Stopping telemarketers may not seem like the kind of content we’d post, but it is. If it’s valuable to your business, we will want to share it. We learned these tips from Erica Elson, who was in the telemarketing industry for many years. She wrote a blog on Lifehacker.com to help you shut down a telemarketer, and get them to stop calling. You can read Erica’s full blog post HERE. In this article, we’re going to be far briefer.
How Telemarketing Works
The strategy for stopping telemarketers starts with understanding how they operate. We get several that call our business line daily, and that takes away from our time with clients.
- Telemarketers have a 4% or less success rate. This means you can expect them to be pushier.
- They will create a Lead Profile for you and any relevant info you give them will be added to this. The more information you give them (even if unintentional) the more data they have. They will use this to try and sell you harder.
- If you don’t answer, or hang up immediately, you will be marked as a “no answer”. This only keeps you on their call rotation.
- Telemarketers are trained on the “3 no’s” technique. Do not take “no” for an answer until it is said 3 times in the same conversation.
- No matter how many times above occurs, you will be added to the “call back” list with a future call back date.
What Not To Do
If you do any of these things, you have little to no chance at stopping telemarketers.
- Do not hang up quickly. You’ll be marked as “no answer” and you will be called back.
- Do not engage them. It’s easy to give them false hope. Don’t ask any questions about what they’re trying to sell, and don’t answer any questions. If they try to lure you with the “you reached out…” or “you showed interest…” don’t take the bait.
- Don’t hang up without a reason, or without having the right conversation (covered below.) Being marked as “disconnected call” will certainly get you called back.
- Don’t give them the OK to call you back. Don’t give them a better day, or better time to call you. They will do it.
What You Should Do
These tricks are in accordance with Federal Laws. Erica promises these tactics will be effective in stopping telemarketers from calling you.
- Register your mobiles, business line, home phone, etc. on the Do Not Call List.
- Use this exact sentence: “please put me on your do not call list.”
- Advise them you are on the Federal Do Not Call List
- Repeat “no” as often as it takes if they question your reasoning for asking to be on the list.
- Hang up without explanation once you’ve done all of the above. Usually, by this point, they disconnect. It is illegal to continue to call someone that is on BOTH the Federal DNC list and the company’s DNC list.
Don’t forget to renew your registration after the expiration dates!
We’re getting fewer calls per day with these tips. Using the Federal DNC list wasn’t working well enough alone. We hope this is helpful. We want your phone to ring off the hook, but not with telemarketers on the other end. Because this helped so much, we can’t thank Erica enough.
Erica Elson is a freelance writer who has worked at a variety of strange jobs to support herself. Her first book, The Awkward Human Survival Guide, is available on Amazon now.