Andy Rooney's tips for telemarketers

Smurfer · 03-22-2005, 08:15 PM

Three Little Words That Work !!

(1)The three little words are: "Hold On, Please..."Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off (instead of hanging-up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so much more time-consuming that boiler room sales would grind to a halt.

Then when you eventually hear the phone company's "beep-beep-beep" tone, you know it's time to go back and hang up your handset, which has efficiently completed its task.

These three little words will help eliminate telephone soliciting.

(2) Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the other end? This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls and records the time of day when a person answers the phone. This technique is used to determine the best time of day for a "real" sales person to call back and get someone at home.

What you can do after answering, if you notice there is no one there, is to immediately start hitting your # button on the phone, 6 or 7 times, as quickly as possible. This confuses the machine that dialed the call and it kicks your number out of their system. Since doing this, my phone calls have decreased dramatically.

(3) Another Good Idea:

When you get "ads" enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return these "ads" with your payment. Let the sending companies throw their own junk mail away.

When you get those "pre-approved" letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, do not throw away the return envelope. Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes, right? It costs them more than the regular 37 cents postage "IF" and when they receive them back.

It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was around 50 cents before! the last increase and it is according to the weight. In that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little, postage-paid return envelopes.

One of Andy Rooney's (60 minutes) ideas. Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express.Send a pizza coupon to Citibank. If you didn't get anything else that day, then just send them their blank application back!

If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on anything you send them. You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just to keep them guessing! Eventually, the banks and credit card companies will begin getting their own junk back in the mail. Let's let them know what it's like to get lots of junk mail, and best of all, they're paying for it...Twice!

Let's help keep our postal service busy since they are saying that e-mail is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they need to increase postage costs again. You get the idea !

If enough people follow these tips, it will work---- I have been doing this for years, and I get very little junk mail anymore.

KingTermite · 03-22-2005, 08:35 PM

Tip (1) works quite well. I started doing that YEARS ago...and I have hardly had ANY telemarketing calls in the last 10 years.

The others a GREAT IDEAS...I may start.

Rick_EE · 03-22-2005, 09:45 PM

If you think telemarketing is bad at home, try a medium sized business like ours. There is no no-call list. We have a good receptionist who can spot them and just put them on hold. It hasn't done anything to stop them, but at least I don't have to talk to them.

One of the scams they will call and say that they just want to verify your model printer. Next thing you know you get a new toner cartridge in UPS along with an invoice.

YoBoGo · 03-22-2005, 10:59 PM

My favorite is to hand the phone to my 3 year old who has not quite mastered the art of conversation, but loves to practice. All telemarketing calls get handed directly to my daughter who then tells them about grandma, our family dog, what she is watching on TV, what she just ate, etc. Makes for some good laughs at home.

*polonyc2* · 03-22-2005, 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick_EE

One of the scams they will call and say that they just want to verify your model printer. Next thing you know you get a new toner cartridge in UPS along with an invoice.

that happens a lot at the place I work...when I first started there I had no idea it was a scam until some colleagues told me about it...they actually ask for the model number of a printer at work so they can find out what type of printers are being used in that particular office so they can then deluge you with mail/ads/catalogs etc for that particular model of printer

alien resident · 03-22-2005, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick_EE

If you think telemarketing is bad at home, try a medium sized business like ours. There is no no-call list. We have a good receptionist who can spot them and just put them on hold. It hasn't done anything to stop them, but at least I don't have to talk to them.

One of the scams they will call and say that they just want to verify your model printer. Next thing you know you get a new toner cartridge in UPS along with an invoice.

OMG I go thru this 20-30 times a day. The copier model number one; I came up with this one myself. I tell them the model number is "t1hs-tae". When they seem a little unfamiliar or perplxed with the model number, I tell them to read it backwards and hang up on them. Works like a charm. !

epicbard · 03-22-2005, 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YoBoGo

My favorite is to hand the phone to my 3 year old who has not quite mastered the art of conversation, but loves to practice. All telemarketing calls get handed directly to my daughter who then tells them about grandma, our family dog, what she is watching on TV, what she just ate, etc. Makes for some good laughs at home.

LOL great idea! ... hum now all i need is a 3 year old right.... i think the local kindergarten sells those right?

...kidding... but thats a great idea tho! props+++

John64 · 03-23-2005, 12:23 AM

i just tell them to f off to be honest, i will also ask random questions for a couple minutes while playing a game, they get so excited, until they ask, so you want to buy one, and i say no. that stops them!

John64 · 03-23-2005, 12:24 AM

oh, and does someone know of a program that bombs a phone number, there is one company calling our fax, and their call this to stop these number doesnt work, yet its the number the fax is comming from

*Bofinn* · 03-23-2005, 09:18 AM

I've been doing #3 for almost 2 years now. I'll take a credit app and write NO THANKS in black magic marker and mail all the crap back to them.

