March 2003

By Rich Tehrani, 
Group Editor-In-Chief, Technology Marketing Corporation

On a lighter note, my January column, "O Baggage, Where Art Thou?" struck a chord with many of my fellow frequent fliers. I have included a few of those letters as well.

Sincerely,
Rich Tehrani
Group Publisher,
Group Editor-in-Chief
rtehrani@tmcnet.com

Dear Rich:

I just read your article "The FTC Is About To Eliminate 3-5 Million Jobs" and I am certain if you listen closely you can still hear me applauding. I manage a branch office for Circulation Development, Inc., a newspaper telemarketing agency. I have used the same statistics and the same points in addressing my sales floor, my assigned clients and even in a published rebuttal in our local newspaper to a columnist who insisted telemarketers should be executed. I just wanted you to know that the office I run and the company I work for emulates the "professional and proud" description of outbound telemarketing that you so accurately portray.

After reading your article, I asked myself, what can I do? I WILL use the links to contact my elected officials, but I know I have more to offer. I recognize that telemarketing sales office managers like myself are the link to the over three million hard-working telemarketers holding those jobs soon to be lost. To publish your article on my sales floor would scare the "Be Jesus" out of the sales reps. (The top sales people will head straight for the local used car lot, not yet under government attack.) To rile them to action would be possible, but how do I get them to communicate? Internet comes to mind but most on my sales floor don't have access. Petition? Who? I have 58 people at this site who could be made to understand the current legislation. I just don't know how to turn them loose.

There have to be others like me. We have a voice. I was hoping you could tell me how to use it. Again, wonderful article. It moved me.

Sincerely,
Susan Wesa

Rich Tehrani replies:

Dear Susan:
Thank you for you comments. I would suggest you write letters to the Congressional Representative from your district, as well as your two Senators and the FTC. You can find the address for your Congressional Representatives at www.house.gov and for your Senators at www.senate.gov. The Web site for the FTC is www.ftc.gov. Contact information for the White House can be found at www.whitehouse.gov/contact. If this legislation is enacted, you can always express your opinion at the polls on the first Tuesday of November 2004.

Dear Rich:

Congratulations on the terrific letter to President Bush. As a long time member of the telemarketing industry, past President of the ATA, past Chairman of the TMC and contributor to one of the very first issues of Telemarketing magazine, I wanted to say thanks. We need more people to stand up and fight this unnecessary intrusion of Big Government. I believe yours is the first I've seen to cover all of the important points that the Bush Administration has missed.

Jon Hamilton
JHA Telemanagement, Inc.

Dear Rich: 

Let's hope he gets the word and can stave off this possible hindrance to our economic recovery.

Regards,
C. Don Gant
Iwatsu America Inc.

Dear Rich:

Read your letter today in the Call Compliance newsletter. Excellent! Let's hope he [President Bush] and other wise men and women around him do the same.

Paul Glancy

Dear Rich:

I kindly invite you to my house from 6 to 9 every evening to answer the phone. I'll even give you dinner. If my putting my name on a "do not call list" puts several million people out of work, they did not have a meaningful job anyway. Besides, I make a point out of never buying from someone that calls me at home. This goes for the phone companies, credit card companies, stock brokerage companies, insurance companies, and all the other intruders to my peace. By putting my name on a do not disturb list, I will probably increase their efficiency, because I refuse to deal with them.

Regards,
Dave Borgeson
g3NOVA Technology Inc.

O Baggage, Where Art Thou?

Dear Rich:

I enjoyed your article addressed to airline executives. As a frequent business traveler, I have experienced much of the same poor service issues you have. I used to be a loyal flier of two airlines (one I have flown almost 1,000,000 miles on). I am no longer. I look to the airline with the best price a few of the reasons I do this are: 

1) There is no longer a difference in service between a large national carrier and a regional carrier in fact many times, the service is better on Air Tran than Delta.

2) Frequent flier miles are impossible to redeem (there must be only one seat available per flight the plane can be 90 percent empty and there are no frequent flier seats available). Why go out of your way to be loyal to an airline if you can't ever use the frequent flier mileage, unless you are flying to Fargo in January?

3) Seats in coach are made for someone 5' 8" tall (I am 6' 3" and my knees are crammed into the seat in front of me God forbid the person directly in front of me reclines).

4) Upgrades to first class are difficult at best TWA used to upgrade you automatically if you purchased a certain fare and were a frequent flier American stopped that little perk.

5) Lastly, tell me there is no collusion on ticket prices!

I agree with you also on the issue of food. If I were taking a five-hour flight, I would have no problem paying for a meal a decent meal rather than having to eat the two-week-old sandwich or buy the junk food in the airport and take it on the plane. This is especially bad since I would have to eat the greasy burger or pizza as soon as I got on the plane (I hate cold fast food) rather than when I want it two and a half hours into the five-hour flight.

