Must throw in my $0.02. As you may or may not know from reading my work-related rants in the daylog, I work in the internet department of a telecommunications company. A few months ago, sales were down so we were calling people who had recently signed up for our telephony services, asking if they would also be interested in our internet services. Bearing in mind the sheer futility of selling internet by outbound calling (especially in Australia), the following was one memorable result.
Me: "Good morning/afternoon/evening, this is <name removed to protect the innocent> from <company removed blah blah blah>, how are you today?"
Customer: "Just fine and dandy".
Me: "We've noticed that you've recently transferred your telephone services to <you know the score> and we were wondering if you would be interested in any of our internet services?"
Customer: <drum roll please...>
"What's the internet?"
So there's me trying to explain, justify and sell the internet all in one phone call. Sometimes I wonder about people.