Advice about soliciting no-one asked for
Blog post is an accompaniment to this video - https://youtu.be/x49vI7eyxkI
In my personal opinion, cold calls are that they’re a bit like an STD, they’re irritating, hard to get rid of and easy to catch if you’re not careful.
Cold calling is a very specific thing, you can read up on it here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_calling
If you do work in a call centre as your job, I hold nothing against you.
I still find your calls annoying though.
Most of this is common sense, but share it with those who might not otherwise know (grandparents etc.).
A lot of this can apply to any soliciting, be it door-to-door or on the street.
To that end, here’s my advice:
There are a fair few people trying to scam you via cold calls, you will almost never receive a legitimate call from these people with you knowing about it in advance:
-HMRC/Government institutions
You will also almost never receive a legitimate call about:
If you are unsure, hang up and call the organisation they were claiming to be yourself. That way you can be sure you are talking to them directly, rather than an impersonator.
You should also NEVER give out any personal information, passwords, tax, government numbers or bank account details, no matter how small it may seem. People can impersonate you with as little as your last name and the name of your first pet.
Lastly, remember that you are not obligated to give out any information or carry on a conversation, hang up if you do not feel comfortable (or if in person, walk away or shut your door).
The only way to truly get rid of an STD is to stop yourself from ever getting one.
In today’s data marketplace your information is valuable to most companies, this means that any way of contacting is you is what they want.
This of this as your condom, if we continue the STD metaphor.
Take measures to hide the following from any public records:
Some of these can wind up being displayed on your Facebook profile and other social networks.
Make sure to check your privacy settings, particularly on Facebook, if you don’t do this, others can find your profile by searching your phone number on Facebook.
This being just one example of how your data can be manipulated, let alone used for profit.
Once you’re receiving a bunch of cold calls there are three things you can do to reduce them:
1. Sign up for the TPS (or your countries equivalent). The TPS is a service in the UK that will warn and prosecute nuisance callers on your behalf.
2. Get a call blocker, this is a device that plugs into the phone line and allows you to log numbers you’d like to block as they call in. It’s fairly useful to prevent repeat calls. I own this one myself - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cheeta-Telemarketing-Guardian-Unwanted-Nuisance/dp/B06Y5PVV5B/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1509483331&sr=8-4&keywords=call+blocker
3. Get your number removed from the calling database. To do this you need to find out which company holds your data (ask a cold caller), then make sure to ring up this company and ask for your number to be removed. If you live in a country with a data protection act, they are legally obliged to do so. If they refused, feel free to report them to law enforcement.
Unfortunately, there is no real cure for this, companies want to make money so your data will always be misused.
Bar changing your phone number or the business model becomes unprofitable, we’re stuck with them for now.
Good luck, hope this helps.
