London, UK
Yesterday evening, I received a cold call at home from a young lady with a shrill voice, who was representing a building firm. Her opening line was possibly the worst I’ve ever heard. I’m paraphrasing slightly but in essence she said “Don’t worry, this is not a sales call”. This was swiftly followed by “are you the home owner”.
Apart from the total lack of rapport, poor vocal tone and a meaningless opening statement, my biggest criticism of the caller is this – THERE IS NOTHING WRONG IN MAKING SALES CALLS! The way this country will lurch out of the current recession is by salespeople (and other professionals) convincing domestic and business customers to buy things. And in many cases this starts with a sales cold-call.
It is high time people got rid of the “get yourself a proper job” attitude towards selling and cold-calling. That belonged in the 1950′s not in 21st century Britain.
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Well as I said before I find these calls irritating! I am not saying they shouldn’t be done, but do them in a more Professional manner, and please get people who can speak properly on the phone. Another issue we find is that they will not except No Thank from us. Why go on and on, when we have politely told them that we don’t wish to buy or disclose whether we are a home owner or not.
Anne
I agree with you here Anne. Cold calling needs to be done in a professional manner but regrettably many organisations don’t seem to adequately train their staff.
[...] Your Message Memorable? Whenever you speak in public you are selling something – whether a principle, a service or an action. You are not just imparting [...]