Lousy Cold Calls

Here’s an email that Pete Caputa sent me today.

This was a real call I received. No joke. I thought you might want to blog it.

Her: Hi, I need to speak to Peter Caputa.

Me: This is him.

Her: Hi Peter. I am ______________ from Stamps.com. I am calling to see whether we could save you some money on your postal expenses. Can I ask you a few questions? (Disclaimer: This is very close to what she said, but not verbatim.)

Me: Yes.

Her: How many times do you send a message through the postal service in a week?

Me: Maybe once.

Her: How many times do you go to the post office in a month?

Me: Maybe once.

Her: How many times do you send first class mail?

Me: Maybe once per month.

Her: Do you have a postal meter in your office?

Me: No.

Her: Ok. Would you like to learn how you could save time and money on your postal expenses?

Me: How the h*** are you going to save me time and money if I don’t really mail anything?

Her: Ok. Well. What I’d like to do is send you an email introducing stamps.com.

Me: Click.

Was she not listening? If you know anybody at stamps.com, send them a link to this post and tell them that I’m easy to talk to if they want to fix their problem.

2 thoughts on “Lousy Cold Calls

  1. My response to these cold call/telemarketing–under trained, over programmed voices that call me is always–I am on the DO NOT CALL LIST>>>WHY ARE YOU CALLING ME!! To which I most often get the next pre-programmed choice off the list of phrases they are given to try and make me see the value in their product or service. I am inclined to think that companies who require the sales force to spend x number of hours cold calling each week should re-evaluate how they sell. The belly to belly approach at least gives room for personal interaction without a scripted pitch–I’ve yet to run across a sales person, in person that has the sheet of paper in front of them, although there are always the “buy my product or service” types that shove their business card in your face without any interest in who you are or if you are a prospect for their product or service. Is society moving so fast that selling has become all about robots delivering a programmed message??? Even phone dialing is automated–less interaction with the target–notice I said target not prospect!! Anyway, I ramble so to close I will say I find it sad that there are so many folks programmed to think that selling is all about talking and nothing about listening or relationship building.

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