Not Interested in What?

Author's note: This is the 2nd of two parts. If you haven't read the post entitled "No Budget? I'm glad you said that", scroll down and read that post before reading this post.

I needed a part time job so I answered a classified ad in the newspaper for "an energetic, self-starter who loves to sell. . ." Since the ad offered an opportunity to make $10-$12 per hour it seemed like the kind of part time job that might actually allow me to make some money. The hours were right, too, from 6 pm - 9 pm Monday through Thursday.

The first night, I arrived early for "training". This consisted of the sales manager reviewing the scripts that I was to use when calling local citizens and asking them to support the Atlanta Fire Fighter's Association. After he was satisfied that I could read the scripts, I took my place on a metal folding chair on the left side of an 8' folding table. In front of me was a phone. To my right was another folding chair and another phone. In all, there were eight tables in the room.

At a couple minutes before six o'clock, the sales manager went to the front of the room to address the sixteen people who were seated in front of the sixteen phones. I was expecting a motivational speech about the fine work of The Atlanta Fire Fighter's Association or maybe a video of a dramatic rescue. You know the one where a uniformed fire fighter, ashes on his face, climbs down a giant ladder and hands a baby over to its crying mother only to turn around and head back up the ladder! Into the burning building! To rescue the beloved pet!

There was no speech. No video, either.

Instead, he said, "Come up to the front and get your strips. One per person."

Six or seven folks clawed their way to the front and grabbed several pieces of cardboard out of a non-descript box. One guy seemed to be looking for something in particular as he scanned whatever was written on the strip of cardboard and discarded it quickly back into the box. Finding a satisfactory version he returned to his seat and began to rock forward and back. When I finally got to the box, I discovered that a single column of names and phone numbers had been cut from the phone book and pasted onto the cardboard strip. There weren't too many strips left but I didn't know what I was looking for so I took the first one and returned to my seat.

The sales manager then said, "You are expected to make at least 25 calls per hour. You may take another strip when you have finished calling every name on the strip that you have now. Calling ends at 9 o'clock. You may begin."

I looked over at rocking man and I swear he was starting to froth at the corners of his mouth. I started to make calls. Here was the drill: We were selling tickets to an upcoming oldies concert featuring The Platters and a couple other groups that had a hit or two in the late 50's and early 60's. Tickets were $25/pair and the total price was tax deductible. The training that I had received suggested that the best way to approach the citizens that we were calling was to say, "Hi, this is Tim with the Atlanta Fire Fighter's Association, am I speaking with (name from the phone book). After about five phone calls, I understood exactly what the veterans were doing when they examined their strips. They were looking for names that they could pronounce and they were trying to pick last names that weren't obviously foreign. If somebody answered the phone speaking Hindi, you weren't likely to get them to go see The Platters.

My first night I sold a single pair of tickets and the sales manager was ecstatic.

As time went along, I began to understand some patterns in the way that people responded to my script. Essentially, I was learning their script. In order to get a better result, I started to work outside my script and I noticed that the prospects started to respond differently and my sales went up. Soon, I was selling 6 to 8 pairs of tickets per night and the rest of the room was averaging about 3 to 4 pairs. This made me a top seller and I was allowed to choose my strip before the newcomers. Sometimes, just to irritate the most veteran of all the sellers, I would cover my eyes before reaching into the box.

One night, I was feeling very fiesty. Perhaps, twenty people in a row had hung up on me without responding with a single word or they would say, "I'm not interested" and then hang up before I could respond.

Then this is what happened:

Me: "Hi, my name is Tim and I am calling on behalf of the Atlanta Fire Fighter's Association."

Pleasant Sounding Female: "I'm not interested."

Me: "How do you know you're not interested?" (I said this rather loudly because I was ticked off and I could tell that the prospect was delivering the phone back to the cradle.)

P.S. Female: (obviously caught off guard by my outrageous departure from the script) "Excuse me?"

Me: "I was just wondering how it was possible that you knew you weren't interested even before I had the chance to say why I was calling?"

P.S. Female: "Well, I assume you are trying to get me to donate money and I'm not interested in donating money."

Me: "I am 100% convinced that you are interested in what I have to say. Will you give me 15 seconds to tell you why I called so you can make an informed decision about your level of interest?"

P.S. Female: "Um, okay. Fifteen seconds."

Me: "The Atlanta Fire Fighter's Association is raising money by selling tickets to an oldies concert that features the hit group The Platters. I'm sure you like The Platters and I imagine that you are looking for fun things to do with your friends and family. Tickets are cheap at $25 a pair and every seat in the house is a good one."

P.S. Female: "I don't think I'm familiar with The Platters."

By now, I was standing up. A couple of sellers nearby had heard me practically tackle this woman verbally and they had stopped calling to listen.

I stood on my chair and said, "Sure you are! The Platters had huge hits like Only You and The Great Pretender."

P.S. Female: "Those sound vaguely familiar. . ."

Me: "I can't sing but I can recite a few bars for you so that you remember."

I was now standing on the folding table and most of the room was silent except for me as I sang,

"Only you and you alone
can thrill me like you do
all my dreams come true
my one and only you."

P.S. Female: "Oh, yes, now I remember! And The Great Pretender went, 'Yes, I'm the great pretender, pretending that I'm doing well."

Now, we are singing together. Me, standing on my folding table and a woman that I didn't know, in her kitchen somewhere in north Georgia.

. . ."My need is such, I pretend too much. I'm lonely, but no one can tell."

When our inpromptu duet ended right there because we couldn't remember any more words, we both laughed. I climbed down my from temporary stage.

Me: "So, you are interested and you would like to go to the concert and support the fire fighters at the same time."

P.S. Female: "Yes. Go ahead and send me two pairs of tickets. Oh and one other thing. There is this couple that we like to do things with. Give them a call and tell them that I asked you to do it and that we are going to the show and they should go, too."

The sales manager wanted to be mad because I had stood on the table and had interrupted the room with my antics. But, since no one had ever gotten a referral before, he let it go.