alot of "cold calls" now a days are generated from third party vendors. Through meta data and other means. Not sure of the specifics. But you can purchase "leads"

"polite fashion multiple times" is the issue.

Tell them "No, thank you, I'm not interested. Please take me off of your list and don't call again." and then hang up. If they call back, unload.

If your business doesn’t ever need a new product or solution, please tell us what it is you do.
Getting on here and insulting professional salesmen that don’t do business that way because you’re pissed, about a phone call. WTH Hope this is the reaction you were looking for.
And you have a blessed day too.

I don't ever answer my office phone anymore. Every call goes to VM. The only purpose my having a phone number serves is I can call people back from anywhere using our phone app, and they can't see my mobile number. So that is a handy feature, when I say I am available, a call rings through to all my devices.

Even does video conferencing.

OP couldn’t hack it in sales.

There are all types of sales people. Telemarketers are usually annoying and hav to spit out canned presentation

Car salesman generally are pushy (not all)

The industry i am in - 18 months is standard time it takes to break through and sell customer. I use to cold call often - hav not in years. I like to treat people like i would want to b treated - never push. I try to listen for problems they may b having to see if they hav issues i can solve. I will try to find out there bottle necks then try to solve that problem. Ultimately they will buy from whom they like and trust and thats where i am trying to get w them. Being very technical amd using whole team to solve there problem helps. Once u become there problem solver u become an integral part of there team they need becaose its a technical industry i am in. I utilize all My resources to make this happen - but it comes down to relationships. Not all people sell the same and u sell diff in diff industries

Oh man we have had sales people for years walk in the door.they always tried to deal with us managers to get there foot in the door and get in and snoop around to see what products we are buying or hoping we'll go to the owner to say look at this.

One good thing I got a lot of good free lunches with hot chicks.lol but I don't have time for them.lol
We don't let anyone through the doors now and phone calls go no where
Little different times now though

Pharma companies used a lot of former pageant ladies for a reason. Well spoken and good looks. Many did well

We talking actual cold phone calls or showing up in person type cold calls?

Yep. If they’re a customer with an issue or want a quote they will leave a VM. If they’re selling crap and leave a VM I block them. I don’t have time to waste listening to an idiot trying to sell me something I can’t afford or don’t need.

I just learned that salesmen are not my friend, they just pretend to be.

From some of the responses I’m Pretty sure I’ve called on some of y’all before,smh. I’d much rather get a polite no up front and move on. I get told no daily, trust me it doesn’t hurt my feelings. The worst are the ones who say they are interested and then turn into ghost. We are all just trying to make a living. A polite no or follow up at x time is always appreciated. Both of our times are valuable and neither of us should be waisting it on something that isn’t going anywhere.

I thought this was going to be a bashing of salesforce 😂

If I want to buy it I will find you. If you call me it's a waste of time.

I didn’t read everything above and this may have already been said. I’m a salesman and have been for going on 21 years. I look at it this way. I don’t get paid to sell a product. I get paid to make friends in the industry that uses my product. People buy from people they like. Many of those “customers” have turned into some of my best friends. I hate cold calling as much as the guy I’m calling on hates receiving them. As mentioned above, I appreciate a polite response whether it’s positive or negative just like you would appreciate me being respectful of your time. Regardless of where you work, and what you do, SOMEONE is a salesman, in some form or fashion. The ones I hate are the ones that ONLY communicate with me when THEY want something but totally ghost me on every phone call, text, or email, but then expect me to treat them like they are my best customer. Believe me, the level of service they get is a two way street, depending on how they treat me too.

I keep getting door knocks wanting to replace my windows, because they are in the area.I have told the same kid my son builds houses and if I need windows, I'll call him. Three times!!!! Today I went out as he got to the road and asked if I need to let the dog out, he said he wouldn't be back. We'll see!!

I’ve seen this many times in the doctors office hot,young, heels and short dress

Here’s what I find interesting about this thread from both sides. For the majority of my life I was a contractor and salesman call on me daily. I was always polite and professional to them because I was a salesman myself. No matter what your profession is you are selling your product and profession to the public. So don’t ever get so full of yourself that you think you’re not. You may be a subcontractor that is in the drywall business and have several home builders or GC that call on you daily to start a project. They can always get somebody else. If you’re the builder building a new custom home for a family. They can always get somebody else. You have to sell yourself and your product. Same as the man selling screws, Sheetrock and the mud.

I don't have an issue with salespersons or cold calls. My office policy was if a salesperson showed up without an appointment then they were welcome to leave any information they wanted to with the front desk and if they wanted to see me in person then they could leave their product info and contact info and if I was interested our office would contact them to set up a meeting.

Phone calls that seemed legit were given my email or mailing address to send info and they were told if I saw something I was interested in I would contact them.

Our regular suppliers quickly learned to just drop off samples/info knowing that if I wanted a face to face we would call them.

This policy worked great for 30+ years. I think the sales folks appreciated this policy.