Thursday, October 20, 2011

Telemarketing

I am quickly catching up on my own personal development after many of years of living in social isolation.
I am being employed as a telemarketer, and every day I speak with hundreds of people over the phone.
I am amazed at how, in the few days since when I started in this telemarketing job, I have massively improved the quality and depth of the way I interact with family, friends and other people in my life. I and am shocked to discover how very little connection that I have had with other people in my life, even in my recent past.
Hour after hour I gain insights into dozens of individual people's lives.
I love the gracious way so many people speak to me, a complete stranger who has a name and is speaking on behalf of a charity.
I feel so moved as I hear of how much people are willing to stretch themselves to give to so many causes.
I feel so sad as I hear of each health challenge that various people share with me about. Right now all I can give them is some empathy for a brief amount of my time, and to pray that they will soon do better. I believe that the best thing that I can do for them is to stop them from wasting their own time and mine in commiserating, and wish them a brighter future.
It makes no sense to me that many people are incredibly articulate on the phone and would love to support the charity, yet are not being creative enough to think of ways of working around a physical disability. No. I have driven a maxi taxi in Brisbane and seen more than enough people who do amazing things in life despite their disabilities. I do know it is hard and I do realize that I know little about their circumstances, yet I also know at least a little of the huge difference between those who keep being victims, and those who are willing to go beyond that.
I look forward to becoming a better communicator so I can more effectively communicate what I am offering. For example the times when I am offering even those who have little or no money an opportunity to still support the charity that they want to support. Instead of asking for their money, all I am asking is for them to allow me to send them a book of twenty raffle tickets to sell to family and friends over the next few weeks.
Wouldn't instant transformation from poverty consciousness to prosperity consciousness be absolutely awesome!
The greatest highlight is the enthusiasm with which some people are so willing to support the charity.
Right now I am wondering what it is about nursing homes that causes people to be unable to give? Do we need to burn those places down and free the inmates from their confinement so they can again live in the nurture of a loving family and the richness of the interaction with the wider community? I am seriously thinking of changing my own giving programs to include more charities that support home care.
I do know that one of the costs of telemarketing is the annoyance that it causes to some people. Yet for now that is the way that it is and to me the benefits far outweigh the costs. Yet the costs may be nowhere as great as they seem. Some people love to have something to complain about. The weather, the neighbours, and the fact that somebody had the gall to disturb them by uninvitedly ringing them. I know that they will not thank me for giving them something to complain about, and I also know that they are probably enjoying passionately complaining to a lot of people. No matter what I do in life, many people will upset themselves with their expectations that I don't. All I can do is to continue to do what I believe is for the greatest good for all concerned, and courteously give all those who are negatively impacted by my actions my empathy and understanding.
Some people have unrealistic expectations. They think that having an unlisted phone number or placing their number on the national do not call list will stop them from receiving phone calls from charities. I do my best to briefly and simply explain that that the action will not achieve the outcome that they desire. Another expectations is that, before I have heard that there is actually a human answering the phone in reply to my "hello", that I identify myself. I consider that it makes sense for me to wait for at least "hello" before doing that. Otherwise the communication tends to get totally out of sequence.
Some people just hang up. Others communicate more, allow myself to identify myself and who I am calling on behalf of and then tell courteously me that they are not interested. Many are not so courteous, and I understand that my call may be an unwanted interruption. I certainly do not always respond courteously to all people all the time. Especially when I am tired or stressed.
A huge number of people are too busy. They are time poor, a common malady in our society. I have suffered it in my own life and still do. What is each person busy doing? Maybe each of us are wasting at least some of our time, or at least not using our time as effectively as we could.
While I enjoyed talking with people, I was not meeting the performance standards required of me as getting enough results from my calls. They stopped employing me and I looiked for other work.

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