I can’t answer for most people, because I don’t need to return calls from work, but when I get them at home, I think it’s rude to screen them just because you don’t want to talk to someone. My answering machine is for when I am unavailable to take your call, and I call back when available. I got one last week that said, “Hi Doug & Wanda. This is Bruce. Call me back.” If Bruce had left his number I would have called him to say he totally missed Doug & Wanda, he might want to look up the number and call again.

But how’s this for a response: They can call you back…(hoping, of course, that you are still burning up the line prospecting) and say, “Hi Bill, this is Doug from XYZ Corp. Sorry I missed your call. I appreciate you trying, but another printer is currently meeting our needs. Bids for our contract don’t come up again until December. Could you try calling us again, say, the Monday after Thanksgiving? Thanks. XYZ is at (202) 555-2368, and you need to talk to Wanda in Marketing, extension 101. Have a nice day.”

There could come a time when they need to shop around, and it would be nice to have people feel good about calling them back.

Bill, I understand exactly what you are saying. I am a polite person, and have been a print buyer for years before starting a print sales job within the last 5 months. I can’t understand these buyers being so rude. Why can’t they return a call qucikly with the response that Clete suggested? I always did be cause Ifelt that the Sales person spent their tieme calling me, so I should spend just 30 seconds calling back if I did not require anything. The good news is that as a buyer for 10 years, I do know for a fact that the person who keeps calling subconsciously gains the respect of the buyer and when the time comes that the buyer needs something that their current supplier can’t do for some reason (and it will ALWAYS happen) that sales rep will get the call to see if they can help. The buyer knows the rep won’t bail on him because he has persistantly been calling for 10 months!
I wish a mandatory e-mail just like Clete’s could go out to all people who are in th position to deal with print Consultants, and strongly suggest they do this. If a rep has called 4+ times, just take 1 minute to call back. Be nice. Be a good person. And yes, Bill, you are correct, it is the polite thing to do, the right thing to do, but I guess that “generally” the type of person drawn to that job doesn’t feel that they have to be nice because they hold the power. (except that’s not entirely true of all buyers, like myself in previous buyer roles)

Printing reps STILL get treated like dirt out here, like the cliche “a used car saleman”. (no offense) They are to be avoided at all costs. I’m sure they are busy doing their job all day and probably do not realize what huge solutions to their needs are laying right beyond their door if they would just talk to some industry reps who call once in a while.

Good luck to us all. Let’s hope that somehow Printing Sales people begin to be recognized as the experienced consulants they are, and not be treated like a piece of trash.

On the flip side of that, I buy paper for manufacturing. I have tried “cold calling” a large mill in the Pacific Northwest numerous times to try to set up a relationship. I’ve had my name and number taken multiple times over the last six months and have never been called back. I’ve used their “contact us” feature on their website. I receive an e-mail telling me that somebody will call me soon, but the call never comes. I called again yesterday. They have an automated phone system with voice recognition. It didn’t connect me to the correct person (I had a Sales Manager name from the website) and the person I did get connected to hung up on me when he found out the system made an error. Nice! I called him back and politely explained that I was a customer trying to buy something and the hang up was kind of rude. He did help find a number for the Sales Manager. I called that number and ended up leaving a message, which has yet to be returned. I’m so confused. They make paper, they most likely sell it, I’m at their doorstep, but they don’t want to talk to me?

I’m not in print sales, but I hope it’s ok to post here. I saw the post and immediately thought of how similar the circumstances are. Some of my best buds sell print, and I tell them all the time I could never handle their job.

Reading these posts has encouraged me to keep calling despite the seemingly dead end of leaving messages, or worse, actually getting hold of the live person and hearing that impatient *sigh*. "Oh, no, not YOU again", I hear through the silence. Nice to know there is hope for encountering a professional.

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Thank God...I don't feel like I'm the only person in the industry who's cold-calling. Though, I have select prospects that I have been voicemailing on a bi-weekly basis for the past 4 months, and still have yet to receive a response. I can understand not returning my calls if I was a script-reading telemarketer, but I present myself as genuine, warm, and knowledgeable PERSON.

There are many valid reasons for prospects not to return these calls. You may not even be making sense to them, much less leaving them with an offer worth considering, as two possible examples. But more than likely, they are satisfied with thier current vendor, and by not calling back have answered that question for you with minimal investment on your part. Recognize as well that out of thousands of potential customers "out there" a handful are NOT happy with service, quality, price, or any combination of the three. Which ones? If only we knew. The only way to get to these people who need you is to make as many calls as possible before they find someone to help them through thier own efforts. Timing is everything, so do not get hung up on those not calling, if they had a need at the time you called, they would call you back. If anyone calls back to tell you "no thanks" out of what appears to be common courtesy, I would work hard to try and get a face to face appointment through some value proposition- it is possible there is a a yet unknown reason beyond common courtesy for them to have called you back. Be careful when prospects do call back and eloquently explain why they don't need you to not relax your efforts - continue to try to set an appointment! I have a few examples of current customers who were once prospects who called me back to tell me they did'nt need me! But for those not calling back? They don't need you - yet.

All good points. Funny, just a half hour ago, a customer called my plant to find me as he had a job he wanted us to look at. Though as a Bill F. fan, I read that you back off after six voicemails. I've been "sales stalking" a particular customer with voicemails on a 2 to 4 week basis, for the past 6 months. I feel nervous about backing off. Isn't this part of our job to keep our foot in the door for as long as possible with a "never say die attitude"? Unfortunately, when the time comes for this customer's next scheduled voicemail, I will be telling her that I will be calling less frequently.

Bill - The cold caller will get a call back if the person he is calling hears something that encourages a response. The cold caller has no right to be frustrated or annoyed if he gets no call back. His call was unsolicited, and therefore an intrusion on the prospect's time. The prospect will determine his own priorities and if the cold caller didn't do a good enough job with his call to get on that list of priorities, that is his fault, not the prospect's.

One of the call recipient's most valuable (maybe the most valuable) personal assets is time. A cold call for something that they are not activiely seeking is a drain on that time. It would be poor time management to return every call, email, and letter from someone trying to sell something unless you really need it. Once the seller's phone tractor beam is activiated, you can spend a good portion of your day trying to get off the phone with someone you did not want to talk to in the first place.