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DEL.ICIO.USAsking people questions? I can handle that job - or so I thought
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The job, at first blush, sounds simple.
Dial the phone number. (In some cases, the computer does this for you).
Read the survey questions verbatim.
Listen to the responder’s answers.
Type them into the system.
“It’s a little more complicated than that, but that’s the gist of it,” said Jeffrey Lorber, director of call center operations for The Myers Group. The firm measures customer satisfaction — and displeasure — for contracted health care professionals across the country.
On Sunday, I wrote a column about the Snellville survey firm’s desire to hire up to 100 or so telephone interviewers. The extra help was needed because the company has a big research project that must be completed by the end this month. That’s in addition to the usual work load.
So far, about 200 or so potential hires have contacted the firm, thanks in part to the column and other means the company took to get folk on board. Lorber’s been busy training workers.
Since I wrote about the company’s needs, I thought it would be interesting to see what, exactly, the job entails.
So on Wednesday, the Badie Tour stopped by to see what the new hires are getting themselves into. I left with a different perspective on the job of telephone interviewers.
You never know what or who you’re going to get on the other end. Lorber, though, insists that’s the beauty and mystique of this part-time gig. He should know. Back in the day, when he was struggling to make it as an actor in New York, he did it for $3 an hour.
“The toughest part of the job is handling objections,” he told me. “The top interviewers who overcome them with ease and confidence — those are the good ones.”
Before I logged on, Lorber gave me a truncated version of the two to three-hour training program. My job, he told me, was relatively simple.
“Get a completed survey,” he said.
“Since you’re new, your goal for the day will be to get two completed surveys within an hour, OK? You’re a rookie. I don’t want you to get frustrated on your first day.”
Obviously, this director didn’t know who he was talking to. Me. Someone who’s been interviewing politicians, parents, veterans, crooks and kids for two decades. Someone who’s written tear-jerkers, tragedies, and tales of triumph. After all, this wasn’t telemarketing — I wasn’t trying to sell anything.
If I could get Daniel Carver, a nut job who had his hey-day in the mid-1980s as a member of the Ku Klux Klan to open up, then surely someone in Any City, USA would be willing to opine about their health care coverage.
So I thought.
After practice runs with the scripted introduction and closed-end questions, it was time to log on. The computer dials the responder’s phone automatically, and walks you through the questionnaire — if you’re fortunate enough to reach a live body on the other end.
Most folk aren’t sitting around waiting for the telephone to ring on a weekday morning. So daytime interviewers get lots of answering machines. Then there’s the disconnected numbers, wrong numbers, busy signals and, if you’re lucky to reach someone, occasional language barriers.
If you reach someone who’s Hispanic, you try to set up a “call back” time when a Spanish-speaking interviewer can call. No matter the response, though, the call has to be documented in the system.
Minutes into my one-hour shift, I hit pay dirt. A living breathing human being picks up. We breeze through the questionnaire — “yes”, “no,” “agree,” and so on. Suddenly, the wails start. A baby’s crying. Mom’s got to go. I try to rush through the rest of the questions. The baby starts screaming.
“Call me back later,” the woman suggests.
And hangs up.
Apparently, that happens every now and then. A responder will bail right in the midst of being surveyed. It happened to me twice.
Needless to say, I didn’t reach my goal of two completed surveys. In fact, I didn’t complete one.
“You’re fired,” joked Lorber after my stint.
“On the surface, it looks easy, but you’re dealing with the public,” he told me. “And there are a variety of people out there.”
• Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail rbadie@ajc.com.
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By harold
May 10, 2007 7:29 AM | Link to this
harold did phone surveys for exactly one day when he was young. the worst was getting the elderly who would talk about whatever they wanted for half an hour or more, then complain that harold said the survey would take 10 minutes at most and then tell harold they had something in the oven and had to go. goodbye.
By Toni
May 10, 2007 9:47 AM | Link to this
I admitt it…I’m guilty of hanging up in the middle of a survey to do something I perceived as more important. Now I feel bad about it. I worked in restaurants dealing with the public for more than a decade, and I know they are a pain in the butt… and that’s an understatement. Now I am one of them.
By L Ron
May 10, 2007 6:21 PM | Link to this
People who call and ask me take surveys annoy me. I often get started and just hang up for sport.
By Deborah Lee
May 11, 2007 9:26 AM | Link to this
One company would send a survey to me and if I returned it a certain date they sent me 9 brand new dollar bills!! This seems like a better way to do a survey. No one is disturbed and I would imagine people would do a better job of understanding the questions. How about if a baby drowned while a mother was doing a survey?
By tara
May 11, 2007 12:33 PM | Link to this
Your right when you say you never know who’s on the other end. This so called interviewer was doing a survey on lingerie, told me I would receive a free bra and panty set from Victoria’s Secret. The questions were horrendous like how tight do I like my thongs, how do my breast feel when I wear a bra size smaller than norm? needless to say the questions were getting more graphic and explicit. I dont like to hang up on people, but after he started breathing hard over the phone. That did it for me. Sorry no more surveys for me, I prefer email or mail.