The Joys of Telemarketing

In my previous post, I stated that I am not in the business of writing on the IT industry. However, I do like to keep my finger in the water, so to speak, and keep up to date. One of my previous positions was as a department's IT Co-Ordinator. It is not as technically minded a role as it may sound. Part of my keeping in touch involves subscribing to some email newsletters, one of which is ZDNet AU's Weekly Insight. Recently they sent out a story about outsourced call centres in relation to an SBS programme, Storyline on Aug 24.

Call Centre staff (often referred to as CSRs, but usually as Telemarketers) are one of the most maligned groups in the modern day work force. They are seen as a plague on society. Especially when they call you at inconvenient times, and are obviously speaking from India or Malaysia, yet try to tell you they are in Australia (one of the biggest give away is the time delay. If I don't get an immediate response when I answer the phone, I hang up, before they can say anything with their 3 second delay).

I used to work in a high volume call centre for one of Australia's main ticketing companies (Ticketmaster or Ticketek, you decide...I'm not telling). I am currently working in a small team in a large Public Service department that requires much of my time on the phone. I have also worked in a carpet cleaner's 9 person call centre, cold canvassing the phone book. Out of inbound and outbound calls, I much prefer inbound.

I am going off at tangents here, which I apologise for (but I will probably continue to do). The point I am trying to make is as follows:
1) Yes, CSRs call you can be very annoying
2) It is even more annoying when they are from overseas
3) I have worked in a call centre, so I can appreciate the CSRs frustration too.

Apart from hanging up on overseas telemarketers/CSRs, I tend to treat those that I do talk to with a certain amount of respect. When they start their spiel, I politely interrupt them, usually with "Look, I'm sorry but I am going to have to stop you there. Thank you for calling, but we are not interested." Sometimes I may have to reinforce this to them, but I always try to be respectful. I know that they are only doing their job. They may hate it just as much as I do. The company they work for may be pressuring them to get their quota of leads, or sales (highly likely). They probably don't have much of a passion for what they are doing, and are just going through the script. This may be the only job they feel that they can do, and will comply with any directive given by their employer, if they felt their job was at risk. Even if they hate it.

I have been in this position (making outbound calls to cold contacts). It is not fun, but it is also just a numbers game. When you are doing it, you know that for every X number of calls you make, you will have Y successes. So to get your Y*2 number of sales, you have to make (on average) X*2 calls. So you just trudge through them. Well, that's how most people do it.

You do find people who, while they don't like the work, are able to sound like they are enjoying it. You know the people I mean. They are the ones who can take the time to have a conversation with you, instead of just launching straight into, and sticking rigidly to, the script. Strangely enough, it appears to be English females who work this way more than any other demographic group. That may just be my skewed perception, but that is my belief. I think you can really feel the difference when you are talking to someone who is intelligent and has a decent command of the English language.

Basically, the point I am trying to eventually get around to is that the people calling may be having as much fun as you are. I know friends who are abusive to telemarketers, and who have a variety of "ruses" to get back at them. Some people have even developed a type of "Anti-Telemarketing" script. This is unnecessary. Treat people with respect, and most of them will treat you with respect too.

I don't like overseas CSRs calling me either. And my quick hang up is the only form of retaliation I take out on these people. I have been on both sides if the cold contacting CSR, as well as that of the customer. I am not claiming to be unique in this, but it has given me an understanding of the pressures and hassles of both sides. If you abuse the caller, you are going to darken their day, and also darken your own. Is it worth it?

DPS