Keepin' 'em on the Phone

While Feder and Stolz seem to have a company for every part of their business—advertising, debt collection, direct marketing, and more—none of their 17 companies actually employ the psychics that staff the psychic hotlines.

Subcontractors, referred to as "bookstores" by insiders, recruit, train and manage thousands of psychics who handle the calls spurred by Miss Cleo's commercials. The subcontractors, such as Nevada-based Buckwood Communications or Fort Lauderdale-based Real Communication Services, are fed by an 800 call center in Nebraska called West Interactive. Operators there simply provide each customer a 900 number, which can change depending on the time of day, the region in which a commercial is shown, and the standing of subcontractors with Feder and Stolz.

Each psychic reader is paid by the subcontractor on a call-by-call basis (see a psychic's job application here). A central clearinghouse keeps track of who's logged on and available to take calls. This telephone system, to which Courttv.com was granted access through a government official, features a daily pep talk from Feder, followed by another from the manager of the psychic's particular group.

"Your readin' will amaze you," Miss Cleo promises.

In a recent version of Feder's message (click to hear it yourself) the telephone magnate emphasizes his newest venture, the Miss Cleo dating service. "Please make sure that you send every single person to that Web site, and let them know that we have given them a free membership," he tells the psychics. "This is another venture that we're going into."

As of Wednesday, only five days after launching the CleoDate Web site, Feder already had more than 1,300 subscribers signed on.

The next "pep talk" message (click to hear it yourself) is from the psychic's group manager. "I know it's been kind of slow ... the group averages have been anywhere from 19s to 21s — that's across the country, so if you're not getting calls it's because you're falling below that," the unidentified woman says. "I would say everybody just be patient and just stay logged on as long as possible ... Everybody just hang in there as much as you can."

The "19s" and "21s" that the group manager mentions are averages of how many minutes a psychic can keep customers on the phone. For the psychics, this number is as good as a pulse. If it dips too low, it can be fatal — the psychic can be booted off of the system without notice. In his daily message from Jan. 14, Feder himself seemed to imply as much, warning psychics to "Treat each call as if it is your last!"

As the South Florida psychic reader who has worked with Feder since 1996 told Courttv.com, calls are distributed according to a priority system (explained more here), a high-pressure tactic that sends customers to the psychic with the highest average.

"We're obliged to keep people on the line," the psychic said. "We have to make things up, because we need the priority rating or we won't get calls. It's impossible. Last week, even though I had a 61-minute call, I didn't get anything for six days."

Because most psychics make only 14 to 24 cents a minute, depending on the their average call time, a break of that long can be a serious financial blow.

As positive reinforcement, psychics are reportedly paid 25 cents for every postal address they collect and 10 cents for every e-mail address. If they don't collect enough, they can be dropped from the network.

According to the Florida psychic, the pressure placed on psychic readers is passed on to the customer. "Most psychics don't even look at the cards," he says. "With so much pressure to keep people on the line and get their information, you need to tell the customer a lot of bullshit. But you can hurt people. You can hurt people very very deeply."

Still, the psychic admits to manipulating customers into staying on the phone. One effective way to keep callers on the line, he says, is to reveal a tidbit that piques their curiosity. One failsafe topic: Tell them their loved one is cheating.

"If you say there is cheating, there are a ton of questions they will want to ask," the psychic said.

Techniques like this are commonplace, judging by the countless tutorials subcontractors have placed on the Internet for their psychics to read.

"When you feel that the caller is hanging up after only a few minutes because he/she wants the free minutes only, try saying that, in your opinion, if they call back for several short free readings they will only get what they are paying for, but if they stay on now and let you complete their reading, you are sure it will change their life," suggests one tutorial.

In a section titled "What if I Don't Give Tarot Card Readings," another guide encourages psychics to fib their way through the reading if they're at a loss. "This is not a hard call to make; even if you know nothing about Tarot Cards," the guide states. "If someone calls the line asking for a Tarot card reading, you KNOW there is something troubling them. Start the conversation just like that ... No caller has gotten upset just as long as you're giving some kind of a reading. That's what they're paying for."

Tips like these aren't all psychics use to help them perform a reading. Many also recite verbatim from detailed "scripts" that forgo the need for tarot cards altogether. The four scripts obtained by Courttv.com are packets containing pages for each tarot card in the deck, along with a suggested passage containing possible interpretations for that card.

"The Fool" is one of 78 cards in a Tarot deck.

The tarot card technique that Miss Cleo and many of her "psychic associates" use is an age-old practice dating to the 15 century, when gypsies are thought to have brought it to Western Europe.

A typical tarot deck consists of 78 cards, each bearing a picture of a natural object, such as a star, or a character representing one of man's many vices, such as "the fool." Each card also carries with it a particular implication, and a script will offer a number of prefabricated dialogues on each one.

Not every reader uses tarot cards, and other scripts are available that cover just about every corner of the mystic world, from numerology to astrology to mental imaging.

Given the network's "for entertainment purposes only" disclaimer, the whole issue of whether callers are getting real psychic readings may be a moot point legally. Whether many customers would continue calling if they knew the true tricks of the trade, officials say, is another question.

Moynihan, a network lawyer, says that the script problem lies with the subcontractors — not his clients.

"That may be the practice of a certain subcontractor or subcontractors," he said," but [my clients] hire independent contractors who have their own internal operating rules. [The subcontractors] have control over themselves."

According to Moynihan, subcontractors are expected to adhere to specific ground rules, such as not using scripts and hiring bona fide psychics. The network also requires each new reader to sign an affidavit concerning their veracity as a psychic. The penalties for violating the ground rules, Moynihan says, are severe. "If we find out that somebody is using scripts or advertising to hire telemarketers rather than psychics, they will be fired," he said.

CONTINUE
1 |2| 3