“I’m sorry I don’t know that person, and I don’t know why you’re calling, and I don’t care” click! That’s what she told me on the cold call I made to try to find the owner of a property in Texas. Human intuition indicates that I was calling her for MY benefit and to her detriment. Why though? This has been plaguing me as of late. One of my businesses is cold calling. And it’s exactly that ->COLD<- I seem to have noticed that people over the phone treat people like garbage because of…I still can’t figure out why. But I do have a theory…
Home phones are annoying. Whenever you hear an older phone ringing, you’ll notice that it’s displeasing to the ear. Have you ever heard of a 10 hour loop on youtube that is just a phone ringing…? NO! Because it’s designed to make you answer immediately so you’ll spend more time on it. This was originally deployed by phone companies to have you on that device quickly, and inevitably spend more time on it. And if you’ll allow me to repeat myself once more in a slightly different way- the phone companies, for their own “minute-by-minute” charging business model purpose, designed the ringing to grab your attention away from whatever you were doing to answer the phone as the solution to stop hearing it ring.
Does listening to bad/awful sounding music make you happy? No, it doesn’t. So let’s change that. Go right now to your smartphone-click on settings-search for ringer or sounds- and change it to something that is pleasant for you to listen to. When I did this for myself, I realized that almost all of the rings are fast paced and annoying! You may notice this as well, because you’re changing it…right?
Now this goes in to my overall philosophy of life. I can’t change people. I can only change myself and set the example worthy to merit their change. They have the capacity to change, but without the desire, I can’t do anything for them. So if they answer the phone and they’re upset, how can I blame them for the phone companies and decades of programming that the phone is supposed to sound like the rat-tat-tat of a machine gun in their ear or household. This article is a ploy for you, the reader, to answer the phone more pleasantly- especially with those unknown numbers you answer.
Simply because “you don’t know someone” doesn’t mean you have the right to be a jerk to them.
Re-read that last sentence. Well Andrew, they’re the one calling me, why should I not be curt with them!? Excellent question and very simply answered, because they don’t deserve it. YOU answered the phone! You didn’t have to, so why are you blaming them for calling you if you’re willing to accept a call? If you’re truly “busy” then turn off the notifications of your phone. Find the “Do Not Disturb” button and click it-that will solve this problem for you. And some of the most successful people I know, never have their phone available to be called. Which leads me to my next article “No Notification Lifestyle”.
Before we go there, let’s talk about your attitude when answering the phone. If you’re willing to have your ringer on and you’re willing to answer the phone, then smile. Smiling makes your voice change and allows for a much more pleasant conversation. Then you’re happier, the person on the other end of the line can be more effective when speaking with you to save you time- and you’re blood pressure doesn’t go up because you were “upset” at something that was mostly your fault in the first place.
My too sense on this topic anyway.
Andrew Hall
@Hallofdiamonds IG, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Vero, Youtube, LinkedIn
Andrew@hallofdiamonds.com