Re: FN-FORUM: Sick of Companies phoning up praying on your business status

date posted 20th November 2007 15:55

On 20/11/2007 16:39, Phillip Healey wrote:
> I just thought id share my thoughts with you guys on a problem im sure many of you will have and probably despise as much as me.
>
> Basically as a self-employed / small business, I regularly receive calls from companies claiming to be big companies in their respective fields ie Vodafone, BT, even the Police. Then they give you some shit about they spoke to someone in the company a few weeks ago etc etc. They called back because apparently said person in the company promised to buy their product when they had more time (ie NOW!!!!) etc etc.
>
> Well as a sole trader I know if ive spoken to someone or not so I never fall for there underhand tricks, nor do I allow anyone to bully me into buying a product or service. Likewise I treat all such calls with scepticism because I can tell from the sales pitch that they are talking shite. Ive heard it all so many times before, with every other sales company who tries it on.
>
> Anyway to get to the point. I just literally received the best one yet. A guy calls me up explaining some big long winded story, which he knows is likely to trick me as he somehow knows im a fairly new start-up (ie he probably noticed my new ad in yellowpages etc). Anyway the story revolves around how he spoke to me a while ago about me paying too much for my BT line etc but I was snowed under with work so told him to call me back when things died down.
>
> How kind of him! Except it was all bull!
>
> So the sales patter moves onto how im paying to much for my BT business line. To which I start to make an objection before realising ill go along with it for a while. To reassure me he quotes my postcode. Impressive (not), except this is a PO Box address he is quoting the postcode for. Anyway he ignores this little fact and carries on by trying to impress me by rather smugly trying to belittle me as he reads out my 'BT' phone number.
>
> Ok, so he knows my number - well he did just call me. Problem is... its not a BT number its actually a Skype number. Again I inform him that its actually a VoIP number, and instinctively start laughing!
>
> Ohthe lines gone dead! I laugh even more! Its nice to shoot them down, and herd them into a corner no pre-determined industry sales script can get them out of!
>
> Discuss!
>

One of my tricks with this sort of thing was to say

"I don't have or use phones" - this confuses them as they've just called
you on one, but stick with it, say you are not on a phone or own one,
deny all knowledge of it. The same can be applied to any product - "I
don't have windows or doors".

Alternatively, put them on speaker phone and let them listen to the
radio or something, they hang up after a while, and hopefully it will
have cost them money.

Martin