Telemarketer Makes 20k

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Flip to page 8 of Sunday Times and read about an ex-telemarketer making $20,000 every month working for Citibank and DBS:

“From 2000 to 2003, he was a telemarketer for Citibank and DBS Bank and earned a monthly salary of $20,000. He thought nothing of splurging on high-end labels like Louis Vuitton…”  

I’m not sure if telemarketers earn this much today, but if they still do, it sure is a very lucrative job given that you only need to make nuisance calls and pester people :).

Next time you meet a telemarketer, think about the possibility that he could have a net worth higher than yours (if he’s not a big spendthrift).

Reference: Sunday Times, July 19, 2009

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21 Comments

  1. ------------- on

    i have a friend who is a telemarketer and he’s earning like 6K average and the best part is that he doesnt even an O levels. Oh well.. DONT COMPARE

  2. We should COMPARE!

    It’s basic economics, if there is an opportunity, we should all go there….

    Why stick with !5k or less when you can make $20k!!

  3. It’s always “I know someone” or “I read in papers”… Who knows if it’s only a ploy to get people into sales? I for one know with first hand experience that this is a tactic to lure people into MLM (only the top earns a lot; the rest loses money).

  4. Has anyone scolded a telemarketer before? Slammed the phone? Threatened to report? Vowed to get him/her fired?

    Maybe not, then again, it’s hard to compare.

  5. my boss scolded me and slammed phone on me, but he pays me only 3k 🙂 . I rather be a rich telemarketer and get worse treatment.

  6. Specialised surgeon – $30,755
    Managing director – $24,472
    General surgeon – $17,872

    Go check the latest data

    It is $30k a month so 1 yr can get $360k

  7. tele: hello, would you like a new credit card?
    me: is it true you guys make 20k a month?
    tele: no lah…
    me: but i read online that you guys do!
    tele: you sure?
    me: yes, visit salary.sg for more info and ask your boss to pay you more. now stop calling me again.
    🙂

  8. >Has anyone scolded a telemarketer before? Slammed the phone? Threatened to report? Vowed to get him/her fired?

    It’s hard to deny it’s a comparatively easy job considering what you need to do… no meetings, no complicated reports, no office politics.

  9. if tradeoffs of being a rich telemarketer are acceptable to you and you rather be rich calling people, instead of having to go to meetings, deliver complicated reports, dealing with office politics OR getting $3K in comparison while getting scolded and “phone-slammed” by the boss, it may be worth your while to really act upon it and become a rich telemarketer. 🙂

  10. dear someone, telemarketer is a job like anything else. There’s even a career path to become a centre manager or something. Yes, you sometimes have to face difficult customers, which is same for any other sales job.
    So yes I wouldn’t mind being a rich telemarketer if such a high paying (and easy) job really exists.

  11. Yes True, Telemarketer is a job and same as like other Jobs around…you work hard to earn. No need to compare la, if you work hard, u should deserve all the Money they can offer you. No need to be jelous other people earn 20k or 30k. Think again, what they do and what u do, how much effort u put in and how much effort they put in.

  12. As a former Citi Group employee I will confirm that the salary listed above is in fact correct for the year of 2009. However, the title in which Citi Group pays this amount is under Customer Service Sales. So basically it is a dual function job which is why it has an increased salary. This by the way is the national average salary for a customer service employee. There is also an additional clarification that must be made on this topic. The starting base salary is $10.50/hr. which before taxes comes out to be around $21,500, not including sales incentives, ($20,000 after taxes).

  13. Note: a “telemarketer” for high-net worth clients requires SLIGHTLY different skills than some bum who calls you for loan or credit card.
    I’m sure somebody with those skills is worth every cent of his salary…

  14. New laws are coming into place that will collapse the entire Tele marketing business in Singapore. Get out while you can…

  15. IDA,
    apparently, the telemarketing industry is still going strong and showing no sign of collapsing as u predicted?

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