Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

Hey, I thought I should volunteer to get a thread started about telemarketing. I am sure a lot of you have some questions about what it is to have worked as on of those annoying idiots who contact companies in order to scam them into buying all kind of crap.

I worked as a telemarketer for several years, both as a salesman and as a sales boss. I even had my own company at one time with four employees and all in all I was very successful in selling useless advertising on electronic media.

So, what would you like to know about telemarketing?

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

Are you bothered by the fact that 99% of the population thinks you (well your job/business) are a total [censored]?

How do you live with yourself? [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

what percentage of cold calls are successful? what is your standard for sales?

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

[ QUOTE ]
Are you bothered by the fact that 99% of the population thinks you (well your job/business) are a total [censored]?

How do you live with yourself? [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

It bothers me a little that I once gave in to the temptation of easy cash on the expend of others... But then I look at my government and I smile.

[ QUOTE ]
what percentage of cold calls are successful? what is your standard for sales?

[/ QUOTE ]

When we worked on the "new" list - companies registered within a year, I guess I made a sale once every six-to-seven times I got to the pitch. What do you mean by standards?

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

What was your most/least successful product?

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

[ QUOTE ]
What was your least successful product?

[/ QUOTE ]

My own. I decided to make a cd-rom (it was back in the days!) targeting counselors for people who want to become independent. On the cd I had a list of companies who would like, and more importantly were not afraid to work with newly registered companies.

Unfortunately my product was [censored] and I had to close before my cd-rom even hit the streets. I only had one request for a refund out of the 600 companies who paid to get on the cd-rom... I was very surprised about that, and of course I never paid that one refund as he eventually gave up on his claim.

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

Is this thread going to be one long pitch to get us to buy one of your crappy products?

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

[ QUOTE ]
Is this thread going to be one long pitch to get us to buy one of your crappy products?

[/ QUOTE ]

Have you ever found yourself not being able to find your keys?

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

ever been pranked ala Tom Mabe?
link: http://howtoprankatelemarketer.ytmnd.com/

edit: or talked to someone hilariously crazy?
link: http://crazytelemarketer.ytmnd.com/

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

[ QUOTE ]
I was very surprised about that, and of course I never paid that one refund as he eventually gave up on his claim.

[/ QUOTE ]

You sound like a good person.

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

[ QUOTE ]
ever been pranked ala Tom Mabe?
link: http://howtoprankatelemarketer.ytmnd.com/


[/ QUOTE ]

Me and my co-worker, a good buddy of mine, used to prank people all the time. We would write some crazy word, and the other guy had to incorporate it in his speech on the fly.

Once I actually convinced an owner of a cafeteria to check for "meat-flies" in the plants. We laughed our asses off as he walked around the diner checking for special african "meat-flies"

We were not nice persons, no.

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

lol at making an ask me thread about this.


I worked at a little startup in a rundown office selling ads on high school sports posters. The whole thing felt like straight out of boiler room. My boss told every pretty much every new employee to watch that movie too...
We had no affiliation with any of these schools, and as long as we didnt say we were with the schools this was somehow legal. He would find HS football/basketball/baseball schedules on the internet and print them off on a 17x11 poster, to which we sold ads on just like HS booster clubs do. We charged $100-$800 depending on the size of the ad on these things and we claimed to send out "up to 2000 posters to the community". Idk if we actually sent all these out or who actually got them. I was always told to just say grocery stores, restaurants, ect...

As for the actual selling part. WOW that [censored] was a rush sometimes... I walked in the first day with a headset and the yellowpages on my desk and was told to sell to whoever I could get on the phone basically. I had $700 sold(at 33%comm) by lunch and felt like I just did $700 worth of blow. I got myself a bunch of sales books and listened to my boss on the phone, brought in my own computer to use... I was grinding out 200 cold calls/day out of the phonebook/ internet yellowpages for a few months. It just felt like another sales job at first, but i got tired of scamming people and as time went on I was realizing show shady the whole thing was and left even though the money was pretty good for a 19 yr old.

This makes poker feel like charity work compared to what a lot of telemarketers out there are doing. THAT is a hard way to make an easy living in my eyes.

i'm gonna go watch BR now.

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

[ QUOTE ]
lol at making an ask me thread about this.


