Just say ‘no’

Posted on February 19, 2009 by Tom

“I have something that’s really interesting, especially for you.”  If I would believe every phonecall I get, my yearly marketing budget would be gone in a month, spent on things that are ‘very important’, ‘just for me’ or ‘an opportunity I really can’t miss out on’.

telemarketing

We all want to scream ‘no’, but every rule in every customer relations book and every fibre in our wanting-to-please-everyone bodies have difficulties saying ‘no’.  But saying ‘yes’, or worse ‘maybe’ means you’re losing a lot of your valuable time.  Creating a conversation were there’s any room for doubt is giving them a chance to keep disrupting you.

Don’t give them anything they can use.  Saying it’s interesting, but not now, is just giving them a valid reason to call you up again.  So you’re not wasting time right now, but you know it’ll happen again in the future, even though you really aren’t interested.  Untill they hear a firm ‘no’ and nothing they can use against you, they’ll probably keep bothering you.

I ask them to email you the details.  Phonecalls are too invasive and disrupt your workflow.  If they keep insisting, give them a firm ‘no’, even an aggressive one.  They know the power of calling, personal contact is far less aggressive than written contact.  We all want to be friends, so we’re all nice to eachother.  That happens when you watch too many Disney-movies as a kid.

Blacklisting.  There are always people who just keep bothering you, whatever you do, even if you said ‘no’.  Just blacklist them, there’s no reason why you should ever accept their calls.  They’re aggressive, too invasive and won’t take ‘no’ for an answer.  So just ignore them.  Even if they have something interesting, try to find another way, because they’ll keep remembering you at that one opportunity you took.

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  • de blogbezoedelaar aka ikke
    in callcenters the focus is too much on target, statistics... number of qualified calls per hour etc etc and too often people forget that sometimes the best option is not to sell your product... but it is always hard to explain to certain managers that no sales are good sales :-)
  • de blogbezoedelaar aka ikke
    that is indeed always the risk... turning your client against you to the point that no matter what you do, he is lost forever. never imposse yourself, dont be aggresive and no matter what if you hear 3 times no, you finish the call... that is kinda of the new "rule" in telesales; stop after 3 no's... some studies (sorr, dont have the reference) have shown that the limit is 3 times no. If a client or potential client has to say no more than 3 times you have crossed that limit where you cant "recover" him later...
  • de blogbezoedelaar aka ikke
    hahahahahahhahahaha give me a product, your phonenumber and tell me NO when i call... i guarantee you that it will be a very interesting call ;-) Many hours of training as spent in teaching agents how to counter any possible objecttion from "i dont have time", "not interested", "send me a brochure" etc etc... even yelling, insulting and stilling being able to "qualify" a call.. there is always a way. for everything you say a good agent can use it as a window. really everything you say or do can be an indication if the agent is attentive.... therefor the first rule of telesales (according to me at least for what it is worth); "selling is first not a matter of the having the skill of words, but the ability to listen"..
  • I agree, but I can guarantee you that if I don't like the outcome of the call, it'll probably be the first and last time we ever do business.
  • I hear you. I hear you!
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