Shauna Moerke is…

In a rare turnabout of my recent trend of taking my everyday frustrations to Twitter, (because duh, what else is Twitter for?) I have come back to my first love, blogging, because 140 characters just wasn’t enough to convey my plea.

Dear Unnamed Vendor: STOP. STALKING. ME.

Huh, maybe that could have gone on Twitter after all.

Here’s some context: My work contact at a certain vendor that I shall not name, because I have friends who work there and is a vendor I actually like, is driving me crazy. In one 24 hour period he called me 15 times and emailed me at least 6 times. I would see his number come up, let it go to voice mail, and in rapid succession he would call me back 2 or 3 more times before finally leaving a message. Because in the two seconds since he last called he became convinced that I had just barely missed answering and he needed to try again. Or something, I don’t know. Then he would send an email. And then a little later he would repeat the pattern.

I’ll admit, it’s probably my fault. I showed interest in something he was selling and thus I just encouraged the hard sell tactics. Yeah… no, it’s still his fault.

The sad part is, like I said, I like this company and know people who work there. I want to give them business. I don’t need to be given the hard sell. Frankly, if it wasn’t for that fact alone I would have already shut them down because of these tactics.

So please, vendor reps, even though hard sell tactics can get short term results the best way to build a lasting, mutually beneficial sales relationship with a company is to get to know them and their needs while respecting their time. Stalking is never a good long term strategy. So stop it before I get a restraining order.

Updated: We are now up to 21 calls and 8 emails.

Updated x2: After 23 calls and 9 emails we may have a deal. Sadly, I think the positive result will only encourage this behavior in the future. Damn. Note to self: Never express interest in anything again.

Updated x3: Turns out that Mr. Stalker was lying about how good the deal was. Funny enough, that’s when he stopped calling. Look, aggressive sales techniques suck, but they are worse when you can’t even back them up with results.