How to Deal With Telemarketers:
Telemarketing is one of the most annoying things that we have to deal with in the 21st century. Most of us will never buy anything that is pitched to us by a cold caller over the phone, and a large portion of people who do sign up for these products and services are vulnerable people who struggle to deal with the pressure. So what should you do with a telemarketer? Let’s explore…
When you see a number you don’t recognize on your phone, you might be wondering “who called me?”. Thankfully there is a service where you can type in the number and see if anyone else has reported that number for nuisance telemarketing calls – this will save you time, knowing that you don’t have to call them back!
Once you have the number, you can set your phone to block them specifically, and even use a setting that silences unknown and spam callers and sends them directly to voicemail. This will help keep your phone free for the calls you really care about.
What to say to a telemarketer?
As much as it is tempting to hate on a telemarketer, it’s important to remember that they are just doing their job – as annoying a job as it may be. There is so much pressure to sell, despite the fact that there is such a shockingly low success rate, and they have various rules they have to stick to, such as not accepting “no” any less than 3 times.
Although it can be tempting to be polite, by engaging with the telemarketer, and giving them any sort of false hope, you will find them chasing you up with several more calls going forwards. If you simply don’t answer or hang up the phone immediately, you will be marked on the system to call again too, so this isn’t the best way to go about it either.
It’s important to give a fair but firm “no”, with no other option where possible. Don’t say that now isn’t a good time, as you’re basically suggesting they call back again. If you hang up mid-conversation they will probably call you back.
The best thing to say is “please put me on your do-not-call list”. Do not engage any further about your reasons, simply stay calm and firm and repeat this phrase. Don’t let them bully you – no means no.
Sign up to the National Do Not Call Registry
The National Do Not Call Registry is a fantastic, free service that will ensure that telemarketers can’t call you anymore. It won’t stop all annoying calls of course and you may still find yourself at risk of scam or fraud calls, or even calls from charities, but it’s certainly a good start! It is illegal for a telemarketing company to call you again if you are on this list and have verbally told them not to call you, so this is something to bear in mind.