Outbound calling, that’s what they called it.  Instead of answering phones when people called in, I was to call people in their homes and ask for a donation.  A donation?! For what?  To fulfill sick children’s wishes.

Foreigners and Accent Training

I’ve never seen so many foreigners in one place and it felt like I was working in another country. We logged in for the day and we go into a room to learn basic American English. “This is easy!  I speak fluent English!“, I said.  I was hoping I could skip the course and just start into product training. But, since I had no experience, I had to attend along with the “Average Joe”.  This is accent training.

Everyday for a week, we all had to read paragraphs of text, memorize scripts and saying each word correctly.  Most of us in the class were excited to come in and read the next story or phrase so that our American trainer would award us with candies and a pat in the back. ”Great job!“, He said. ”Your english is impeccable!“, he added.  To put it bluntly, it felt like elementary school. Boring.

Each person tried to do their best in order to get a chance to talk to the trainer.  It was a cultural thing.  Anybody who was talking to the “American” is the best. People took their turns in attracting this attention.  It was the norm to feel good when the “American” continues a conversation with one of the students.  Believe me, it’s not everyday we get to use our new acquired accent.

Dialing and Sales

We’ve completed product training by watching videos, listening to lectures, taking written tests and doing call simulations.  It was time.

We were given our phone headsets and I was excited to fit them for the first time.  I was now a bonafide call center agent.  It was a pilot project and everybody was there to support us.  The IT group was checking all the phones and the computers.  Trainers were coaching us.  Supervisors were motivating us to do well, checking up on our scripts and how the process was going to be.  Me? I was emotional.  Nervous, shortness of breath, excited, anxious…it was a roller coaster.  But, I was ready.

Everybody gives a cheer!  The screens popped up with the name and we started dialing.  ”Hello?“, someone answered. ”Hello, this is (name) from (company).  I would like to ask….“, we all said.  The first sale was done after a couple of minutes.  It was me.  There was a loud cheer!  Everybody congratulated me for getting the ever first donation for the company.  It felt good…very good.

The rest is history.