Before the days of cell phones, TIVO and the national “do not call list” there was a place in El Paso, Texas that specialized in outbound telemarketing phone calls. Its name was West Telemarketing, and at seventeen years old, it is where I entered the workforce.
It was not a fun place to work for me because I don’t like setting people off by calling them at home during dinner or while watching TV. The worst part for me was hearing the change of inflection in their voices as they would realize who I was and why I was calling. Needless to say I was not very good at selling AT&T long distance service over the telephone.
What made it kind of funny was that my older brother, who worked in the same room as me, was really good at selling over the telephone. I remember looking over my shoulder to see him standing up and making gestures with his hands during his calls, he looked very comfortable. On an average day he would get 14 sales when the goal was 6. I would typically get one or two, and that was only because those people thought they already had AT&T.
The turnover rate at West Telemarketing was high. I myself didn’t last a month on the floor. It was just not in my nature, and I would literally get sick to my stomach before work. My brother continued to work there for a couple of years after I left and eventually became a floor manager. West Telemarketing now does inbound calls only.
Being an outbound telemarketer was my first job. It didn’t last very long and thinking back on it really depresses me.