[KnowItAll]

Is it me being naive or do the rocket scientists at some of these companies actually belive I'll fall for this line..

"Sir, I'm calling on behalf of Ms/Mr Blaah and would like to confirm a followup appointment with you"

or

"Mr KnowitAll, I belive you spoke to Ms/Mr Rhodes Scholar from our company and had requested some follow up information. Can you give me your contact details so that I can follow up with you"?

These are all cold calls from the Amcham directory. My business card does not have the general office number.

[kevin]

Expect it to get worse this year. It is a necessary evil and as Paul says is a fact of expat life. IFAs like anyone else need to try and get new clients and cold/warm calling is a legitimate method if done correctly. But with the growing number of IFAs and the increasing competition for the few expats left in Hong Kong some of their tactics do leave a lot to be desired.

Being an IFA myself I find the hard selling cold callers rather annoying and it just hurts our industry. When I meet people and tell them what I do they all have the same horror stories of being harassed on the phone all day by cold calling IFAs. I try to tell them that we are not all like that.

I am even getting calls at home in the evening from IFAs saying they got my number from one of my friends. The problem is no one has my home number, not even my friends as only my wife ever uses it. Unfortunately I made the mistake of having my number listed in the white pages for everyone to see; expect to get many more call in the near future.

[Max]

Whoa! I've heard of persistent salespeople, but this is ridiculous!