original photo courtesy of casey lee
Why oh why do all of the telemarketers who call me on my cell phone HANG UP ON ME after I politely tell them I don’t need their services. Really, I am sick of it.
BLOCK this number in your phone: 971-222-3695.
The woman there “works on behalf of Yahoo.” She told me she had about 80 buyers a month who need the services of buyer’s agent in Birmingham, MI, and that she could place me at the top of Yahoo’s search results so I would get the call. (I think the whole MLS *might* show 25-30 transactions a month in Birmingham, so she must be hiding all of these pent up buyers from finding actual agents who want to pay her.)
I sweetly told her, “I already come up at the top of the search, organically. I don’t pay for search results.”
Click. She hung up.
If it were the first time this week I had this experience, I might not be so testy. I understand her job is to sell me something, but why do these people all hang up? Really?!!
I suggest we compile a list of their phone number right here in this post. Hey, some lead gen companies have done this to me to. I will add them to my list of Evil, RUDE Telemarketers. I think I am on a crusade.
Have a great Tuesday.
Greg Cremia
June 3, 2008 at 10:29 am
They can’t hang up on you if you hang up on them first. I used to try to be polite but their attitudes have become so horrible that I now try to beat them to the punch.
Nick Bostic
June 3, 2008 at 10:32 am
I have a feeling that may have actually been a Yahoo employee or contractor. 971 is a Portland, OR prefix and they have offices near mine. Have you tried calling it back by any chance?
Elaine Reese
June 3, 2008 at 11:51 am
I get quite a few of these calls from area code 717 (Colorado?). They call my office # which forwards to my cell. I tell them that the number they called is on the DNC list. I had one guy say that if it was on the DNC list, then why was it provided on my website. DUH! The DNC is for telemarketers, not clients.
I also get quite a few calls from a “search engine” call Red Z.
A lot of them are rude. I assume it’s because they’re tired of agents hanging up on them. Do agents EVER sign up with these lead generators?
Ricardo Bueno
June 3, 2008 at 3:25 pm
They hang up because they don’t have a rebuttal for this: “I already come up at the top of the search, organically. I don’t pay for search results.” — Maureen Francis
Thanks to all the Google juice you’ve garnered for yourself over the months you just don’t have to. I used to get a lot of telemarketing calls from my profile on A|R…I simply told them to email me some materials; most of them didn’t. I try to be friendly and say “I’m sorry I just don’t have a need for your services right now.” They’re either rude about it or they acknowledge what I’ve said and move on. Either way, I don’t let it bother me. 😀
Ken Smith
June 3, 2008 at 3:56 pm
I don’t waste my breath anymore and just hang up on them. If I have time I will ask them to hold and set the phone down and see how long it takes them to hang up, the most ever to date is 18 minutes.
Jay Thompson
June 3, 2008 at 4:10 pm
@Nick “I have a feeling that may have actually been a Yahoo employee or contractor. 971 is a Portland, OR prefix and they have offices near mine. Have you tried calling it back by any chance?”
I just called it. “Link Tech Solutions” was on the message. That line doesn’t accept messages. In other words it’s an out-bound only line. Snotty telemarketers typically don’t want people calling them back.
Eric Bouler
June 3, 2008 at 4:19 pm
They would not be calling if no one bought their services. This is there only cost so why not try.
Jennifer in Louisville
June 3, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Still, even if they are unable to sell you something – they are still representatives of the company. A response of something along the lines of “Congratulations on your current placement. If however, you would like additional exposure at some later date, please keep Yahoo Marketing in mind. Thanks, and have a great day.” That would at least leave a positive after thought – rather than making a potentially life long enemy of the company.
Rich Jacobson
June 3, 2008 at 4:48 pm
I’ve been in negotiations with some of my mafia connections on a new start-up. For an offer you can’t refuse, we trace any number to its source. Then the cousins, Vinny and Joey, run over and cap their knees. Wouldn’t take too long before word of mouth got around and the phone calls would stop!
Jim Gatos
June 3, 2008 at 6:50 pm
I had a call from the jerks and their liars from RE EXPERTS, and I tried to explain to one of their clowns named Tim that I did not want any more phone solicitations and to tell his clowns to stop text messaging me (can you believe it?) Bad bad bad people.. He wouldn’t even answer his phone but I think he finally “got” it…
Here is a link…
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-866-861-7912
Ken Smith
June 3, 2008 at 10:48 pm
BTW Maureen this person didn’t work for Yahoo or on behalf of Yahoo. That is a flat out lie. Sure if you stayed on the phone long enough they would have had you download a special update for your browser. That would have allowed them to show you any results they wanted above the normal Yahoo results.
Jim I read the comments from the link you provided. It is amazing that companies like this can find enough people to stay in business. $3500 set up fee and 20% referral fee on all deals you close sounds like way to much money to me, but I guess there must be agents willing to spend the money.
Ricardo Bueno
June 3, 2008 at 11:05 pm
@Eric Bouler: that’s true. But still, if they addressed things like Jennifer in Louisville suggested I’d be far more impressed and open to their presentation/proposal. Isn’t that what sales is about? Limiting barriers?
If a tele-marketer approached me the way Jennifer suggested, I might just let my guard down a little bit more and that’s a step in the right direction. Do that enough and you have a sale.
Eric Blackwell
June 4, 2008 at 2:44 am
Ken- Exactly…these guys are either just doing the same PPC that you can to yourself or the toolbar scam. They are not worth a minutes time
Jennifer- spot on. They are not trying to help. They do not even know who ranks where in Louisville…just calling from a list.
@Eric Bouler- yep. Why are there spammers…because it works.
Eric
Jennifer in Louisville
June 4, 2008 at 7:39 am
I’ve had time to think about it, and I am still somewhat shocked that Yahoo wouldn’t take into consideration reputation management as being a priority when hiring out these persons to make calls on their behalf.
Ken Smith
June 4, 2008 at 9:16 am
Jennifer in my last comment I stated “this person didn’t work for Yahoo or on behalf of Yahoo. That is a flat out lie.” There is no question that yahoo isn’t calling real estate agents to help them rank higher, we are not even close to on their radar screen for marketing to.
Dan Connolly
June 4, 2008 at 7:37 pm
I try to be pleasant since I used to cold call a little back in the old days. I say something like “I’m sorry, I’m just not interested today, thanks for asking though….” it really throws them off their game. It’s like they never heard someone being nice before. A lot of times they just say “Your welcome, goodbye!” They have nothing in their scripts for that!
It makes me feel a little better then my old method (slamming the phone down or putting them on hold and never coming back).