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01/19/2005: "And then there was David . . ."

Don't people piss you off? People who profess to be business people are supposed to be more sophisticated and sharper than the average bear. Well, sorry folks. Some are just stupid.

I get several requests for quotes daily. Most of the folks are just tire kickers who waste my time and my staff's time. Some are other copywriters smelling around. And a few are really serious, decent people who want and can afford my help. Those are the good guys. They are the ones I'll take a bullet for. They reply to my mail and answer my questions. They ask questions and I know they're for real.

But then there are guys like David who sells memory foam pillows. David said he wanted a five to seven page Web site. He was having one designed but needed copy. He had a reasonable budget. A bit too low but reasonable.

So I send him a quote and a creative brief. No reply. No kiss my ass. Nothing. Rude. OK, so I send him a short e-mail the next day or so and tell him I'll call him to discuss his needs. He picks up and opens my e-mail in one minute. I tag my mail so I know when it's opened. It takes the guess work out of things. I like that.

So I call him on schedule and he says, "Oh, I hired another writer." I ask him why he didn't tell me so he'd save me a call. "Oh, I just got your e-mail this morning." Duh! I know when he got it and my question is this . . . when I know he was sitting on his computer, why didn't he take one minute or less to reply and tell me? Is that stupid or what? Is that rude or what? Would I ever write for this guy? Hell no.

Go out and find his memory foam pillows and when you do, see how well he runs his business. Should be fun.