Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

What B2b Telemarketing Tactics Annoy You The Most ?

Posted by telemoxie on 7/14/2004 at 7:29 PM ET 500 Points
We all get telemarketing calls - and today's telemarketers have more tools and techniques to bother you than ever before. What tactics bug you the most?
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  • Posted by Carl Crawford on 7/14/2004 at 8:34 PM Accepted
    hi telemoxie,

    i personaly DONT MIND when a telemarketer calls. i live in New Zealand and have only EVER had 3 calls from a telemarketer so they dont anoyme.

    i like to give out ragious answers to questions like this:

    telemarketer: are you male or female?

    me: give me a minute to check, (pause) yes i am, i think.

    i have another story that my lectures told as about telemarketers in ireland.

    when ever he recived a call from a telemarketer he would say oh no, thanks and put the phone on the table. and NOT hang up.

    now in ireland at the time the phone system was set up so that only the person who picked up the call could teminate the conversation.

    so when he put the phone on the table the telemarketer was unable to go and do another call.

    he some times left the phone off the hock all day when a marketer rang in the morning. lol

    hope this helps

    Sweetasman01l
  • Posted by SteveByrneMarketing on 7/14/2004 at 8:35 PM Member
  • Posted by SteveByrneMarketing on 7/14/2004 at 8:36 PM Accepted
    Hi Telemoxie,

    A question from a professional telemarketer. My list of bads (and some positives)

    - any call at home, particularly automated calls, I have never never bought anything from home telemarketers.
    - god help anybody trying to sell me over my cell phone (hasn’t happened yet)
    - at business, I’m somewhat more flexible. Actually enjoy listening to a pro just as a learning experience, often surprised when I agree to providing info, in a very rare case I’ll need what they are selling and will listen to the pitch.

    Overall, I HATE getting telemarketing calls (somewhat hypocritical since I do call business prospects) If a telemarker is going to call me at work, find a way to introduce the company first (national ad program or ?), have something to say that will be interesting to me, make sure I’ll understand what the call is about in 9 seconds, basically think it through, make an attractive offer, and make it all easy and pleasant.

    I can’t say telemarketing doesn’t have a place in the marketing mix – just eliminate the pain.

    Thanks for this question.

    - Steve
  • Posted by Deremiah *CPE on 7/14/2004 at 10:56 PM Accepted
    telemoxie,

    the calls that annoy me are the ones where they want to ask me to make repairs. Also the calls where the person speaking is having trouble communicating properly. The calls where they rudely interrrupt you with out asking you if it's a good time. Thanks. Is there anything I can do for you?

    Your Servant, Deremiah, *CPE
  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 7/14/2004 at 11:17 PM Accepted
    Dave, if you're able to do telemarketing effectively, then I applaud your talent and ingenuity! Most of us remember telemarketing as only the most tasteless experiences or interruptions.

    My WORST examples are those that begin, "May I speak to the person in charge of... ???" Okay, maybe that's second fiddle to the "Please don't hang up... our telerobot will be replaced by a friendly and virtuous human voice if you're senile or lonely enough to stay on the line."

    Now, here's an aside for you...

    About three years ago, it occurred to me that my daughter (then age three) might wonder if Mommy Is Crazy. The phone would ring at home. I would get up and look at it, then sit back down while it continued ringing.

    Who can explain telemarketing and Caller ID to a preschooler??

    - Shelley ;]
  • Posted by Pepper Blue on 7/14/2004 at 11:53 PM Accepted
    Telemarketers put so much unecessary pain into the event.

    If they would just listen to the "answerer" and treat it like the cold call it is, there would be so much less hatred for the medium.

    Problem is the tactic is to blab on and not listen.

    Like Shelley, my child runs to look at the caller ID and yells "Unavailable" (# not listed), what does this tell you?

    A new generation of children are programmed to not answer telemarketing, so whatever tactics are used, they are miserably executed.

