Proxy Solictation ... a place to start

Background
Last year about this time I moved to New York City to pursue a modeling career; actually I wanted to pursue anything but school. I had changed my major a thousand times from pre-med to chemistry, back to pre-med, to pre-law, and finally to business. I had been accepted to the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University but I was determined not to enroll. In the days following the New Year (2006) I moved to a not-so-nice part of New York City (Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, though I told my protective parents the area was called Clinton Hill). Already having signed with one modeling agency, I started working as a model here-and-there. I signed with another agency and lost interest quickly. Seemingly my heart was not in that either, though I thought for my whole life I wanted to be a model. I began work as a photographer’s assistant and later moved into serving drinks at a night club and working as a proxy solicitor (read telemarketer).

“Financial Services”
I often find myself having a laugh with friends about my experience working in “financial services” in Jersey City, NJ. I was a temp. I was a proxy solicitor being paid 14 dollars an hour to sit in an uncomfortable chair and call and harass people who had a “vested interested.” I was paid 21 dollars an hour in over-time, and gosh, there was plenty over-time because we can call shareholders as early as 9 am, as late as 9 pm, Monday morning thru Sunday evening.
As a proxy solicitor I was trained to explain proposals made by the board and other individual shareholders to shareholders who had not yet submitted a vote. I would call and say “Hello, I am calling for ______. My name is so-and-so. I am calling from [insert “financial services company”] on behalf of the board of directors of [insert corporation name]. We have not yet received your vote for this year’s annual shareholder meeting.” Before explaining anything the question I would pose is: do you wish to vote with the boards recommendations? And did I tell you that I can securely enter a vote over the phone! Many shareholders simply agreed to this “voting with the board’s recommendation” (which was good for my “numbers”), never questioning what it was that they were voting for. If shareholders did ask I provided information, biased information but information none-the-less. In actuality, as I learned over time, I was trained to coerce people into voting against their better judgment. Companies pay what some would pay huge sums of money to have us manipulate their shareholders and to further their agendas.
For example, this year Honeywell has reported “Honeywell pays the cost of preparing, assembling and mailing this proxy-soliciting material. In addition to the use of the mail, proxies may be solicited by Honeywell officers and employees by telephone or other means of communication. Honeywell pays all costs of solicitation, including certain expenses of brokers and nominees who mail proxy material to their customers or principals. In addition, Georgeson & Company Inc. has been retained to assist in the solicitation of proxies for the 2007 Annual Meeting of Shareowners at a fee of approximately $12,500 plus associated costs and expenses.” This information is available in their 2007 proxy statement which can be found at their website www.honeywell.com under investor relations. Please take note of the “plus associated costs and expenses” which include all of Georgeson & Company Inc.’s employee’s salaries, costs of telephone calls, re-mails, etc. For each time they get a shareholder on the phone, they get paid!

There is one man, a shareholder of one of the corporations by whom we had been hired who stands out in my mind and who I feel truly sorry for. I remember calling him the first time and he was very friendly but declined to vote. Three days later (that’s the rule) I called again. He was again very friendly and again declined to vote. Three days later a colleague called. The man was not so pleasant but again declined to vote. Again we called. We called every three days until three days before the meeting. Why? Well three days before an annual shareholder meeting, the three day rule goes out the window. The board was still not happy with the outcome, or expected outcome, of the vote and therefore we continued calling. We called every day, many times more than one time a day. This man, an Indian man from the Midwest I think, became so angry at the tenth phone call of the day that he threatened to sue me. I hung up the phone without a vote and handed his information to a colleague. It became amusing, harassing this man. I admit this was not nice, however one must find a way to amuse oneself when in front of the computer all day. And I am sure my employer didn’t mind because we were paid for every phone call!

Well anyway, to anyone who receives a call from the proxy solicitor, please heed my warnings (the same ones I provided my father):
Do not admit to not having received the material. Again, they will send another copy. Or they may even try to keep you on the phone and explain it to you.
Do not admit to not having read the material. They will send another copy.
Do not admit to needing more time to look over the material. They will call back.
Do not ask them to call you back so you can get off the phone quickly. They will.
Do not say “He/She is not in.” The will ask “When?” and call back.
Do not say “Don’t call again.” They will.
Do not hang up. They will call back.
Instead, do the following:
If you have not read and do not plan on reading the information, and you really want to be left alone, say “I would like to vote to ABSTAIN.” From here, there is no option but to enter your vote in that way. The calls will stop. You will have saved your company money in solicitation fees. And… You will be free!