How do you feel about sponsors calling you?

[Ms Naughty]

Hate talking on the phone.
I had one sponsor call me and send me ICQ messages with the "can I help you" thing. It seems such a dumb thing to talk about on the phone... especially when I'd only joined that sponsor to promote one of their sites on a specific free site. Thankfully they gave up after a while.
I can see it's a nice thing to call, but it's just not my bag, baby.

[PR_Tom]

Wow, thats pretty aggressive.. I had a call once from sex com asking me about buying traffic, so I asked how much they wanted to buy
Seriously I did, but it wasn't all that funny to the person on the other end so I said no thank you and please email me instead of calling in future..
The only other calls I've had were at request by either me or them.

Note to Self: Dont suggest calling webmasters at home to discuss promotions.

[terry]

Shoot them all!

[GeorgeTH]

I think I would tolerate it only if they would be offering something special, like support on a particular topic, or a new money making or traffic generating idea they would want to run with only a handful of their affiliates (and not make public)...

But apart from that: I HATE PHONES and ICQ
They're so attention seeking...

[Linkster]

George - thats the real times I dont mind too much - the "beta" test calls and lets see how a $1 trial works for a few WMs

[Greenguy]

You know what it is? It's this rush of "mainstream" marketing people coming into the "adult" game - telemarketing is big in the real world & sales calls (on the phone & in person) are a big part of how they do things.

What they don't know is that most of us are sitting in our underwear eating day old pizza while sitting at our basement computers & pretending we're some big company by answering the phone "Greenguy Marketing. How may I direct your call?"

[Wazza]

A sponsor called my mobile and left a msg with an icq number (couldn't answer it, was doing the dishes at the time). I msged em back within 5 mins of the call and never got a reply. That plus the call sealed the deal - no traffic for you!

Unless your wm backend is perfect, your members area A1 quality, and your tours spot on - don't waste money on phone calls or flashy new wm areas. Fix the bits that make us all money - then work out ways to burn coin...

[Alphawolf]

They still need to comply with https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx if they are US based.

[Jel]

Only had phone calls from 2 sponsors, 1 was a generic 'this is rep g from company d why don't you try to promote this brand new site blah blah blah' the other is the owner of a ccbill paysite, who I do sell well with, letting me know about some changes in his program, addition of FHGs, and the chance to use them a week before they were announced online.
Which was nice
So, I voted it's ok if it's a sponsor I send a lot of traffic to.

[Greenguy]

Alphawolf - all my numbers are on there & the telemarketing calls dropped down to 1 or 2 a month.

Of course, if you are using the sponsor, they can call you, since you're a "customer" of theirs.

[Wizzo]

I don't cold call affiliates, but do get the chance now and again to talk to some on the phone and I find it much better than ICQ or Email to exchange ideas, discuss trends, opportunities and etc...

It's almost as good, as flying them here or me flying to their location and talking face to face. Or both flying us both to nice resort for a weekend.

This is business and having good communication with my "partners" is key. So I enjoy the chance to talk with a affiliates, find out what they need or want and how we can better work together, so we both can make more money!

[Jaden]

And there is always the joy of sitting around in "mommy" mode during a mom's club meeting, or at a park play date and getting one of those calls on my cell. Hate that.....

[Cleo]

I was at the checkout of the grocery store one day when someone called me asking if I would like new feeds for my paysite. Besides the fact that I don't own a paysite if I did I would not have stopped doing what I was doing and discussed getting feeds for a paysite while checking out at the grocery store.

[stuveltje]

Originally Posted by Cleo

I was at the checkout of the grocery store one day when someone called me asking if I would like new feeds for my paysite. Besides the fact that I don't own a paysite if I did I would not have stopped doing what I was doing and discussed getting feeds for a paysite while checking out at the grocery store.

that reminds me at the time a sponsor called me when i was picking up my kids at school..........i picked up the phone.....hear the english talk and the sponsor name, i said wrong number and hang up and dropped the sponsor, i cant talk about porn when i am at my kids school....

[Tev]

Originally Posted by MrMaryLou

The hard part is if you have to call them then its a mad hunt for a phone #

Exactly! Pain in the ass to find a number for some of these programs.

No one calls me though, except if they ask me first via ICQ or e-mail if it is ok to call, I like it when they do it that way better. Though I did have one call me while I was in line at Costco buying groceries, but that was ok too, cause I knew him, lol.

[BigJohn]

As an affiliate of other programs.... I hate it when sponsors call me. I'm generally very busy doing something and a phone call forces me to interrupt what I'm doing to talk with someone I don't want to talk to, about a subject that's the furthest thing from my mind at that moment.

I especially hate it when someone I'm NOT an affiliate of calls me and wants to know why I'm not promoting them. I had one guy from a company that called weekly even though I asked him each time to not call. It's a solid guarantee that I will NEVER do business with them now!

As a sponsor, I can't think of a single reason I would need to call an affiliate on the phone. It annoys me to no end when sponsors call me, so why would I think my affiliates would like it any better than I do!

[SirMoby]

Originally Posted by Jim

I love it and wish they all would

I don't want sponsors to call me but I'd be happy if Jim would call me with a weekly butt pimple update

[Lunatic]

I don't mind. I think it's great when someone wants my business and is willing to do whatever it takes to get it. If I don't want to answer the phone I just look at the caller id. If it's someone I don't know I figure if it's important they'll leave a message and I can get back to them when and if I want to.

[SiMpLe]

ha i would never - shit i don't even cold email

[Tommy]

always record all your buisness phone calls

50 bucks spent at radio shack can be a huge life saver someday

[Opti]

Originally Posted by Tommy

always record all your buisness phone calls

50 bucks spent at radio shack can be a huge life saver someday

Yeah!! never know when a sexy talking rep will call... 5 minutes of her describing their website content, could be uploaded and available by micropayment in moments!!

[LB]

I dont mind it so much, but I just wish that Americans could get their head around timezones. Every single call I have ever had has been between 2-5am here in Australia, and I'm not that chirpy when my phone goes off at that time

[SirMoby]

Originally Posted by Tommy

always record all your buisness phone calls

50 bucks spent at radio shack can be a huge life saver someday

Were you recording the time I confided in you about the goat, the coke bottle and vaseline? Please delete that I was drunk.

[Cleo]

Originally Posted by Tommy

always record all your buisness phone calls

Not sure what the laws are in NY but here in Florida they tend to provide three hots and a cot for about five years for doing this. I actually know of a few people that got caught and got into a lot of trouble.

Here in Florida it is legal to video tape without knowledge but not sound.

[cd34]

in Florida, you need to mention that you are recording. I don't believe you need the beep every 30 seconds though.