Nothing quite like being lied to first thing in the morning, and by someone who was disturbing me and who wanted to sell me something. At 7:30 this morning, the phone in my home/office rang. Though I’m a dedicated call screener, I generally answer early-morning calls because I expect it’s either a client calling to change or schedule a lesson that day or the barn management telling me something has happened to one of my horses. Not today.
“Hi, this is Stan from Equine Somethingorother and I see you indicated you were having some problems with horseflies.”
“I did what?” (Mind you, I am most emphatically not a morning person and my brain cells were not primed for a telemarketing call.)
“You submitted an interest card, probably at a horse expo or show …”
“Nope. Didn’t happen. First, don’t you think it’s a little early for a business call? And second, I have not been to a horse event in years, so I am quite sure I did not submit any kind of card. Good-bye.”
Does someone at this company (regrettably, I failed to rouse the brain cells enough to ask him to repeat the name) really think that I don’t know whether or not I requested information from them? That I won’t realize they just prospected my contact info. off the web and cold-called me (despite my number being on the national no-call list)?
And even if I were interested in what they’re selling, would I buy from an organization that started off our professional relationship with a blatent – and completely unnecessary – lie? If he had said “we saw your website and thought you might be interested in our products,” I still would have suggested he was calling a bit early, but I wouldn’t have been angry.
If any of my fellow horse biz professionals get a call from this guy, please email me the name of the company so I can check them out!