It really is an enjoyable thing to do!

03-22-2005, 08:15 PM	#1
Smurfer Land of the Brave Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: W. Los Angeles, California Posts: 1,854	Andy Rooney's tips for telemarketers Three Little Words That Work !! (1)The three little words are: "Hold On, Please..."Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off (instead of hanging-up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so much more time-consuming that boiler room sales would grind to a halt. Then when you eventually hear the phone company's "beep-beep-beep" tone, you know it's time to go back and hang up your handset, which has efficiently completed its task. These three little words will help eliminate telephone soliciting. (2) Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the other end? This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls and records the time of day when a person answers the phone. This technique is used to determine the best time of day for a "real" sales person to call back and get someone at home. What you can do after answering, if you notice there is no one there, is to immediately start hitting your # button on the phone, 6 or 7 times, as quickly as possible. This confuses the machine that dialed the call and it kicks your number out of their system. Since doing this, my phone calls have decreased dramatically. (3) Another Good Idea: When you get "ads" enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return these "ads" with your payment. Let the sending companies throw their own junk mail away. When you get those "pre-approved" letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, do not throw away the return envelope. Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes, right? It costs them more than the regular 37 cents postage "IF" and when they receive them back. It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was around 50 cents before! the last increase and it is according to the weight. In that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little, postage-paid return envelopes. One of Andy Rooney's (60 minutes) ideas. Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express.Send a pizza coupon to Citibank. If you didn't get anything else that day, then just send them their blank application back! If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on anything you send them. You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just to keep them guessing! Eventually, the banks and credit card companies will begin getting their own junk back in the mail. Let's let them know what it's like to get lots of junk mail, and best of all, they're paying for it...Twice! Let's help keep our postal service busy since they are saying that e-mail is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they need to increase postage costs again. You get the idea ! If enough people follow these tips, it will work---- I have been doing this for years, and I get very little junk mail anymore.
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03-22-2005, 08:35 PM	#2
KingTermite The Shade of Lazarus Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: PM me to keep in contact Posts: 26,003	Tip (1) works quite well. I started doing that YEARS ago...and I have hardly had ANY telemarketing calls in the last 10 years. The others a GREAT IDEAS...I may start. __________________ Bye Bye ABXZone.....Rest In Peace.
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03-22-2005, 09:45 PM	#3
Rick_EE Slightly Registered User Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Milwaukee, WI Posts: 1,044	If you think telemarketing is bad at home, try a medium sized business like ours. There is no no-call list. We have a good receptionist who can spot them and just put them on hold. It hasn't done anything to stop them, but at least I don't have to talk to them. One of the scams they will call and say that they just want to verify your model printer. Next thing you know you get a new toner cartridge in UPS along with an invoice. __________________ "Your a looser"- internet phrase of the day.
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03-22-2005, 10:59 PM	#4
YoBoGo Watered Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 1,030	My favorite is to hand the phone to my 3 year old who has not quite mastered the art of conversation, but loves to practice. All telemarketing calls get handed directly to my daughter who then tells them about grandma, our family dog, what she is watching on TV, what she just ate, etc. Makes for some good laughs at home. __________________ ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe * AMD 64 FX62 * Water Cooled w/ DANGERDEN TDX BLOCK * 2GB Corsair DDR2 2 x XFX 7900GTX - SLI w/Water Cooled DANGERDEN Blocks* AUDIGY 2ZS * LOGITECH 580'S * LITE-ON CDRW * PLEXTOR COMBO CDRW/DVDRW 2 x 150GB WD Raptors SATA RAID0 * CM Stacker Case Silver * PC POWER & COOLING 510 SLI PSU * Custom Wiring, Switches WIN XP PRO SP2 * NFORCE 91.31 * DIRECTX 9.0C NEW 3DMARK2003: 37,618 NEW 3DMARK2005: 16,012 NEW 3DMARK2006: 10,203
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03-23-2005, 12:23 AM	#8
John64 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 4,449	i just tell them to f off to be honest, i will also ask random questions for a couple minutes while playing a game, they get so excited, until they ask, so you want to buy one, and i say no. that stops them! __________________
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03-23-2005, 12:24 AM	#9
John64 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 4,449	oh, and does someone know of a program that bombs a phone number, there is one company calling our fax, and their call this to stop these number doesnt work, yet its the number the fax is comming from __________________
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03-23-2005, 09:18 AM	#10
Bofinn I'm gettin' dizzy! Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Chicagoland Posts: 11,035	I've been doing #3 for almost 2 years now. I'll take a credit app and write NO THANKS in black magic marker and mail all the crap back to them. It really is an enjoyable thing to do! __________________ ---------- JimBo ----------- When in doubt, smack it!
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