I used to fly when the drive would be more than three to four hours. Now that you have to check in two hours before the flight (you never know what the security line will be like), get frisked by three people before you get to your gate, find out the flight was delayed and then wait 45 minutes for your luggage at your destination. I now drive if I can get there in six to seven hours. At least when I drive I can stop and eat, talk on my cell phone, sit in a comfortable seat, not worry about my luggage getting lost (or my new MP3 player getting stolen out of my checked luggage) or have to sit next to the 350-pound person who wants to put the arm rest up and flop into my space without paying me compensation.

I would be willing to bet you have not heard from the airline executives they haven't listened to the business traveler in the past, why start now?

Best Regards,
Brad R. Johnson
A frequent traveler without loyalty

Dear Rich:

Great article. You hit the nail on the head. The only things maintaining status quo for airlines are government regulations and costs that have prevented entry by competitors. As you point out, things are changing, even if the change is slow. Southwest and others will force the major carriers to recognize the need for better connections and service.

Gretchel L. Hignite

Dear Rich:

Just wanted to drop you a note about this article. I can't tell you how many times I wish I had the vehicle to vent about the service we get from the airlines, particularly United. My wife and I travel over 100,000 miles a year on United and I'm amazed at how they treat people. It's a wonder that they are still flying! Managers just step back from problems and throw their hands up in the air, unable to help, agents are way too arrogant, the list is endless...!

If United's management has any plan to make that airline better, they should make sure to add training for the front-line folks so that they will know how to treat everyone well and frequent fliers better because we support them! Offer them complimentary upgrades to the next class of service or comp drinks at the very least if they have any issues like seat changes that were made by the computer that separates you and your spouse by 15 rows of seats or schedule changes that do seat changes automatically so the seat you had in the premier zone is now in the tail zone. Empower them to do the right thing for the company!

My wife and I are trying to use up the over 800,000+ miles we have in our accounts and will probably look at another airline to do our business with next year!

Thank you for a very refreshing article!
Name Withheld By Request

[ Return To The March 2003 Table Of Contents ]

The new FTC regulations will have a tremendous detrimental impact on not only American business, but on those who do the calling as well. Following are two examples, contributed by InfoCision Management Corporation, of the positive impact telemarketing has had on American workers. We will run more personal stories in our April issue, as well as post them online. I would like to ask all of you to help me make it apparent to the lawmakers and the public just who will be affected by these new rules by providing me with ammunition for this story.

I request that you pick three (or more if you deem it useful) people whose lives have been improved because they have been able to work as an outbound call center agent.

Ideally, I would be happy if you could provide their names, general background information, amount of time spent as an outbound telemarketer and an indication of how their lives have changed for the better because of this job. Please also list any other information you deem useful. Are they supporting family members? If so, how many?

If you wish to contribute, send an e-mail to Tracey Schelmetic with your story and use Help Stop The Assault on Outbound Before Its Too Late as the subject line. 

Thank you for your help...together we can help educate the public that call centers are a vital, thriving element of our countrys economy.

Rich Tehrani

I am writing this for the benefit of all telemarketing businesses being affected by legislation already passed, or about to be passed.

I have worked in the telemarketing business now for four years and have had mostly positive encounters from people I have spoken with. While telemarketing receives much negative abuse from the media, it can be used as an informational, charitable, free-enterprising resource when used in an acceptable format.

As a person with a disability, this has been a job I can perform and feel like I am contributing to many charitable organizations in the process. This job has been a positive aspect of my life. I know that with each call, I might make a difference in someones life. With each breakthrough in a disease or disorder I have called on behalf of, I see the contribution that each of our calls makes.

There are other people who benefit from the telemarketing industry. Many of these people, the handicapped, disabled, housewives, retired people and young adults without college degrees, would be put into the unemployment line due to some proposed legislation.

Please take the time to analyze all the positive things this industry is doing, and can do, for the nation before passing legislation that would be crucial in hurting so many peoples livelihoods.

Thank you,
Teresa Mount

I come from a small town where the job market is almost non-existent. It consists of a few plants that I dont have the physical stamina for, restaurants that offer minimum wage, no benefits and few hours, and small, privately owned businesses that rarely hire. 

InfoCision offered me a better way of life. Not only did it offer better wages, but health insurance and paid holidays and vacation. InfoCision also has a friendly environment. The people you work with become more like family than co-workers. I guess you could say before InfoCision, I was barely making it through the day. It was a struggle to keep my utilities on, and my cabinets rarely had food. People often refer to telemarketers as the lowest forms on earth, yet it was that job that pulled me up out of the gutter.

I realize people see me as annoying, evil and heartless because of what I do for a living. I find their perception of me ironic because every day I talk to so many people who touch my heart in so many ways. I shed tears for the people who tell me they are suffering from illness or a loss of life in their family. I continue to pray for the many people who request that I remember them in their time of trouble. My heart goes out to the elderly who are so lonely they look forward to calls from a stranger. Sadly, I truly understand how frustrating it is for a family to work so hard just to barely keep their heads above water. 

People I call often see me as a faceless annoyance, out to intrude on their busy lives. Again, ironic, because when I call people I dont see them as faceless at all, but as a reflection of me at some point in my life. 

Michelle Patterson

[ Return To The March 2003 Table Of Contents ]