I then explained to him that he could send him his offer by email - we usually don't have the time (or inclination) for a casual cold calling chat. The phone also interrupts you in your current activity, so you have to find your concentration again afterwards. Somewhat disillusioned, he received my colleague's email address and promised to write to him directly on Monday.
The following Monday morning my phone rang and who was on the line? The sales person from the hosting provider. He explained that he would like to speak to my colleague to present his croatia telegram screening offer to him. Well, I said - hadn't we discussed something else in our chat? Obviously unsure, he explained that it would be much better on the phone and that he only wanted to speak "briefly" once. A concrete offer will of course be sent in writing.
I then refreshed his memory and explained to him again how we work. The conversation ended somehow quickly.
Acquisition Conclusion?
I can't think of many ways in which the sales representative could have made his company look even worse. His approach was clumsy, he disregarded and ignored everything I said as the first point of contact and in the end he tried to bypass me so that he could go straight to his colleague. In a normal corporation or upper mid-sized company, including the well-known 0 - the head office - it would probably have worked out just the same and he would have at least ended up with the secretary of the decision-maker. With us, however, he wasted any chance of doing business and can count himself lucky that I am not mentioning the name of his company here.