I worked at a little startup in a rundown office selling ads on high school sports posters. The whole thing felt like straight out of boiler room. My boss told every pretty much every new employee to watch that movie too...
We had no affiliation with any of these schools, and as long as we didnt say we were with the schools this was somehow legal. He would find HS football/basketball/baseball schedules on the internet and print them off on a 17x11 poster, to which we sold ads on just like HS booster clubs do. We charged $100-$800 depending on the size of the ad on these things and we claimed to send out "up to 2000 posters to the community". Idk if we actually sent all these out or who actually got them. I was always told to just say grocery stores, restaurants, ect...

As for the actual selling part. WOW that [censored] was a rush sometimes... I walked in the first day with a headset and the yellowpages on my desk and was told to sell to whoever I could get on the phone basically. I had $700 sold(at 33%comm) by lunch and felt like I just did $700 worth of blow. I got myself a bunch of sales books and listened to my boss on the phone, brought in my own computer to use... I was grinding out 200 cold calls/day out of the phonebook/ internet yellowpages for a few months. It just felt like another sales job at first, but i got tired of scamming people and as time went on I was realizing show shady the whole thing was and left even though the money was pretty good for a 19 yr old.

This makes poker feel like charity work compared to what a lot of telemarketers out there are doing. THAT is a hard way to make an easy living in my eyes.

i'm gonna go watch BR now.

[/ QUOTE ]

Your post fail horridly in regards to not asking me a question. But given the great joy, I got out of reading your post, I forgive you. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Is this thread going to be one long pitch to get us to buy one of your crappy products?

[/ QUOTE ]

Have you ever found yourself not being able to find your keys?

[/ QUOTE ]now that you mention it...

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

What's next, ask me about being a successful cashier?

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

[ QUOTE ]
What's next, ask me about being a successful cashier?

[/ QUOTE ]
I was always anal retentive about putting the bills in the till with the front facing up. Is that the calling card of a successful cashier? If so I may have to start a thread about it.

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

every [censored] day i get called from "unknown number". I mean every. [censored]. day. Every time they let it ring twice then hang up and i almost never make it to the phone in time to actually answer it. The rare times that I do make it to the phone it is some mother [censored] telemarketer.

So my question is if I were to call my phone company and ask them to block those unknowns from calling me, would that stop a douche bag like you or would you just enter the code to unblock the number and call me anyway? I'm on the donotcall registry fwiw.

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

Is your home phone on the Do Not Call list?

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
What's next, ask me about being a successful cashier?

[/ QUOTE ]
I was always anal retentive about putting the bills in the till with the front facing up. Is that the calling card of a successful cashier? If so I may have to start a thread about it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ha ha not only were we required to have all bills face up, but all presidents needed to face the same way. For this privilege, I was paid $2.85 an hour.

Yeah, a cashier thread would kick ass.

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

[ QUOTE ]
Unfortunately my product was [censored] and I had to close before my cd-rom even hit the streets. I only had one request for a refund out of the 600 companies who paid to get on the cd-rom... I was very surprised about that, and of course I never paid that one refund as he eventually gave up on his claim.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hahaha, sweet.

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

I work as a telemarketer and make good money. I don't call anyone, I close leads from the salesmen. We are basically renewing people's subscriptions to magazines on the premise that they're a preferred customer, and that this time around we're buying the magazines, they're just paying for the delivery cost, which ultimately ends up costing more than their original signup. People still seem to do this, I think basically because for participating we send them a gift certificate for 2 free round trip airline tickets (with alot of loopholes that they aren't aware of until they recieve the certificate). I've been doing a very good job closing deals, but my question is what kind of advice would you give me as far as demeanor in my pitch and such. I actually enjoy doing it but at the same time do feel some guilt based on the deal we're giving them not being a very good deal. I use a friendly approach while others use a more matter of fact, straight forward approach with customers. I guess my question isn't really clear, but i'm just looking for tips on how to be better handling people, and rebutting them when they say they can't afford it, or they're already getting too many mags. Any basic advice would be cool.

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

Did you use a script?

How many calls a day did you average? Average closing %? Length of call? Motivating factors: self/employees?

Why'd you finally leave it?

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

[ QUOTE ]
Any basic advice would be cool.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's not easy giving tips like that, but one good advice is to seek as many a "yes" as possible before actual closing the deal.

