From last winter, check out the weather:
Tuesday Morning at the Cyber Café—Codgers discuss
Cold-Call Marketing (January 30, 2007)
It was a brisk +07ºF when I stepped out on my back porch this morning on my way to pick up Med and head over to the café for our usual meeting of the Codgers. What? Are you nuts? Of COURSE we’re not gonna walk to the coffee shop—with the wind, it is cold out! A -13ºF wind chill, coupled with slow-walking (IN to the westerly wind) codgers is not a wise combination.
“They’re all at your table,” Molly said as we shivered our way into the café, “Harold’s got his underwear in a bunch over something.”
“Thanks Molly,” said Medford, as we struggled out of our parkas, “Two official Codger mugs of your best organically and shade grown, fair trade coffee, please.”
“Mornin’ Med, Jay,” Carl greeted, as we made our way to the table by the front plate-glass window, “glad you’re back, Jay, to keep Medford in line.”
“Yeah,” added Harold, as Molly refilled his official Codger mug, “the old farm-boy has been really hard to handle in your absence.”
“OK, pile it on,” Medford smiled, “hey Harold, Molly says you’re out-of-sorts about something. I’m almost afraid to ask, but…”
“Telemarketing,” Harold declared, “after months of none of those dinner hour and bedtime calls at all, lately I’ve begun to get them again.”
“Charities?” Carl asked, and then added, “They are exempt from the ‘do not call’ list.”
“Campaigning’s done for now,” I added, “someone you’ve done business with in the past?”
“Nope and nope,” Harold answered, “real estate agents! Goes something like this:
‘Hi! I’m Peter from XYZ Realty, how are you this evening?’
‘Fine, until now. Why are you calling me? I’m on the do not call list!’
‘I’m not selling anything, but maybe you can help me.’
‘How?’
‘There has been a lot of interest in your neighborhood lately, and quite frankly, there just aren’t enough homes for sale. Do you know of anyone, friends, neighbors, who might be thinking of selling?’
‘You are selling, you really want to know if I want to sell, don’t you.’
‘I’m sorry to have bothered you. I’m a new agent, and this is what my broker told me to do.’
He then hung up.”
Fred, looking up from his ever-present morning Pioneer Press newspaper, said: “Hey, someone from that same company called me last week, I just hung up on her.”
“Did you file a complaint?” I asked.
“Darn right,” Harold answered, “I went online and filled out a complaint form at the State Department of Commerce.”
“Cold call prospecting is kinda risky these days,” Medford concluded, setting down his official Codger mug, “If not done carefully, it can be expensive. They need to honor the ‘Do Not Call’ lists—especially when they come across a curmudgeon like you, Harold.”
I refuse to cold call. Do unto others … and I don’t like getting those calls myself.
Granddaughter: I think it more likely to antagonize than to bring in business…especially now with so many on the do not call list.
I thought I was seeing double with the repeat paragraph at the end……are you trying to confuse me? : )
I don’t cold call either and can’t understand why anyone would stoop so low.
BTW – my own house is on the market and I let is expire. I had several real estate agents call me about re-listing with them….I had quite a bit of fun. If you see the listing agent and the owner on the tax roll (same person), the listing also reads “owner agent”, and to top it off, I’m on the “do not call list”.
I can be really mean at times.
Ines: A-ha! You win…you found the cleverly-placed error. OR…I simply didn’t proof read carefully enough–sort of like those agents who failed to read “owner-agent” on your listing.
When it comes to “do not call list” infractions, “mean” is not a bad thing.
I don’t cold call either…just blog and blog somemore.
build it an they will come
Bob: I’ve seen your most recent construction effort. Very interesting!
Jay! You brought the truck back! I miss this graphic, it was the one ya’ll were using when I first started to read your posts.
I’m so laffing at Ines! I can just image that call!
It was a sad day when Jay sold that old Ford.