Bank Agent: Hello, can I have 3 minutes of your time?
Me: May I know what is it regarding?
Bank Agent: I would like to share with you a policy (blah blah blah - cannot remember the plan he mentioned)
Me: Ok 3 minutes is fine.
Bank Agent: Firstly, I would like to congratulate you. We have selected only a few Citibank customers and this policy is not even opened to the public. (Blah blah blah blah, he went on yakking for a while. NON STOP. I think he didn't even pause to breathe and hence, I can't even have the chance to say that I am not interested)
Me: (Finally found a chance to interrupt him) Excuse me. Ermm, no it's okay. I'm not interested.
Bank Agent: May I know why are you not interested? We have (continues to blabber for a while).
Me: *thinks to myself that it's 5 minutes already* (went on to refill my mechanical pencil and drank water)(He is still blabbering away).
Bank Agent: Can I have your details for verification to that I can start this policy right away?
Me: What details? I don't want any policy.
Bank Agent: It's our (blah blah blah and he starts to sell again for the next 30 seconds)
Me: Hey, I am not interested. Thank you.
Bank Agent: Why is that so? This is such a good...
Me: What the hell!? I have already said that I do not need this policy.
Bank Agent: Oh ok (slams down the phone).
Next time, I will not speak with any agents from banks or insurance companies fullstop. Not even one second. Because they are not able to gauge how long is 3 minutes and secondly, they do not understand what 'no, thanks' mean.
Me: May I know what is it regarding?
Bank Agent: I would like to share with you a policy (blah blah blah - cannot remember the plan he mentioned)
Me: Ok 3 minutes is fine.
Bank Agent: Firstly, I would like to congratulate you. We have selected only a few Citibank customers and this policy is not even opened to the public. (Blah blah blah blah, he went on yakking for a while. NON STOP. I think he didn't even pause to breathe and hence, I can't even have the chance to say that I am not interested)
Me: (Finally found a chance to interrupt him) Excuse me. Ermm, no it's okay. I'm not interested.
Bank Agent: May I know why are you not interested? We have (continues to blabber for a while).
Me: *thinks to myself that it's 5 minutes already* (went on to refill my mechanical pencil and drank water)(He is still blabbering away).
Bank Agent: Can I have your details for verification to that I can start this policy right away?
Me: What details? I don't want any policy.
Bank Agent: It's our (blah blah blah and he starts to sell again for the next 30 seconds)
Me: Hey, I am not interested. Thank you.
Bank Agent: Why is that so? This is such a good...
Me: What the hell!? I have already said that I do not need this policy.
Bank Agent: Oh ok (slams down the phone).
Next time, I will not speak with any agents from banks or insurance companies fullstop. Not even one second. Because they are not able to gauge how long is 3 minutes and secondly, they do not understand what 'no, thanks' mean.
Woa... this agent is really persistent in asking why and I think he's damn rude to slam the phone. Hello? We're still potential customers right?
ReplyDeleteI get lots of calls from banks and insurance. Mostly about credit cards. Hence, this is what I do -->
I always start with:
"Is it regarding some credit cards or something?"
Whether yes or no, whether they continue yakkng w/o pausing for breath, w/o pausing to lift their eyes off their scripts, w/o ruining their impeccably memorised sales pitch, I would interrpt with:
"I'm sorry but I'm not interested. I don't wish to waste your time. Thank you very much for calling though. Have a nice day. Bye!"
Most of the time they would very politely say "bye" too. Last time, I was quite rude to them and when someone slammed the phone down w/o saying "bye", I nearly wanted to call back the number to scold the rude agent but I decided it's not worth my energy and anger.
I started changing tactic when I realised that our rejections or even our tones may affect the person on the other side of the line. What if the person was having a bad day? The least we could do as to be nice even when rejecting. And very soon I found out that this is a really good way of rejecting. In fact, i just rejected one today again.
I've this sneaking suspicions that companies are selling our numbers to these companies. I get such calls so frequently that my colleagues got used to it.
Thanks jolene for your comment. Will follow your way the next time. ""I'm sorry but I'm not interested. I don't wish to waste your time. Thank you very much for calling though. Have a nice day. Bye!""
ReplyDeleteUgh...i always get those man. Looks like their targets are getting steeper :)
ReplyDeleteThis kind of calls, i always receive.
ReplyDeleteMy first question always to them: "How you got my number?" =)
Some of them are really persistent, even when i told them i not interested.
Their job, not easy, we are also not easy customers. =)
Guess there must be too many pests here these days. Sales calls from dodgy companies, getting approached by insurance agents on the road , real estate brochures etc...
ReplyDelete