Dear LPG,

For the first time in a long time I picked up the phone earlier this morning and received a call that provoked the answer ‘No, not today thank you’.   It reminded me of a story that I have been meaning to share on your site for a long time which although, work related, has relevance to all including retirees. 

Some 35 years ago, when I was a lot younger and in the days when it was not that easy to get a job, I decided to do something that I had never done before.  Things got so bad that I ended up being the owner of one of those voices at the other end of the phone trying to persuade people to have a representative visit and sell them double glazing.  The reality of the job was that you had to learn the spiel and then spend four hours a day, five days a week, in a really crowded noisy room where music was also used to, according to the employers, keep the workers motivated.  It was a soul destroying experience on two counts.  It was commission based with few successful calls or commission, while the noise and abuse received as a result of most calls caused nothing but headaches. 

I managed that for three weeks before deciding on a change of career.  I ended up in a job trying very hard to sell invisible and really expensive paint which was supposed to protect the outside of your home. I spent an unpaid week learning about the product before being sent out with the names of a few streets where I was supposed to knock on the doors and persuade people that this was a good thing.   After two weeks of that I realised my career was not going to flourish and, as I handed in my notice the boss told me something really important.  He said that I did not believe in the product which was why I could not sell it. 

I did get a more credible job after that, but I learned a thing or two from my five weeks of salesmanship.

The first is that that manager was right; it is truly hard for any salesman to sell something that he doesn’t believe in.  You could deduce that to mean that the people that still bother us on the telephone are quite stupid, but I imagine that many of them are just like I was during those five weeks; jobless and willing to do anything vaguely legal for a bit of money, regardless of which country they are calling from.

So, even though cold calling doesn’t happen as often these days, and in spite of the exasperation and frustration you feel when they call, please be kind when telling them that you are not interested. 

SP, Lee