"Have you ever read a magazine?"
"Would you read a magazine if it was about something that interest you?"
etc.

My line of work was different. I sold advertising space on different electronic media. I always used a combination of fear and greed in my approach with the potential sucker.

I'd asked them what would happen if they suddenly lost five of their biggest customers. I'd then stress out how important going after new clients is. Even if you think you are covered as of today. Then I would ask them if they were able to take in many more customers. I'd ask in to their expertise, as if I were evaluating them for some big job. Notice that I have yet to tell him specifically why I called...

Have I gone this far into my pitch, the sale is often automatic. It's just a question of how many adds I can sell him.

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

How much does a "successful" telemarketer make per year? I'm not trying to get private information about your specific situation, I'm wondering more what the income distribution in the field is. What would you say is the mean income, the 25th percentile, and the 75th percentile?

-bigbootch

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

[ QUOTE ]
Did you use a script?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes. Even after years of practice, I still used a script. But more for guidelines. I had written the script myself, so that it suited my approach.

[ QUOTE ]
How many calls a day did you average?

[/ QUOTE ]

Dunno. Depended on my mood.

[ QUOTE ]
Average closing %?

[/ QUOTE ]

Cold canvas. Close to ten percent, which is rather damn high IMHO.

[ QUOTE ]
Length of call?

[/ QUOTE ]

I was a smooth talker. And smooth talking takes time. I often used upwards to half an hour per "customer". But I had the highest avg. $ per customer in the firm.

[ QUOTE ]
Motivating factors: self/employees?

[/ QUOTE ]

My basic motivation was pride. Mind you, telemarketing was my first serious job experience. I just got out of the army, and I was looking for something to fill the gap until my studies started. I responded to and ad for telemarketers.

Imagine my surprise when I found out I was really good. The money were pouring in. I made more money than anyone I knew. At the age of only 19 mind you. The feeling was intoxicating.

So much in fact that me and a pal decided to start our own telemarketing company, doing exactly the same as my previous employment as chief of sales.



[/ QUOTE ]Why'd you finally leave it?

[/ QUOTE ]

I grew up. Or I remember one time I was selling to this really dumb truck driver. He was his own boss and made a living out of transporting live stock. I convinced him he would be ideal for transporting horses for riding schools (I sold adds for a cd-rom targeting the head masters at various schools, including riding schools) and he had to promise me not to say no when the school headmasters called.

A couple of weeks later, I got a notice from our incasso bureau that he had yet to pay the bill of nearly 1000$. I did my own incasso as I was better at it than the bureau, so they told me before they acted on it. It was his wife who answered the phone and I immediately explained how poor a payer her husband is. She broke into tears and told me her husband died a weak ago. I left my apology and quit my job the week after. I did, however, get employment at another telemarketing company some weeks later. But it was never the same and I only lasted a couple of month grossing below average. That spelled the end of a career spanning nearly eight years. Eight years of deceits, lies and a feeling of inexplainable pride...

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

[ QUOTE ]
How much does a "successful" telemarketer make per year?

[/ QUOTE ].

I averaged a little short of $200k per annum.

[ QUOTE ]
What would you say is the mean income, the 25th percentile, and the 75th percentile?

[/ QUOTE ]

25th about 25 percent of 50th who makes about one third of the top dogs. If I understand your question correctly?

Top dogs make way more than the average guy because he usually get to make sales on existing customers. And you can imagine how easy it is to sell someone who already agreed in the first place.

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

And LOL at the custom title! I don't know if I should feel honored or embarrassed! [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

I started at Time-Life Books in DC in 1985. I immediately became Telemarketing Stud of the Universe. They used my stats in the newspaper ads the ran trying to lure other marginal humans into a degraded life of telemarketing. I made $30/hour. I was also an insane dope fiend and zany goth-punk-derelict. Remember, this is '85.

Ahem.

Later in life, much more desperately-situated (read: REALLY down and out), I took TM jobs raising funds for The Missing Children Fund (we were in San Francisco, and the owner actually dispatched guys on bikes to pick up the checks), sold US News and World Report, sold Art in America, dispatched for an escort service (not actual telemarketing, but it involved a telephone, and I ended up owning and operating the business), raised funds for the Republican National Committee, and eventually ended my telemarketing career in Clearwater, Florida, setting appointments for the dating service I currently own and operate.

