……….and in my face

16:00 on Friday afternoon and my (Orange) iPhone rings – the number isn’t blocked, so I answer (I never answer blocked calls).

Me: “Chris Barrow”

Ben: “Hello Chris, its Ben from BT Customer Service. I notice from your facebook site that you are a business coach and I wonder what type of coaching you do?”

Me: “I work with UK dentists.”

Ben: “And is that just in Falmouth or all over the country?”

Me: “Its all over the country Ben.”

Ben: “And what do you do for the dentists Chris?”

Me: “I show them how to improve their profits by 30% and increase their team effectiveness.”

Ben: “And do you deal with anyone else apart from dentists?”

Me: “Ben, can I ask you a question please?”

Ben: “Yes, what is it?”

Me: “Ben, what are you trying to sell me?”

Ben: “Well Chris, we can get your web site to the top of the search engines, we can include you in 4 BT directories and we can get you on to 118118.”

Me: “So basically , this is an unsolicited sales call from a company that have looked at my Facebook details?”

Ben: “Yes.”

Me: “And you are using my Facebook profile to try and sell BT directory listings to me as well as some SEO?”

Ben: “Yes that’s right.”

Me: “Well thanks for the call Ben but I’ve got work to do – and I already have IT consultants who handle my SEO and my web site and I’m not looking to replace them. I’m not interested in your services thanks.”

Ben: “Well I’ve Googled ”business coach in Falmouth“ and I can’t find you, so they aren’t doing a very good job are they?”

Me: “Ben, which bit of ”I’m not interested“ are you struggling with?“

Ben: ”All of it.“

Me: ”Well Ben, you have just crossed the limit of my tolerance, so who is going to end this call, you or me?“

Ben: ”you are?“

Me: ”That’s right Ben – thanks for your call and goodbye.“