Part-Time Work as a Tele-marketer

Snagged the Job
So I was hunting for vacation jobs again, and once again, *Tracy came to the rescue.

She had found herself a telemarketing position with a huge property firm, and it paid well. So when she asked if I was keen, I thought to myself, why not? The place was near my place, and paid well on a per hour rate. It meant I worked lesser hours but would be paid the same for double the hours put in, say, a restaurant or boutique.

The Work
The work was really easy. We worked for established property managers. They had a list of home owners' names and contacts for different housing projects. Our job was just to call these homeowners and fix appointments if they were interested in selling or renting their units out.

There would be rejections, granted - but we were told to be indifferent towards them, since these potential clients were rejecting the company and not us. Even if they were nasty or rude, we had to remain cool and professional and not be affected. They drafted a simple script for us on how to start the calls, handle rejections and end calls gracefully. We did not have much practice before we picked up the phones to make the first calls, but all of us did pretty alright because of the simplicity of the scripts.

Sometimes, we would help the managers with a bit of research work if they were out of office and had no access to the internet or computer. Bear in mind that this was at least a decade ago, when wifi, smartphones and tablets were unheard of. So they would ring us with instructions of what they wanted; we checked the information online and report accordingly. It was enriching as it gave me an insight of how property agents worked, and also taught me the different zonal segregation.

Back in those days, I had a calm, unhurried manner about me, and being a smoker (back then), I also had a low, husky voice. Somehow I believe it was the combination that enabled me to be able to fix more appointments than the other part-time telemarketers like myself.

However, to my chagrin, many of the male homeowners made the mistake of thinking it was me (yes, husky-voiced me) that they were supposed to be meeting instead of my property manager. I was certain I mentioned I was only the assistant calling on behalf of my manager, and she would be the one meeting them!

Nonetheless, this must've caused jealousy in her - she was probably more sensitive since she was heavily pregnant then - and she stopped my services with the company.


The Next Telemarketer Job
Nonetheless, with experience now, I snagged another telemarketing position with a large insurance firm.

Similarly, we had to call potential clients and fix appointments for the manager to meet them. My manager was a middle-aged, good-looking chap who was doing very well.

I could not really perform in this role due to the following reasons:
(I) the people we called were random people whose contacts my manager bought from banks, call centers etc, and most of them demanded to know how we got hold of their contacts;
(ii) yes, they were rude and unfriendly and some were downright mean - slamming the phones at us, demanding why I called when he was on the other line (helloooo, should I have known that?) etc
(iii) I was so nervous and stressed that I kept forgetting the script, and my voice trembled when I talked into the phone

So I moved on from that job and my manager did not attempt to retain me, even though on Day One he did suggest slowly grooming us to become successful financial advisers like himself one day.


Last Telemarketing Job at Call Centre
Another college break, and I secured me a job at a large call centre. The current project we were working on was for a large general insurance company.

We all underwent intensive classroom-style training for two weeks before they put us out on the field - training on scripts, handling rejections, handling outbound and inbound calls differently, and there were role plays as well.

With this set of knowledge and skills, I was not nervous at all. I got out there, strapped on the headsets, and started cold-calling. Here I truly learned that rejections were part and parcel of any telemarketing job, and took them in stride. I would hang up professionally after thanking them for their time.

We had to cross-sell the new health insurance via phone, and I was proud to be the top again. It was such a natural flair for me, to just talk to them, and the next thing I knew I was asking them for their personal details to key into the system for their sign-ups.

At the end of my contract, I had to leave as the next college term was starting. Fun as this short stint was, telemarketing full-time was not something that I considered a career. Furthermore, I felt somewhat unbalanced that I did not receive any incentives or commission for my sales because I was a temporary / contract staff.

Pros and Cons
Oh well, the pros of a telemarketing job is that you do not need to run around or do much paperwork. Basically all you need to do is to talk to people, listen to them talk, and reply accordingly.

The cons of a telemarketing job is that your mood may be dampened or affected by mean people who choose to be rude or abusive on the other line. Not hitting targets or fixing the desired amount of appointments could also be demoralizing. Plus on top of that, your ears may hurt from being strapped by the earphones all day long. Your mouth / jaw may hurt, and at the end of your shift you may not feel like talking to anyone when you get home.