I now employ 22 telemarketers in four cities.

But don't hate--we don't do any cold calling at all.

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

[ QUOTE ]
ever been pranked ala Tom Mabe?
link: http://howtoprankatelemarketer.ytmnd.com/

edit: or talked to someone hilariously crazy?
link: http://crazytelemarketer.ytmnd.com/

[/ QUOTE ]

both of those are priceless

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

[ QUOTE ]

It was his wife who answered the phone and I immediately explained how poor a payer his husband is. She broke into tears and told me her husband died a weak ago. I left my apology and quit my job the week after. I did, however, get employment at another telemarketing company some weeks later. But it was never the same and I only lasted a couple of month grossing below average. That spelled the end of a career spanning nearly eight years. Eight years of deceits, lies and a feeling of inexplainable pride...

[/ QUOTE ]

deja vu, darom03. i know that rush, repeatedly overcoming the fear of rejection does incredible things for the ego. it translates into confidence that women pick up on... well, that, and i was used to getting no for answer all day.

i dropped out of telemarketing early '06, mortgages at that time. the deal that soured it: the company's owner let some scraps fall off his 40/month loan plate 'cause i happened to pick up the phone at the "right" time. The mark: a chronically broke, over-spending single woman inherited a house from her parents while they were still alive, living there, and dependent upon her in some way.

she was looking for her 3rd re-finance in a little over a year. riding shotgun, my boss guided me on quick document gathering, immediate appraisal setting, and repeated assurances that we would get it done. a deal was jammed through New Century in less than a week. her home was now to be leveraged out at nearly 95% (under the most favorable appraisal circumstances). she was looking for an immediate $30k at the table, using her house as an ATM for an undisclosed need. so, my boss unwittingly pegged her commission @ 4.75pts.

when the $25,000 commission was disclosed for an other wise un-doable loan, my boss gambled that'd she sign: the company had unwritten policy/language to deftly skirt any pre-closing day inquiries into fee disclosure by the sub-prime community.

closing day: i stayed late that friday, and he did the deed. i was in my head all day about the loan, the commission, the business, and the impotent rationalizations... she received his basic sub-prime pitch: minimal prodding and a promise that this adjustable-rate, interest only loan (after being promised a low fixed rate, standard) would be re-financed again under more favorable terms in 6 months. he came out, pressed in armani silk as usual, and flashed the thumbs to me. cut me my largest commission check ever, and i was on my way out the door to do volunteer work for the weekend.

on my way out, i heard her laughing that she was happy to be picking up a new BMW with the proceeds. knowing her income, debt ratios, and family situation: i immediately knew that her house would be foreclosed upon within a year and that her parents would be turned out of the house they had been in for 30+ years. i showed up to collect a pay check for a few weeks after that, but i never really "showed up" again.

the only other deal in the pipe i had open closed a few weeks later, and an 87 year-old man living on social security got a no-doc/no-income verification 30-year mortgage for his unemployed son to get a house for his chronically unhappy wife. i convinced him we could get it done... we did. i don't see them there now, and i know the old man is broke from it, i convinced him that the deal hinged upon his life savings paying the closing costs.

can't see, talk, or think about the sub-prime mess without those 2 families lurking somewhere inside my soul... puuuuke.

Re: Ask darom03 about being a sucessful telemarketer
 

[ QUOTE ]
How much does a "successful" telemarketer make per year? I'm not trying to get private information about your specific situation, I'm wondering more what the income distribution in the field is. What would you say is the mean income, the 25th percentile, and the 75th percentile?

-bigbootch

[/ QUOTE ]

I grossed 58K last year and I sell magazines. It's the only telemarketing job i've ever had. I make 10$ an hour plus commission. My commission is 1% of the package price of what I close. It's a relatively simple job since even our sales people aren't cold calling, they're calling existing customers who already signed up for magazines, and I simply close the deal on the renewal.

Like I said, it's the only telemarketing i've ever done, so I don't know much about the business outside the company I work for.

Sorry if i'm derailing the thread... just trying to show that there are chances to make good many in the business, although people's opinions on telemarketers are obviously not good. I'm probably not a very good salesmen outside of what I do, but I moved my way up in to a good situation, and now make a good living by talking on the phone and sitting on my ass, then going home and playing poker and sitting on my ass.