I could not agree more. I love the fact that we have laws protecting us from cold-call telemarketing and the ability to remove ourselves from call lists.

Furthermore, I try to shop from local vendors and look to shorten the experience of dealing with door-to-door carpet cleaning sales people and the like.

To give you a great example of what I’m talking about in the blog, in February I sold four phones to a gentleman who ran a non-profit charity. He called us to place the order and was a first-time customer. While I was accumulating relevant information about his address and shipping instructions, I asked him to tell me about his organization. He spoke for 30 minutes talking about the creation, growth and mission of the group. He pointed me to his website and asked me to learn more about the crisis his non-profit is combating. He was proud of the efforts and strides his group made and I thought it was wonderful too.

Two months later, I called this customer to make sure his phones were deployed successfully and that there was a firmware upgrade to the phone which I wanted to give him. He picked up the phone and just ripped into me. “If this is a sales call, I really don’t have the time to talk and would appreciate if you took my name off of your call lists.” I did not get a chance to get my name out and say hello. I sent a confirmation e-mail that I had two purposes for my call; to make sure the product I sold him was functioning and that there was an enhancement available to make his phone work better. Most important, I respected his wishes to take his name off our list, marking the account do not call.

No problem, I figured he was having a bad day; which happens to us all. But I must say that if I got a call back from a rep who sold me something I’d be flabbergasted. Think of all the times we’ve made a purchase of some kind of hardware or service. How many times have we been called back to see if we were satisfied? Few and far between.

Steve, the local vendor you have takes care of you and you have a great “relationship” with them and probably some other vendors. That is what it is all about. I try to do that with my customers. Some of my other blogs touch on just that…taking care of your customers. Everybody wins. Thanks for your comments.

-Phil

I don’t want a quote for some random item, just to compare pricing.

I don’t want to purchase something to experience the ordering/shipping experience.

I don’t want to be called back in another 2 months when another newbie sales rep comes on board.

Just remove me from the calling list and maybe I’ll think of them fondly when we run across something our local vendor can’t handle.