I manage the online marketing for a large accommodation site. I am constantly bombarded with emails and phone calls from companies who want me to give them good money in exchange for putting some of the apartments on their websites, and then receive absolutely no leads at all from them.

Some of these sales people are absolutely useless and have no clue - they just do not listen to what you are saying. Here is an example of an interaction with a chap called Jack from some holiday apartment website, which I shall not name here.

Phone rings.

Me: Hello?
Jack:Hello Can I speak to the apartment owner please?
Me:Which apartment?
Jack:The one that is for rent.
Me:We are an agency, we have many apartments for rent.
Jack:Well can I speak to the owner of the apartment?
Me:(sigh) You can speak to me.
Jack:HelloIamjackfromXXXXXXXXX.comwearethefastestgrowingwebsiteinthelastfouryearsandareoneoftheworld’slargest HolidayRentalDistributionNetworksandwearecurrentlyofferingaspecialdiscountifyouweretoaddyourapartmentontoourwebsiteand (pauses for breath)
Me:I beg your pardon?
Jack:AsisaidweareoneofthelargestHolidayRentalDistibutionNetworksinst-
Me:Wha-
Jack:-andwehaveaspecialoffer-
Me:-so yo-
Jack:-onatthemomentsandifyou:
Me:So you want me to pay to put my apartments on your website?
Jack:Er, well, uhmm, wearethelargestfastedgrowing.. er, you say your apartment is in Spain?
Me:I said we are an agency. We manage over 60 apartments in Barcelona.
Jack:So how many apartments do you manage?
Me:Around sixty.
Jack: Ok, for sixteen apartme-
Me: I said sixty.
Jack:Sixty?
Me:Yes, sixty. Look, which website did you say you were?
Jack: Alwaysonvaction.com
Me:I´ve never heard of you.
Jack: Well, weareoneofthelargestgrowi-
Me:Yes, you said that already. How much traffic do you get?
Jack:Have you heard of Ryanair.com
Me:Ryanair? Er, yes. You are from Ryanair?
Jack: If you go to Ryanair.com, they have an apartments section, and,
Me: So you are from Ryanair.com?
Jack: Yes, No, we are from XXXXXX.com
Me:Oh, ok. So how much traffic do you get?
Jack: Erm, let me check (pause) Well, the Barcelona section we get about 10,000 visits a month.
Me:And how many other apartments are on your site in the Barcelona section?
Jack: About ninety.
Me:And how much do you want to put the apartments on your website?
Jack:Well, if you were to put a minimum of 20 on, we would charge you XX€ each.
Me:How many leads will you send us every month?
Jack:Er, we get around 10,000 visits to the Barcelona section, and we are increasing every month, as I said, we are the fastest growing...
Me:Well, to be honest, We get much more traffic than that anyway, and it seems a bit expensive, especially as there are loads of other apartments competing with us on the same site. Look, just send me an email, and if I am interested, I will be in touch.
Jack:Ok, whats your email?
Me: (tell him my email)
Jack:Ok, I will send you an email and give you a call tomorrow..
Me: No, don´t call me tomorrow, I will look at it calmly and be in touch if I am interested.
Jack:Ok, have just sent the email. Did you get it?
Me: I don´t know, I don´t have my mail open.
Jack: Can you just check to see if you got it?
Me: Look, I don´t have time right now. As I said, I will take a look and be in touch if I am interested.
Jack:Ok, but can you just check you got th-
Me:Bye. (hangs up).

Next day, Phone rings
Me: Hello?
Jack:Hello, its Jack.
Me: Who?
Jack: Jack. From XXXXXX.com. (pause) I called yesterday?
Me: Oh, yes. Look, Jack, I haven´t had a chance to look through your email yet. I will call you if I am interested.
Jack: Ok, thanks then, bye
Me: Bye.

Two days later, phone rings
Me: Hello?
Jack: Hello its jack here. I just wanted to see if you had read my email?
Me: Who are you? (I get a lot of phonecalls)
Jack: Jack - From XXXXXX-
Me: Oh, yes. Jack, I said I would get in touch with YOU if I was interested.
Jack: Yes, but I just wanted to see if you had read my email
Me: Look, I am very busy, I don´t have time for this.
Jack: But -
Me: Goodbye.

This Morning:
Phone rings:
Me:Hello?
Jack:Hello, its Jack here again. I just wanted to see if you had taken a moment to look at my-
Me: Look jack, I have taken a look at your email, and don´t think we will go ahead. We-
Jack: (extremely offended) But we get so many visits a month-
Me: I really don-
Jack:But you read my email? Don´t you understand we are the fastest growing -
Me: Look Ja-
Jack: Apartment company in the wor--
Me: JACK! We will not go ahead with the offer, because we get sites like yours calling all the time, promising the world, and then they never even send one lead. We get a lot of traffic to our site, and I do not think you can offer us value that justifies this spend from our marketi-
Jack: (very offended) Well, I´m sorry you don´t want to take advantage of this offer. Ifatanytimeinthefutureyouwanttotakeadvantageof
Me: Ok, thanks then, Bye
Jack: Bye.

So Jack, where did you go wrong?

1: You DON'T LISTEN to what the other person is saying. You talk AT them instead of WITH them. I told you three times I would be in touch if I was interested and would call YOU, but you ignored me and kept interrupting me in my work. Do you want to know the truth? I didn´t even READ your email, I just told you I was not interested, because you pestered me so much and were not willing to listen. I have your information in an email, and if one day I had decided it would be a good idea to advertise on other sites, I would be in touch, like I said. You need to understand that people may not want to sign up RIGHT NOW, but you have blown your chances of me contacting your company again.

2: If I don´t want to accept your offer, be gracious, don´t whine like a baby and then rudely huff and puff. It is really unprofessional.

3: Slow down! You speak so fast, I can hardly understand a word you are saying. You sound like a machine gun firing words at me. I felt like a target, and just another person on your list that you had to get through.

Anyway, rant over. I thank you for your patience.

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