Sales Calls

[EcclesCake]

I'm quite patient and tolerant to sales calls but one today irritated me.

The caller rang to explain that he was the agent responsible for my postcode area and had on record that we had fibre loft insulation. I told him that we recently replaced our insulation with Brand X and he promptly told me that he had never heard of it and we had made a big mistake.

Now if he's never heard of it how does he know we've made a mistake and secondly aggressively questioning our choice is not a winning way to secure any business from me/us.

For the record we've used Celotex, it is not an obscure form of insulation and quite suited to our requirements.

I'm left wondering which calls are more tiresome the script led ones or the free form spiel :-/

[TWR]

The answer to these Eccles, your OH Is a Builder.

[EcclesCake]

Sorry TWR, what has my husbands profession got to do with anything?

[janbee]

I never answer the phone. I have the answering machine on at all times and screen all calls before I answer. Even f one caller were to get through , I'd simply hang up and would never get involved in a chat with them.

[Dizmo]

EcclesCake: TWR was saying that is what you should say to sales callers who are trying to sell things pertinent to your OH's trade that you don't need 'etc etc' because your OH is a builder and such things have already been done :)

[woofgang]

The only one I ever lost it with was a bloke with a very english (Northern accent who phoned me up and started to witter. As I was trying to do five things at once at the time, I politely interrupted and told him not the waste his time and that I needed to hang up, said goodbye and hung up. He actually phoned me straight back and said in injured tones "I hadn't finished"

[lady-janine]

befor we got this 'phone I used to do a gness and get very muddled and confused - if I had time to spare that is. suppose it was true really. I do get muddled.

[EcclesCake]

Thank you for the explanation Dizmo.

However, it doesn't address the point of my post which was to to do with scripted or freestyle sales calls and there is no way I will demean myself by playing the little woman role.

[Retrochic]

How can being polite and saying no thankyou be 'playing the little woman role'? If I get a phone call about double glazing or boilers etc I say 'Thanks but my husband is a builder' well he is but that's beside the point, there is nothing 'little woman' about it(whatever that's supposed to be)

[EcclesCake]

Retrochic, I have no desire to hide behind a lie. I can speak for myself and see no need to introduce a fictitious third party.

As I previously said, this was more about the style of sales call.