Telemarketing. It makes you just want to throw your telephone out of a window. How many times would you be just about ready to sit down at the dinner table, ready to dig into your nice juicy roast beef, when the phone rings? You get up to answer it, thinking that it might be important only to pick up the receiver to the sound of...

"Do you suffer from acid indigestion?"

And you immediately hang up the phone in disgust, mumbling a few words that can't be printed in this article. You go back to your dinner table and swear that if the phone rings again it had better be important or there will be hell to pay.

Let's face it, we ALL hate telemarketers.

So just what is it to this telemarketing thing and why do people do it in spite of the fact that they are some of the most hated people on this planet?

Well, for starters, it's a position that pays regardless of whether or not you actually make a sale. Most telemarketing positions pay about $7 an hour depending on where you live. If a sale is made in the process then you get additional commissions for each sale. For some people it's all they can do, since they have no real skills other than to be able to BS with people on the phone. For others, they actually enjoy the abuse.

So what exactly do telemarketers sell? Pretty much anything but the big thing these days seems to be credit. Most of the calls you will get are either about giving you a great rate on a new credit card or even on refinancing of your home. Which brings us to a very interesting question.

How to telemarketers even know you OWN a home?

The answer is actually very simple. They are supplied with lists; lists of homeowners, lists of people paying off auto loans, lists just about anything you can think of. It from these lists, that can contain thousands of people, that they make their phone calls . In most cases the telemarketer will be working from a script. They read the script, inserting their name in the blank spaces where it shows to insert their name, and trying very hard not to deviate from the script. These scripts are written by professional marketing firms, in some cases, but most of the time they are written by the supervisor of the department.

There are of course laws today where people can have themselves removed from these lists and if a telemarketer calls one of these people they can be charged with a crime. Yes, things have gotten that bad for telemarketers.

If getting a call from a real person isn't bad enough, they also have automated systems that can call you. You can usually tell these because they just sound so mechanical and start off with greetings that a normal person wouldn't use. Plus, they don't even ask for your name. They just start their pitch.

Yes, telemarketing is big. Even though most of the free world would just assume it didn't exist. Makes you wonder how successful it REALLY is.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Telemarketing