Friday, March 14, 2008

"Sales People" on ListServes

Recently one of my colleagues on a Campus Law Enforcement List Serve bemoaned the fact that "sales people" troll the list serve and somehow look for clients, thereby are harassing him, and he is tired of it. (I'm paraphrasing here.) Another person chimed in agreeing wholeheartedly. A third person exclaimed "Dito! Dito!" (his spelling).
 
Well, gee, the person did not give any evidence of the abusive behavior, if any, of this sales person or in fact what they were  selling. And, gee, he could politely say he is not interested, and hang up, or ignore the letter, or ignore the email.

And: news flash for members of the list serve: the "contractors, vendors, and sales people" would not be on the list serve unless your association gave them access. And these "associate members" , like me, pay big bucks to be such. I doubt IACLEA's management would agree to kick them off the List Serve.

Living is selling. Many small business people, like myself, subscribe to professional organizations in order to keep up with what's going on in the field, and yes, to get leads for possible business. If you notice, McDonald's, Pepsi, and your local car dealer never stop advertising.

But perhaps these folks are in secure, stable, employment making big bucks so that they'll never need to retire or start a second career, or, even start a business where they have to sell something. So, Buz understands, and asks for their compassion--at least a little. On the other hand, the consultant has compassion for them, too, since unwanted sales attempt can be annoying.



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