarify, I don't have a "sales pitch". I simply say "we have some of your neighbours insured (which is true), and were wondering if you would like a quote when your policies renew".

Thats it..I do not talk for 5 minutes, I do not "handle" objections. I am not an annoying telemarketer. If the person says no I move on.

The new State Farm agents in Ontario MUST get 1500 new renewal dates from prospective clients BEFORE even becoming an agent..and they get all the leads by these cold calls...Its amazing how they do it considering every person who replied to this thread wouldn't give someone like us the time of day.

Kudos to them..If I had to cold call every day, I would quit for sure..I hate even doing it once a month.

Anyway, to be honest, I was expecting at least someone to answer on the other angle...but I guess if I say HONESTLY in the thread title, I'm SOL eh?

Thanks guys.

Originally Posted by icklemiss21

Seriously, you should introduce yourself as Trouts Mom - it would get people interested enough to keep them on the phone

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or just hi ths is trouts mom with XX X compnay,
see if you find any TCS by random chance.

Originally Posted by Trouts mom

Dammit, I am NOT a telemarketer!! I am just friendly Natalie trying to do my job

I am trying to HELP people!!!

I know its not personal, but its hard to keep your chin up when people are rude and hang up on me

Oh, and I don't try and talk people into anything..if they say no thanks, I say have a good night then..I am very friendly I swear!

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But unfortunately most people who are cold calling aren't friendly, polite or easy to get off the phone. So I'm one of the rude people who hang up without saying a word.

I'm one who if I did answere I would just quietly hang the phone up..

Well, I am going to be the unpopular opinion here, but in the past, such calls have saved me absolute poo-pots full of time and money. If you were to have called me and asked if you could discuss ways for me to save money on my insurance needs, I would be all ears. I might not buy from you if it wasn't a better deal than what I already have, but I would listen.

With owning our own business, we're always looking for ways to cut costs. If you called and said that you might be able to save us money on insurance, I would definately speak with you. I do decline to give out much personal info over the phone, so I might ask you to mail your info to our business adress. I'm always looking for a better deal, so I tend to listen when people like you call!

Okay, here's my POV...I was an insurance broker for 10 years before I gave up - I used to work for Marsh & McLennan (can say that openly coz I don't work there anymore). I usually entertain cold calls from insurance agents - for the simple reason that I like to test the agents knowledge on the type of insurance they are quoting for!

I would never agree to a quote unless I knew what that particular insurance company financial stats. Malaysia is tarriff rated for a lot of things like property and motor insurance and usually cold calls come from life agents. The sad news is that 60% of agents don't know what they are talking about and I usually send them packingto do their homework!

If I knew the Insurance company and the product that they are quoting for is something I know I need (like Health, Hospital/Surgical) then I would ask for a quote, other wise, no thanks!

I would let the answer machine pick up the call - I do that with all calls where I don't recognise the caller id. And tbh, I wouldn't ring back. If I'm looking for insurance quotes I like to do it in my own time and prefer to do it online, where I don't have someone pressuring me into saying yes.

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

I look at my telephone as my connection to the outside world from my home. Something I use to communicate with my friends/family and deal with other matters in my life. If I want people to call me I give them my phone number.

I consider my home private and a stranger calling me or knocking on my door trying to sell me something that I had not asked to be contacted about, is an intrusion into my home and my "space".

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That's pretty much how I feel. If I'm busy cooking dinner or watching a film or something I don't want to stop doing that so that I can discuss insurance with a stranger. Sorry, no offence but if I pick up the phone (or answer the door) and it's someone I don't know trying to sell me something I just say no thank you straight away. If they don't take no for an answer I just put the phone down.

Originally Posted by Trouts mom

Why would you say no thanks? What would it hurt to get a quote?

I don't get it

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It wouldn't - but people are wary of cold callers for a reason.

I've actually never had a cold call, and am extremely civil by nature, so there is a good chance that I would simply humor you and take the call - and in your case, I would be pleasantly surprised that the call wasn't about automatically trying to sell me something.

That would probably make me more likely to be intrigued rather than merely polite the next time I was cold called.

I am aware that more companies are trying the competive quoting rather than selling you something approach - but I do remember my mother getting calls that could be extremely pushy (I've since seen cold calling trees designed to manipulate people staying on the line whether or not they were resistance or even hostile; I'll see if I can dig it out and send it to you, it might enlighten you a bit on why so many people have an ingrained hostility to cold callers).

Your chances of getting through to me are slim because i'm on the telephone preference list, but if you did then i would ask you to ring back in such and such a month when my renewal is due and quote me then.

I work on reception so i get these calls everyday without fail, but i just give them a polite no thank you and that were still in a contract with whoever were with.

Originally Posted by rosiemac

Your chances of getting through to me are slim because i'm on the telephone preference list, but if you did then i would ask you to ring back in such and such a month when my renewal is due and quote me then.

I work on reception so i get these calls everyday without fail, but i just give them a polite no thank you and that were still in a contract with whoever were with.

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That is actually all we ask for..we ask for the month the policies renew, and we then with their permission call back a month before the renewal, and quote them comparitively to their current policies.

Abymummy: I do know what I'm talking about, I am actually the fire expert in our office

And I totally know what you all are talking about when you get those telemarketers that call and ramble of a schpiel for like 5 minutes, and not let you get a word in..then they are trained to handle every objection in the book...Our office is not trained to telemarket. We are insurance professionals and our boss would like more business, so we try to make the calls because of that..but I do know how annoying being interupted at home can be..and I can relate..Just rest assured I am not talking about rambling off a 5 minute "piece" an then arguing with you because you say no..lol