National Sell To A Telemarketer Day

I recently had a memorable encounter with a telemarketer, of all people.  I think he was getting me to sign up with some protection program for a credit card I had.  After he initially greeted me, I happened to greet him back by asking, “How are you?”  But what struck me about the phone conversation was what he said after this.  He said, “I’m doing fine.  Thanks, nobody has ever asked me that since I started working here, like a week ago.”

That statement actually surprised me.  I know that telemarketers and the like aren’t greeted with the most excited and genial of recipients on the other end of the line, but it still is amazing how quickly we want to get telemarketers off the line.

This realization gave me an idea.  Why don’t we use telemarketers to our advantage?  Instead of giving our objections what they’re selling and hang up the phone as quickly as possible, why couldn’t we use that time to help ourselves?  No, we may not want what they are selling, but they may want what we have to offer.   It would make sense to try and pitch the unsuspecting telemarketers to support your website, product, or service.  If anything, you’ll at least have a voice on the line that you can practice your pitch on.  It shouldn’t be that bad if you mess up - you’re talking to a telemarketer, not a real customer, right?

This tactic of conversing shouldn’t be limited to selling.  Why don’t you just ask them for their opinion on a new product or service you are about to release?  Why can’t you try to poll the telemarketer for important research you’re doing?  Ask them their opinion on something you want to get information on.

Another result of conversing is an obvious one: to be nice and spread some goodwill.  I know we all live busy lives and don’t have time for useless calls, but try starting a short conversation with the telemarketer.  I know this isn’t something you’d normally do, but you’d surely put that person in a good mood, at least for the next 5 minutes until the telemarketer gets rejected by another prospect.

The title of this post is a joke, but maybe there should be a National Day to sell to these workers.  Maybe you’ll never want what they got, but telemarketers will likely never go away.  Use them to your advantage.

Posted in: Ideas On Issues