I’ve worked in non-sales role in sales oriented organizations for the last few years. Every single one has had an unwritten rule that you should always call people repeatedly – “next day, two days, one week, two week, one month” is the clearest I’ve heard it articulated. Except it’s usually more frequent than that.
Salespeople I work with are constantly calling people who’ve told them no. I do some operational work where I sometimes reach out to people and it’s not uncommon for them to grumble “so and so just doesn’t understand, I’m on vacation.” Worse, not only do the clients get calls like this, the salespeople try to get me to apply pressure too, usually without telling me when they’ve called (and passively aggressively refusing to do so when requested) so that I get lovely responses like “so and so just called!!! What is wrong with you people!?”
Recently, a client died. I sent paperwork to the wife to transfer her assets. A salesperson also had her junior partner call. I called. She called. The junior partner called again. I e-mailed a couple times. They’re asking me if I called again even though they can see on Salesforce I’ve been constantly talking with her. I’m half tempted to say, “maybe she’s busy burying her dead husband…”
I also get needless phone calls constantly because of this stupid call obsessed mentality. Working on billing or a complex compliance related matter? Here’s a phone call for no reason, that is even referred to as “just a ping,” where I’ll ask you questions that can be answered on the notes you’re also required to type up. This is so productive!