Those pesky vendor sales reps

Ever been frustrated by calls from a vendor sales rep spruiking a technology that's obviously not relevant to your operations? Bartercard chief information officer Jason Van is.

Speaking at a smartcard conference in Sydney this week, Van told how he was tiring of calls from vendors, particularly those pushing security products, who had obviously not bothered to investigate what the company did before pitching.

Bartercard operates its own type of global currency that allows businesses to swap/exchange goods and services using an interest-free line of credit.

"I have a lot of vendors come and hit me at the end of every three months trying to sell me security products, for example, intrusion detection systems," he said.

It seems IDS is notorious in this regard.

Despite the regularity of the calls though, some sales reps never learn, according to Van.

"Somebody who doesn't do a lot of research on us seems to think that somewhere along the line someone's going to come and break in and take a heap of trade dollars from me," he said.

As Van points out, the proposal is laughable if you visit the Bartercard Web site to learn how the trade exchange works.

"At that point in time I look at these guys quite nicely and politely and laugh and say 'go ahead! It's not like you can spend them!'".

Surely you've fielded other memorable/forgettable calls from desperately hopeful vendors? Tell us about them via a comment below.