When you outsource things like this to other companies, you actually free up time for yourself. If you have a team of people, the time spent on calling people you don’t really know can be used to serve the well-paying customers.

Telemarketing is something I have some knowledge of. After my ‘A’ Levels, I had some to spend while waiting for results. Many of the jobs paid $5 an hour, and those recruitment agencies took commission, so some of my friends became cheap labour. I chose telemarketing even though I hated to do sales. The job definitely beat the super cheap labour I provided when I sold magazines to schools. I think I clinched almost zero sales then.

My job scope did not even making cold calls. My duty was to man a hotline. We had a script to follow. Possible answers were anticipated, so we were trained to answer the questions. Basically, we were there to help the customer get the clients’ particulars, and they would take it up from there. We had to be there in anticipation of advertisements because a flood of calls would come in then. One thing I learnt from there was to have a smile while answering the call, because a smile can be ‘heard’ over the phone. The job was tough, but we were professional with every call.

Just today, I guided a group of volunteers to approach people for donations. I taught them to be polite when they approach the people, and be confident. Even when rejected, they should still wish them to have a nice day. These volunteers commented that they overcame their shyness as they had to force themselves to speak up. At the same time, they also had to learn to deal with hostile or indifferent people. They should not take it as personal rejection, but just move on.

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I think I ought to embark on my own series of interviews for this blog. This is something that I have thought about before, but haven’t planned yet.

Here’s a snippet from the interview. Nicholas was the interviewer.
N: That’s powerful sharing! Thanks it made my day! OK… Tell me something REALLY interesting from your past!
S: Huh? Like…
N: Something that your readers dunno about?
S: Ok, I’ve slept on the field where Fandi Ahmad and Lim Tong Hai spat on before.
N: ROFLMAO *nearly had an accident* you almost got me into an accident there!
S: Haha! Look carefully. That was when people loved soccer. I was 15 then, and my school was putting up a mass dance display for Singapore Youth Festival opening ceremony…

Check out the interview here by Nicholas from Highway Of Life.

Sarah Tan – SingaporeProfit.com

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