The era of the ringing phone
It happens to everyone.
An unknown number appears on the screen. You ignore it. Then it rings again. And again.
Eventually, you answer—more out of irritation than curiosity. On the other end, a voice reads a script, trying to sell you a contract, an upgrade, a change of provider.
It talks, but doesn’t listen.
It’s the clearest symptom of a drift that affects not only communication but marketing itself.
In a world that speaks of sustainability, transparency and customer centricity, millions of people are still disturbed daily by outdated, invasive practices.
And the paradox is that they are often carried out by respectable brands—companies investing in social campaigns, environmental programs and purpose-driven communication—yet still willing to harass their customers for short-term results.
Preaching trust while practising intrusion.
Reputation cannot be measured in campaigns
Reputation is a living organism.
It takes years to build through coherent actions and can be destroyed in seconds through incoherent ones.
An annoying phone call can erase the effect of an entire institutional campaign.
A single negative experience weighs more than ten well-told promises.
Aggressive telemarketing survives because it delivers immediate numbers: conversions, not relationships.
It’s the logic of urgency—sell now, even at the cost of losing trust tomorrow.
But trust cannot be bought; it must be earned.
And when a brand forgets that, it stops being credible.
Especially today, when every disappointed customer can share their frustration online in real time.
A cultural short circuit
The telemarketing paradox is cultural before being operational.
It comes from a model that sees people as targets, not as interlocutors.
As someone to reach, not to understand.
It belongs to the age of interruption, while we now live in the age of choice.
People decide what to read, what to follow, what to ignore.
Attention is no longer a right—it’s a privilege that must be earned.
To keep interrupting rather than inviting is strategic blindness: it ignores that communication is no longer a one-way channel but an ecosystem based on listening, respect, and reciprocity.
The invisible damage
Many companies underestimate the invisible damage caused by telemarketing.
Not just annoyance, but perception.
Every unwanted call leaves a trace in the consumer’s memory—a micro-disappointment that erodes trust, drop by drop.
It’s the opposite of good marketing.
A well-designed action can build reputation, belonging, and loyalty; an intrusive call can destroy them instantly.
And outsourcing the problem doesn’t solve it.
For the public, there is no difference between the call centre and the brand itself: the voice that disturbs is the brand.
The end of service in the age of the customer
Paradoxically, as telemarketing grows, real customer care is shrinking.
Companies spend to contact people who never asked to be called, yet cut budgets for those who genuinely need help.
We are leaving the age of service precisely when customers need it most.
It’s perhaps a side effect of an Anglo-Saxon model focused on short-term efficiency: fewer people, lower costs, higher margins.
A logic that works today, but weakens relationships tomorrow.
It would be enough to “convert” call centres from places of disturbance to places of listening, as they once were—spaces where understanding, helping, and solving come before selling.
Listening is not nostalgia. It’s strategy.
Ethics and convenience: two words that belong together
Ethics in marketing isn’t a luxury; it’s a competitive advantage.
Treating people with respect is not only right—it’s profitable.
A listened customer becomes an ambassador; a disturbed one, a detractor.
Yet many companies still choose the shortcut: the cold call, the automatic message, the forced pitch.
It’s like building a house and leaving the windows open to the storm.
A behaviour that silently undermines every corporate value statement.
From pressure to attention
The alternative to telemarketing isn’t silence—it’s quality.
To create content that truly interests, relationships that last, messages that add meaning instead of noise.
It takes time, but it’s the only way to build real value.
In societing, attention is the new form of respect.
It cannot be forced; it must be earned.
Every brand should ask itself: am I trying to convince, or to connect?
Am I talking to people, or to numbers?
The future of marketing won’t belong to those who shout louder, but to those who can be heard with authenticity.
Conclusion
Every unwanted call is a small betrayal of trust.
Every disrespectful strategy is a step backward in reputation.
If marketing wants to remain credible, it must return to its original function: creating reciprocal value.
It must replace pressure with attention, insistence with relationship, selling with trust.
Because a brand is worth as much as its most annoying behaviour.
And coherence, more than ever, is the smartest form of communication.
