Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Telemarketer Training - Works For Me!

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No.

I'm so bad at saying "no", but I was shocked to hear a very best friend of mine sign up to give money to save some endangered african bush rat (or marsupial of some description) because she couldnt say no to the pushy salesman at the door. She needs some telemarketer training!

If we can learn to say no to telemarketers and door to door salespeople, then our No and our Yes in the rest of our life will mean so much more.

How awesome would it be if we all answered telemarketers this week with "No thankyou, we are not interested" or "Not today thankyou" or "Nenhum obrigado. O rato em perigo não é o meu interesse" (in portuguese that means "No thankyou, the endangered rat is not my interest").

Of course all of these would have to be followed by a prompt but polite click as you hang up.

You might need some "No" training, and I encourage you to take up the telemarketer challenge and let me know how you go! And once you have your No sorted, you can work on your Yes.

For me, It's time to say Yes. I'll let you have a sneak peek at my conversation with God today.

Me: I don’t want to do it.
God: Oh, really? Why is that?
Me: Well, It's not something that is easy for me or that I like doing.
God: Do you think leading the people out of Israel came easy for Moses? Do you think he liked it?
Me: Ouch. No.
God: I didn’t bring you all this way just for you to enjoy yourself, but I did bring you here to use you in other peoples lives. You were so busy saying No to the requests of people, that you started saying No to Me!
Me: Sorry. But I don’t think I can do it by myself
God: Little One, I am with you! Remember what I said to my people through Isaiah – “I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:9)
Me: Wow, thanks.
God: No worries.

That's just an excerpt. And a paraphrase (Im not sure God actually says "No worries").

Notice how little I spoke (there arent many other times in life when Im short on words!).

Sometimes we have to say No, Sometimes we have to say Yes. And most of the time, we have to say No to good things so we can say Yes to the best thing.

I think I hear your phone ringing :)

my email

8 comments:

FrazzMom said...

I say politely, "We have a household policy of not supporting telemarketers". Then I hang up- sometimes I have to butt into their spiel to get a work in edgewise, but it works every time!

Susan said...

I am married to a German and have lived in Germany for over 2 years now. They have no problem with being direct and letting their no mean no and yes mean yes. It has rubbed off and I have "no" problem saying no anymore. I swear this is a cultural problem.

Kiy said...

Our answer is just, "no, and take us off your call list". Usually, before we can finish that sentence, they've hung up. although now we get more of the automated calls, which tick me off to no end. My way of not giving to the dude who rings my doorbell ... I don't answer the door! I can look through the peep hole, if I don't know ya I don't answer the door.

I loved this tip, if more folks would say no would the telemarketing industry dry up? :)

Cheers, have a great day!

Tara said...

This is me..."Hi, sure go ahead.. well no I don't think we are really interested... Oh,... I see.. well.. I really shouldn't.. ok.. well maybe this time" LOL I definitely need a class on saying NO!!! Thanks for the reminder!!!

marigold said...

I agree with everything you've said and it makes me so happy that we don't have this problem! We don't have a home phone! Hallelujah!

Tracy said...

Hi, My hubby says we are about 6 1/2 hours away. My hubby pastors a aog church. Maybe we can get together one day.
Many Blessings,
Tracy

World's Greatest Mommy said...

I'm learning!

Thanks for reminding me!

Jodi said...

I hate how so many telemarketers, (some with good some with rotten caues) are so good at pressuring you to say yes to whatever they're hawking...I've come up with a standard answer to fundraisers that has helped us tremendously and really sorts out the good from the bad. When they start their spiel I politely step in (or you can wait to the end) and tell them that we don't make any financial commitments over the phone - they're welcome to send us literature in the mail and we'll look it through and decide if they meet our giving criteria (we give the bulk of our charity $$ to our local church). Sometimes they'll just verify the address and say okay...other times they say "well, we need a commitment of X dollars before we can send you something in the mail" to which I tell them...then I can't help you - I DO NOT COMMIT money over te phone - PERIOD. Mail to me if you want, don't if you want - doesn't hurt me! Lots of times they'll just hang up and leave me alone and sometimes you just have to hang up on them because they evidently don't understand (or listen to) English!