Is telemarketing a dying strategy? For this business owner, the phone represents the biggest distraction in my workday, rattling my nerves with its startling clamor, halting my productivity and breaking my train of thought at times, never to recover after its insolent intrusion into my quiet workplace. worked. .

When the “do not call” lists were first established, I enthusiastically signed up. There’s nothing more annoying than receiving a sales pitch over the phone while sitting down to dinner, especially an uninvited one! Of course, since I also run a business, I still get my share of telemarketing interruptions since the “do not call” log is for personal use only. Still, there are plenty of loopholes that make some telemarketing calls legitimate, regardless of whether or not your personal phone number is on the record.

According to the FCC, these types of calls are still allowed:

• Calls from any organization with which you have a pre-established business relationship.

• Calls from anyone who has received prior written authorization.

• Non-business calls.

• Calls on behalf of tax-exempt nonprofit organizations.

While I am a bit more forgiving of such interruptions in my business, as I sometimes need to make phone calls myself, with each passing day, month, and year, I feel less motivated to pick up the phone for fear of bothering someone without realize. process. And when I make the call, my first statement is, “Sorry to bother you. Am I interrupting something?” Fortunately, with the sole exception of one person I currently do business with, everyone I deal with is accessible via email.

Email has changed the world, at least me world, and it beats the phone in a very important way. It provides written documentation of what is being communicated, a legal basis for review, in case questions arise in the future about what was said.

I was recently reprimanded by a client with whom I have severed ties because she accused me of evading my duties by refusing to “take notes” while handing out complicated and conflicting work instructions over the phone. I suggested that she email me those details, citing the benefits I mentioned above. Stating that writing is not her forte, (or any type of communication, she might add), she was annoyed by my reminder that we might need a legal document to clarify our plan, with email being the ideal solution. The reason I decided to end our employment relationship after only one year was based on his tendency to claim that I didn’t do what he asked me to do and therefore didn’t owe me a fee for work done. However, after I stood my ground and convinced her to email me, her convoluted instructions spread over a series of obtuse, unrelated, and undefined messages were enough to block even the most clear-sighted among us. I had really tried to work with her, but in the end I just had to give up. She was impossible.

I say this with over 35 years of experience behind me and hundreds of rave reviews from satisfied clients, some of whom are still working after all this time, and all of whom pay me without hesitation.

Since a phone conversation is easy to misunderstand and details easy to forget without something in writing to refer to, especially after the passage of time, something else has happened that has fundamentally changed the way phones are used in the world today. .

I saw it coming years ago, when I was young, naive, and with no sales experience of any kind. Before the popularity of the Internet and email, he was responsible for ad sales in an expensive military yearbook called The West Point Howitzer. The ideal advertising candidate was one of the American national defense companies that was normally represented by a large advertising agency. My job was to find the right contacts within the company, within the agency, or both. With little more than my own personal intuition that a particular company might want to communicate with tomorrow’s military leaders at West Point, I found myself regularly chatting with switchboard operators who would put me through to someone’s voice mail. My days were spent delivering creative messages, sometimes rambling for several minutes, only to be met with total failure to get any kind of response. He used to call it “getting lost in phone limbo.” The phone has become the ultimate evasion tool: just leave a message and don’t hold your breath. In the few cases where some kind soul actually called me back, it was to tell me I was calling the wrong person and it wasn’t their job!

Lately, however, there has also been a change in culture, largely due to texting and social media. The individual who prefers direct contact today is rare. Those who blatantly and stubbornly cling to the traditional use of the telephone call are possibly guilty of seeking only personal entertainment, at the expense of the comfort of others. March 18, 2011 New York Times In an article by Pamela Paul that appeared in the Sunday Styles section, Nielsen Media reports that “even on mobile phones, voice spending has been trending down, with text spending expected to overtake it within three years.” . Quoting this article further, one professional joked, “I remember when I was a kid, the rule was: ‘Don’t call anyone after 10 pm.’ Now the rule is: ‘Don’t call anyone. Ever.'”

I thought I was the only one who avoided using the phone – ironic for someone who runs a marketing business and doesn’t even have a cell phone! However, it’s hard to believe that phone use is declining, as I hear people chatting unpleasantly while driving, shopping, dining, or waiting in line without realizing it or despite someone being within earshot.

I receive three types of telemarketing calls to which me now I am the master of evasion: requests to purchase a product or service for my own business or for any of my clients’ businesses; donation requests; Requests to participate in a survey. Some of these calls are made by living people. But lately, more and more of these calls are automated. Couldn’t be happier with this. No longer do I need to draw from my reserves of off the cuff statements that stop the caller in their tracks, unable to continue through the hurdle I have presented. Robocalls do not require business decorum, proper etiquette, or courteous protocol at all. The only action required is to hang up. End of interruption.

In cases where there is a real person on the other end of the phone, often from somewhere Asian or remote, I use the following response: “Sorry. What’s your deadline? Can you fax or email me?” written?” request so I can present it at our meeting for everyone to review?” For survey requests: “Sorry. I don’t have time to participate right now. Can you try another time, please?”

Although they say they will, no one bothers to call me back. Mission accomplished.

In all the years that I have been orchestrating marketing strategies, telemarketing has not been one that I have recommended. But I see its role, or the role of making a phone call, in certain situations including asking permission to send an email; request or verify contact information; request the sending of a late payment; and verify receipt of material sent by email or by post. If deadlines are involved, there is sometimes no choice but to call someone for their timely decision, with all calls preceded by appropriate apologies.

Other than that, for this salesperson, the telemarketing only serves to interrupt my concentration, demanding that I stop what I’m doing to end his gross auditory interference. From that perspective, I’m hardly in a cooperative frame of mind to patiently listen to your message, consider its value, and conclude a transaction. Compared to the convenience of email, where I can choose when I want to take the time to review its content, the days of telemarketing (and possibly direct mail, the postal service, print yellow pages, and print business stationery, among others), in my opinion, can be numbered.

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