  • Posted by telemoxie on 7/14/2004 at 11:58 PM Author
    Thanks for the feedback so far - but I'm particularly interested in B2B (business to business) telemarketing. I'm registered with the national Do Not Call list myself, and I refuse to call people at home. What annoys you the most about Business to Business telemarketing ?
  • Posted by Deremiah *CPE on 7/15/2004 at 12:10 AM Accepted
    Telemoxie,

    there were more than a few times I received calls from corporate head hunters who were very polite but they never really got around to making a difference. It always came across that it was more about them getting another person in their stable to market rather than it being about them putting my needs first. So I would have to say that creating more genuiness for the client. Thanks . Is there anything else I can do for you?

    Your Servant, Deremiah, *CPE
  • Posted by Pepper Blue on 7/15/2004 at 12:53 AM Member
    It would have been helpful if you would have included the B-to-B clause in your first post, now that we all put time into our original answers your goal is sure to be diluted.

    Regardless, look at the core pain point of all these posts and you will see some commonalities regardless of home or business.
  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 7/15/2004 at 5:02 AM Member
    Dave, with the exception of the "aside" about my kidlet, my comments *were* about the telemarketing grenades launched at my business.
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 7/15/2004 at 8:33 AM Accepted
    The thing that I hate about B2B inbound sales calls is the assumption that if you say "sorry, I'm too busy/not interested/on my way out that they just treat that like an objection and try to handle me like some schmuck.

    There's the inane attempts to handle the objection... like "Oh, so you're too busy to save 60% on long distance then?"

    Then I hate the "Who is your telephone company because we can save you $3,000 a year" when they don't even know my calling habits.

    Frankly, if the call is not through a known referral, it's unwelcome. Perhaps companies should fix their service and inbound calling, then they wouldn't need to try so hard with outbound. They've got the model the wrong way round. People, especially B2B, want to buy, not be sold.

    Hope that's helpful.

    ChrisB
  • Posted by Blaine Wilkerson on 7/15/2004 at 12:11 PM Accepted
    I hate the part where they dial my number, my phone rings, the Caller ID is masked, and I get a vague message to call someone back (which I immediately erase.

    I especially hate the phone ringing part.

    I hope this helps!
  • Posted by Pepper Blue on 7/15/2004 at 12:38 PM Accepted
    Hi Telemoxie.

    Sorry, my bad, too late and too tired the first time around, I did see that you asked for B-to-B.

    Another thing is that even though we are on the do not call list, and have not used them in years, a long-distance carrier can legally still call you soliciting business.

    And, when they don't get my name or business right.

    Also, when you get a call for weeks and weeks on end at the same time from an 800 number (shows up on ID) but they never leave a message.

  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 7/16/2004 at 4:02 AM Accepted
    Hey, Dave... Maybe you could tell us something that I've been wondering about. It seems we get very few telemarketing calls that feel "effective" on the receiving end -- the majority are poorly executed with robots, dumb scripts, etc.

    Are even the most irritating tele-campaigns getting ANY positive results? I assume the percentage of "hits" is at least high enough to make it worthwhile. Any statistics you can share?

    Please understand that I'm NOT implying that Telemoxie uses the annoying tactics in question. Thanks!

    Shelley
  • Posted by telemoxie on 7/16/2004 at 8:43 AM Author
    SRyan - a subject very near and dear to my heart. I could (and probably should) write pages on the topic - and I hope to summarize these posts over the weekend - but let me give one quick example.

    Fortunately, the results from telemarketing campaigns typically do not meet expectations (otherwise your phone would never stop ringing).

    Unfortunately, a focus on "statistics" and short term results creates a program very unsatisfying on the receiving end.

    Please let me cite one example. One telemarketing trainer asked the question, "what should you do when you get to the point in a phone call when you realize you will never make the sale?" And his answer? Just hang up. Don't try to discuss with the other person, don't wait for them to finish their sentence, just hang up and make the next call. How rude! and there are hundreds of similar tactics designed for short term results.

    On the other hand, my personal philosophy in promoting high end products and services is to be "prospect centered" - to utilize the golden rule(s) in telemarketing - to try to make the sort of call that I would want to recieve myself. The good news is that, over time (e.g. six months) you receive an extremely high response rate. The bad news is that most marketing folk are very short term oriented - and this short-term focus will continue to generate the types of calls everyone is complaining about.
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