RE: National Crisis or lower your mortgage?

[Drsolly <drsollyp () drsolly com>]

On Tue, 20 Jun 2006 Blanchard_Michael () emc com wrote:

>  I have to disagree, the DNC list works great.  I used to get 2 - 5
> calls nightly from telemarketers.  I used to screen the calls and pick
> up on a few of them to play my little game of "how long can I keep this
> idiot on the phone before he hangs up"  I had one telemarketer on the
> phone over 15 minutes until I got tired of playing and I finally told
> him that I lived in a condo (not true), and that there isn't any grass
> around for blocks so there's no way I could use his lawn services... He
> hung up so upset he was swearing ;-)  I loved it...
>
>   Due to the DNC list, I don't get any calls anymore :-( No more game
> :-(

We have a DNC list here ... but there's exemptions. Market researchers, 
for example, are still allowed to call me. 

I also play a game with them, but mine is completely different, it's "How 
high up in your organisation can I make an enquiry."

The objective is to ask a simmple question, or make a simple request. The 
simple question is usually "How did you get my phone number?", and that 
usually leads me into numerous departments in the company, all of which I 
aim to get investigating the questions, especially the IT department.
The key thing, is to get names that you can phone and talk to, and you 
shouldn't care too much about whether their job description is appropriate 
or not. The more people I can get involved in my quest, the better. After 
all, time doesn't cost anything, does it - that's why they called me in 
the first place.

The simple request is to get my name added to a list that I want the 
company to keep, of people who do not wish to be called. Again, this 
request takes me into many parts of the organisation.

I also go top-down - you can look up the organisation in Google and find 
out the names of the most senior people. Then I aim to talk to them, to 
explain my question (or request) and ask them to route this to the 
appropriate department. My thought is that a request that comes from above 
will more likely be actioned by the lower level staff.

Obviously, this is all followed up in a subsequent call, to check that the 
requested action has been taken. And if it hasn't, then I launch an 
enquiry to discover why not.

Until I get tired of this, which probably happens before they do.

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