Humor in Telemarketing

In 15 years of telesales/telemarketing experience I have heard all kinds of funny stories.  But this latest story comes from Elinor Stutz, CEO, Smooth Sale, LLC, a sales training company:

Last week a person obviously new to telemarketing called to enroll me in a business program.  Errors made:
1.    No research was done prior to the call.  He knew nothing about my business or me.  Most importantly, he failed to realize that I already took the course!
2.    Caller did not apologize for the error.
3.    Caller only after a few minutes asked what I did.  Upon my announcing I am “a sales trainer” he chose to ignore my answer and kept on talking.
4.    Fatal error – he used words from a script on me:  “If I were able to…, how would you feel…?”  At this point, I said I would have no feelings one way or the other because I am uninterested, and he would be far better off calling someone who is new to the program and that he might consider sales training.

Remember that when you have someone telemarketing/teleselling for your company he/she is just an extension of your brand — make sure he/she is well-trained and provides a solid image.