I actually have a great deal of sympathy for the poor souls who are employed to make outbound calls. I know they are working from scripts and required to push. Therefore, I have found several ways to politely end call without making the agent feel bad.
All you really need to do if find something their script does not cover, or which would make the sale ridiculous. Examples:
Carpet cleaning services - sorry, we have hardwood throughout.
Credit Card X - Did you say X? I'm sorry, I just applied by mail last week.
Newspapers - Sorry, no one hear reads. But thanks for the offer!
etc.
To address Mark's earlier post: we all don't like to be bugged at home, even if we work in the industry. I especially hate the phone since joining this industry. But the real issue is not the calls, its the required pushiness of the agents. They are required to not let you off the phone, so we have to find ways to get away and still be polite. I get offended at the people who yell at the telemarketers: these are poor people just like me who happened to get chosen for the wrong training class. Cut them some slack. |