06/17/2002

No More Sales Calls!

Q: Some time ago I had my phone number placed on a "no-call list" in Connecticut, but it's not working because some companies in Connecticut hire out-of-town telemarketing firms who do NOT use the list. My question is, what good are these lists if it's so easy to get around them? How do I get telemarketers to stop calling me?

A: You and thousands of other people detest sales calls from strangers. In our household we respond in dozens of different ways, depending on our mood at the time. We try not to be rude, because we know that the caller is just trying to make a living. However, we continue to repeat the same basic message: "We don't do business with strangers by phone, so please take our name off your list."

Below, I've listed a few of the techniques we use to reduce sales calls, plus links to names and addresses of organizations you can contact to stop telemarketing calls and junk mail delivery.

Keep paper by the phone. Ask for the name and phone number of the person calling. Write it down. Request that your name be removed from their list. If the caller knows that you are documenting the call, your request for name removal will usually be honored.

If you are a salesperson, go for a sale of your own. Turning the tables is great fun, even if it rarely works.

When the caller asks to speak to you or someone in your family by name, even if you are that person, say that you no longer live at that number. It's a lie, but it stops the calls.

Telemarketers often come across as old friends, calling you by your first name. When that happens, I ask, "Do I know you?" The reply is invariably, "No, but... " That stops the sales pitch immediately and gives me an immediate opportunity to tell the caller to delete my name.

Some callers launch into their sales pitch as soon as you pick up the phone. At the first pause, I interrupt by saying, "Stop. I'll save us both valuable time. I'm not interested. Please delete my name." If the caller keeps right on talking (and many of them do), I hang up.

Another ploy is to let your answering machine take all calls. Telemarketers rarely leave messages, because time is money. All those "hang-ups" on your voicemail line are probably telemarketers foiled. Callers who need or want to reach you will leave messages, knowing that people often don't answer their phones, just so they aren't constantly interrupted by sales calls. It's a sorry fact of life, but it's getting harder and harder to reach anyone directly anymore without going through a machine first.

How do you reduce unwanted calls? Does caller-ID help? Have any of you figured out how to stop junk mail? It's tremendously wasteful for companies to produce and deliver catalogs to every resident, knowing that most of them will go from the mailbox to the trash bin without so much as a glance inside.

Economic times are tough. We need to figure out how to reduce the costs and waste of overproduction and unwanted solicitation.

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Links:

Battling unwanted telephone sales: http://www.antitelemarketer.com/

Stopping Telemarketers: http://www.icflorida.com/partners/wftv/news/2002/telemarketing.html

To stop phone sales write to:

Direct Marketing Association
Telephone Preference Service
P.O. Box 9014
Farmingdale, NY 11735-9014

To stop junk mail, write to:

Direct Marketing Association
Mail Preference Service
P.O. Box 9008
Farmingdale, NY 11735-9008

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Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.