Telemarketing Job

Jim14Qc · #1 02-07-2007, 07:22 PM

So, I remember reading some of you have been telemarketers during college. I'm considering applying for that job. They say they have part time during the school year and full time during the summer, which is great. I'd be telemarketing to magazine subscribers. Pay is $15+ CAD/hour, which is much better than the 8.50-9.50/hour that I make at the moment.

My questions are, how did you find the experience? Would you recommend it? What are the usual bonuses, if any and how do they work ?

Thanks.

traz · #2 02-07-2007, 07:26 PM

When I did telemarketing we were selling one of those deals where you come in and see a presentation, and we give you a trip somewhere. We had a certain quota of sales we were expected to meet. There was also a goal each day and each month, and everyone who reached those goals were entered into monthly and daily draws. For the daily draw, you'd get some % of money, usually amounted to 5-20 dollars. The monthly draw was a trip to the destination, without doing the presentation. If you constantly reached the goals, you got paid some % more for each sale you were over. I don't know what it was though, because i never got that many presentations lol

All in all, it was a very easy job, but very boring. It gets super repetitive, and my boss was a douche so he didn't let us socialize much at all. It was pretty difficult to achieve any bonuses, and I was getting paid minimum wage, so I left after a couple months.

Alot of this could be different at your company thought, so it might work out better.

A S U · #3 02-07-2007, 07:30 PM

I did 1 day of training in college. Walked out within 2 hours of my first shift. Worst job I've ever had.

Vyse · #4 02-07-2007, 07:33 PM

The most monotonous work in the world. I stayed for six months and hated it.

Oski · #5 02-07-2007, 07:36 PM

[ QUOTE ]
So, I remember reading some of you have been telemarketers during college. I'm considering applying for that job. They say they have part time during the school year and full time during the summer, which is great. I'd be telemarketing to magazine subscribers. Pay is $15+ CAD/hour, which is much better than the 8.50-9.50/hour that I make at the moment.

My questions are, how did you find the experience? Would you recommend it? What are the usual bonuses, if any and how do they work ?

Thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you are in college, I would pass on the telemarketing job. Go find a job that will pay dividends after college. If that means that you will have to take a low-paying (or non-paying) internship, do it anyway. You will be building far more equity in the job market that way.

I did a telemarketing job in high school. I lasted all of one week. I just could not get over the fact that I was interrupting people's lives with my sales pitch. I felt like such an [censored] the whole time I did it. The 99% rejection rate didn't help either. I did try to sell carpet cleaning to a woman named Pinky Beaver (right in the phone book) but that was the lone highlight of that job.

WayAbvPar · #6 02-07-2007, 07:36 PM

I would rather beg for change on an offramp. It is more dignified.

Oski · #7 02-07-2007, 07:39 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I would rather beg for change on an offramp. It is more dignified.

[/ QUOTE ]

Probably more profitable as well.

The X-Factor · #8 02-07-2007, 07:45 PM

I did it for a while and I liked it at first but after a little while I hated it and there is no way I could do it full time again, ever.

GrandmaStabone · #9 02-07-2007, 07:47 PM

I did telemarketing for ~3 years in college. I had mad skillz so I worked on a lot of programs, lead teams, etc.

If you are not really, really good at sales the job is horrible. There is constant pressure to sell and they constantly ride your ass and remind you that your job depends on it (and it does). It doesnt matter whether you are making no sales or a 'decent' amount, if you are not a 'top dog' (like top 5-10 out of everyone on the program) it is constant pressure with zero job security. If this is the case you'd be much, much better off getting another job. This is the case for 95% of the people who try it and it is why so many people will tell you how bad it sucks.

However, if you have mad skills (like me), the job is [censored] amazing, largely for 2 reasons:

1.) Bonuses - I was making ridic. money (for college) with the kinds of bonuses I was pulling in, but I was also the highest volume seller in the company. This is not really dependent on where you work, but for which program. A single telemarketing company usually calls for several programs and it is the program itself that provides most of the bonus system. For instance, with one company I started out on the SBC program and was the #1 seller out of 300. SBC had an amzing bonus program, especially for the top 5 sellers. Later in the same company I started calling for Discover. I was (brag) again the #1 seller but the bonuses were much smaller and were capped a lot lower. So if you work at company X and call for 3 different programs over the course of your employment, there will be 3 different bonus structures. The company you actually work for will offer incentives, but they don't mean much. Also, keep in mind that most people never even get a bonus, you really have to be good to hit bonus money and even better to hit bonus money that will mean something.

2.) In addition, they treat you with a lot of respect and you can get away with anything. This is because on any given program you will have 'teams'. It is usually 1 supervisor per 15 people on the floor. The supervisors get a % of the total sales of their team. This means they spend all of their time riding the ass of [censored] sellers and as long as you are pulling in big numbers (and I mean GREAT numbers, not good) they really don't give a [censored]. It is INSANE what I got away with at that job based on the fact that I brought them a lot of $$$$$.

Tappy Tibbons · #10 02-07-2007, 07:53 PM

I hated it, but looking back, telemarketing for a brokerage firm helped me more than any other job I've had for one reason - getting over the fear of rejection. After being rejected 90 times an hour, that girl throwing a drink in your face at the bar doesn't seem so bad. You just grab a towel and move on to the next girl.

Also, sales experience can look good on almost any resume. If you can't get an internship directly related to your field, then you can tell employers how you learned to "deal with difficult customers" on the phone.