...Really?

My other pet peeve is general questions. I understand the value of having dedicated CSRs to service a territory, but I cringe when I get the "where are you calling from?" question. My experiences have shown that in these cases, I almost always have to leave a voice mail. When someone needs to ask a general question about a product, why do we need to work with someone who only handles a specific territory? Often I just need a quick answer to a simple question.

This rant could get very long, but I will close with one more. On another item, I asked the vendor if they had a picture of the product that I could show my client. The answer was no, but they could send a sample. What... they didn't have product images available? Couldn't they take a picture of the item with a camera phone someone in the office must have ...Really?

Make no mistake, I am very grateful for the business opportunities that have come my way, and I am thankful for the many fabulous suppliers who are going above and beyond their jobs to help me close a sale. On the other hand, how some companies function makes me ponder ...Really?

At times it seems as if the CSR is not equipped to do their job. Some apparently don't even care about helping. I wonder if the business owner knows that they lost a $15,000 order because the CSR was not responsive and didn't follow through. Do they realize that one person is the face of their entire company and how a distributor customer may perceive them? Do they want to know if they have a weak link in the chain or bad process in place that is holding up potential business?