How to Say "No" to Telephone Surveys

Love it or hate it, market research and public opinion polls are necessary for many businesses to succeed and for governments to gain valuable insights. What should you do when you receive one of those phone calls from a company asking you to do a survey? Most people hang up without saying anything. But is that the right way to do it?

I have worked in the market research industry for nearly five years. I've done mostly government polls, but have also done surveys for financial and telecommunications companies. They're all legal, legitimate, and are not violating any kind of Do Not Call List. I have heard so many excuses, encountered so many kinds of responses, and have wanted to pull my hair out in frustration over some behaviours. It's not an easy job. It's quite stressful. The people doing this thankless job are doing it because they have bills to pay, families to support, and quite often are students working their way through university.

What I would like to share with you are some (not so) secret information about how we handle various kinds of responses to our calls. If you want us to go away and not call you again, then read the following. You may be surprised about what we do.

1. Don't hang up.

When you hang up the phone without hearing what we have to say, we mark that as a hang up refusal. Depending on the survey, you're likely to be called again. Hang up as soon as you answer, and we call again. That's because you have no idea what we have to say. Many surveys are for specific people that we ask for. Some are even mandatory, and you know that we are going to call to do the survey. Hang up on those, and we will keep calling until you answer, because you signed a contract. So, be nice and say something. Say "No, thanks," or "I'm not interested."

2. Don't say "I'm busy."

Sometimes, people try to get rid of surveyors by saying they're busy. They think we'll just go away and not call again. Wrong. Busy? Okay, we'll call again, and see if you're free another time. Usually, we pick another time of day. Again, if you don't want us to call, let us know that. It's actually quite frustrating to get these people that can't just come out and say no.

3. Don't use the Do Not Call List excuse.

I get this from time to time. If you're on a national Do Not Call List, that's for telemarketing. Sales calls. Surveys aren't sales calls. Neither are government polls, political calls, or charities. The Do Not Call List does not apply to surveys at all. If you ask us not to call again, then we won't. But stating that you're on the Do Not Call List makes you come across as pretentious and uninformed.

4. Don't agree to do it at a later date.

I've had this so many times where someone says they're busy now, but would be willing to another day. But the thing is, they're just trying to be polite and have no intentions at all to do the survey. We call again, of course. If you're not interested, just tell us.

5. Don't say we've been calling you several times a day for a week.

We can actually see our call logs. We know when we've called. This has happened to me before: We called about three times in a week and a half, but the person said we called ten times in the last three days. We are not all of those companies that have called you.

6. Don't call us a scam.

We aren't. We actually have the contact information we can give you to confirm. And guess what? The contact information is a government number or email address with a name that you can search for on Google and you'll see that we are quite transparent about it.

7. Don't scream or shout at us.

Sure, this will probably result in us not calling you again, but it makes you sound like a really rude person. We are people doing a job, and all you do is increase our stress levels. We're people. Please act like a decent human being.

8. Don't say it's illegal for us to call.

Considering that companies and governments have to follow the rules set by the government, if we're calling you before nine PM, then it's not illegal. It is 100 percent legal for companies to call you up until nine PM. At least in North America it is. Also, it's not illegal for us to call cell phones. Many people don't have landlines anymore. There is no law that prohibits survey calls to cell phones.

My point for much of these bits of advice is that if you want to make our jobs easier, and stop us from calling, then please just be direct and say "I'm not interested." We won't call again. It saves you time, and it saves us time. You don't get several phone calls, and we don't have to deal with angry and impolite people. Also, we don't know when you eat dinner. Everyone eats at a different time. Above all, speak as if you were talking to someone face-to-face. Unfortunately, all of this technology tends to dehumanize communication.