We all get the calls. I am not sure if our name is still on the "Do not call" registry or not? I think you have to update every so often? Anyway, over my real estate career I have painfully cold called for business. I refer back to the old Floyd Wickman Sweathog Days and that was the premise to the program, cold calling.
I did the calling but it was always so painful for me to do. So painful that I hired someone to do the calling for me. That actually worked very well and I have a great story to tell, but will tell that on another post. It works, there is no questions, so many calls will yield so many sales. It works, big corporations pay big bucks for cold calling. Cold calling is just not for me.
When I get a call at my house, office or on my cell phone - nervy- I try to be respectful to the person on the other end of my telephone. I figure they feel about like I did and and all the rejection they endure, they deserve some courtesy. When I tell them I am not interested, I think they should say thank you and that should be that. If they don't get it and keep talking, I at least say okay, I am going to hang up now, thank you. I try to be polite, like my mother taught me. They are just "doing their job". Until today.
I got a call from a young man at a company that wants to place on the first page of all the search engines. When he called, he was very nice and upbeat at first. I was busy with two contracts on my desk and listened to the young man and then asked if they would come up as sponsored or would they be organic links. We talked about blogging and I was told that didn't really work for SEO ranking and so went the conversation.
Finally, after he told me about his company and the program, I asked him to net it out for me and how much did it cost? He said it depended on the words and what I would want would be in the $1000.00 range a year. I just said no thanks, I am not spending a thousand dollars . . . and he just hung the phone up on me? A similar situation has happened at home too? What gives? If you call me, and ask me for my money to help you, then just be polite and and say okay, or thank you for your time - or something of that nature - not hang up on me. Pet peeve I guess?
All hanging up on me did, was get me fired up. I am busy, I listened to what you were selling, didn't think it was for me, said no thank you and you hung up on me? I just emailed his company and said I didn't really understand that kind of selling and customer relations, but I am old school. Again, I always feel for the person calling, I have been on the other side of the phone.
I emailed the company and said that I thought it was rude and not smart marketing to have their sales force hanging up on the people they are trying to sell to. The manager emailed me right back. Seven minutes as a matter of fact.
It got me thinking though. In this super small Social networking world we live in, how much damage control the manager did by emailing me in seven minutes flat? He was very nice, apologized and did the good management things all good managers do. But what if I went on Twitter, AR, or FB and said something. Not the company name specifically, but about the industry in general. It could spread like wild fire. Maybe not me per se on Twitter, but one of the heavily followed people say something not so positive, then someone picks up on it and there you go, right out of a lot of potential business. The folks I follow now are good about pointing out good things to see and check out, but it just smacks right between the eyes about how small this world really is these days.
Lessons to be learned, if you are going to call and ask for business, mind your manners. The other thing is we live in an exceptionally small world here in our computers always strive to do the right thing.
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