Thursday, July 15, 2010

Door to door selling

Read this article.

My view
It is time to have some control over door to door selling and telemarketing. I find it rude for people to call me over the telephone to market their product. It is intrusion of privacy.

It is time for them to market their products through the internet, rather than keep intruding on the private time of the public.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Mr Tan
I agree with you. Telemarketing is going out of control in Singapore. I think its time for us to protect our own privacy.

May I propose an opt out list for all telephone numbers. This opt out list contains no-call numbers that telemarketers cannot call. If they call the numbers they will be fined or sued by the number owner.

I believe this is already in place in US.

kny

Anonymous said...

"Can the authorities implement guidelines to stop these agents from harassing me, especially when I need rest after a hard day's work?"

Singaporeans never learn even after Minibond saga or orchard flood or DBS glitch.

Govt not free. Need to travel oversea to connect. Need to welcome more foreigners to push up GDP and lower employment rates. Need to Window dress everything so that PM can announce election date. Need to book rallies fast so that Opposition get very little once PM annouce election date.

So you see, you only see MP during election campaign as they are working part time at $12,500 a month allowance. President better, $3.5 million a year doing close to nothing. The voting for President is a joke i.e. paid the highest but work the least. Maybe productivity drive should start from him.

Anonymous said...

Can you describe HOW to do it over the internet? Lets take insurance, for instance... :)

Anonymous said...

I had just recently instruct Citibank to opt me out of the telemarketing campaign. You need to log in to their internet banking site and use the built-in messaging feature to tell them. Again here, they are practicing the by default option.

I have another credit card with DBS and i have never received any telemarketing call from them.

Anonymous said...

In US and UK they have a ban on cold calling during working hours and Sundays. Insurance agents or other sales people are only allowed to call after 8pm on week days and there is a ban after 6pm on Saturdays.MAS talked about it but after that it went silent.
In US & UK there is also no hawking or roadshows as they are likened to street prostitution. In US the street hookers stop passers by to sell sexual service.Insurance agents in Singapore also do that but to con passers by into buying rotten products.

Anonymous said...

These door to door salepeople are the friendliest people in SIN. Why are the other Singaporeans so perturbed
? Ah....the friendliest could be the most dangerous.

Time to put the sign, politicians not welcome even if he or she is your MP at your doors !

Do it quick, they are coming soon, give them some clues on top of the politicians not welcome one, dont display any Sg flag.

Tan Kin Lian said...

Reply to 9:55 am

Try the following websites:
http://projects.easyapps.sg/tklw
http://projects.easyapps.sg/egov

If you offer good value products, the punlic will get to know about them and will buy them from you through the internet.

Anonymous said...

Sales channels have to be tweaked.

Insurance products here are sold through cold calls and referrals which may again lead to a knock on someone's door, phone or email.

Launch insurance products through a website... the public may be poorly informed but they are also not stupid ( at least not all! ) though there is a fine line between greed and stupidity.

They will buy when they understand their needs. Agents are not required... we have come along way since the 1970's.. its time we realise that people are more informed, financialy, then 20-30 years ago.

Achieving high volume sales using agents may be lucrative but look at the damnation that befalls the industry.. is this one of the outcomes that is desirable?

Certainly, I hang up when I know its a sales call.. and I switch my phne off after 8pm.. anyone else who is at work after that time is either selling, surveying or there is an emergency, in which case it has to do with family or friends, and their names are in the address book.

Anonymous said...

Explosive GDP can also be reflected on COE prices. It also means lower unemployment rate which also means banks are reemploying Tom, Dick and Harry.

In summary, it means another Minibond saga waiting to happen. But this time, Banks make sure they are completely protected and in the event of explosion, the person signing on the dotted lines are to be blame. MAS will not help, Govt will not help and then what? Look for TKL again?

Be realistic. Get yourself educated. This is not Hong Kong or America where the regulators are paid lower than Sgp's and work harder for their citizens.

The only thing MAS and Govt are good in is asking for a pay rise every five years. After election, next year will be a good time to ask for civil servants pay raise which also means Ministers' pay increase on the reason of "long time no increase" instead of "how much more you want since you are already the most expensive in the world?"

Chee Ming said...

I remember a section (sorry, can't remember which section) in Chapter 184 of the Singapore statute said something about touting. Can ordinary citizens use this against those who tout?

Anonymous said...

Pls use the street touting law on Citibank. I remember the are the first bank to adopt this kind of low class behaviour. I cannot believe that in the 1960s and 1970s, we threw sreet hawkers off the streets, only to let Citibank do it in the 1990s. If Citibank wants to bite the local market, they need to abide by local rules.

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