On the DST shenanigans

The problem: Daylight Saving Time is a legal construct, governed in the US by the whim of Congress. After 20 years of a stable formula, they changed it.

The sensible answer: abolish it, and simply ask people to change their hours instead. (If work expects you in at 8, change that to 7. Keep a set of summer hours rather than changing the clocks.)

The answer that could actually be adopted: When Congress futzes with the clocks, they should guarantee that the change in algorithm is good for N years, and will give at least 2 years warning between passing a change and making it effective.At least that way it can be planned for a little more carefully.

On the DST shenanigans

The problem: Daylight Saving Time is a legal construct, governed in the US by the whim of Congress. After 20 years of a stable formula, they changed it.

The sensible answer: abolish it, and simply ask people to change their hours instead. (If work expects you in at 8, change that to 7. Keep a set of summer hours rather than changing the clocks.)

The answer that could actually be adopted: When Congress futzes with the clocks, they should guarantee that the change in algorithm is good for N years, and will give at least 2 years warning between passing a change and making it effective.At least that way it can be planned for a little more carefully.

A brief note to anyone engaged in a customer-facing role which might lead to increased revenue.

If the potential customer says "Fine, send me this specific bit of information and I will contact you with my selections," it is time to confirm the prospective customer's contact info and thank him. Then hang up.

It is not time to go into an extended selling effort involving a complete understanding of the hopefully-future customer's processes.

It is not time to ignore anything the near-customer says in favor of a hard sell.

If you make the mistake of pushing the almost-customer in those ways, and repeatedly NOT saying "Sure, I'll get you those resumes immediately", and in fact ignore repeated attempts by the not-yet-a-customer to correct your misperception... to the point where the exasperated not-a-customer hangs up on you...

It is definitely NOT a good idea to call back immediately and say "I think we were disconnected." Because the unlikely-to-ever-be-your-customer will say "No. I hung up on you." and proceed to repeat that action.

A few minutes may elapse while you consider your options. In those few minutes, the never-going-to-do-business-with-Remington-person might consult with his office manager and the VP of Engineering, and discover that you had already cold-called the VP, been rude and played the same stupid hard-sell games on him, and that further you had called the office manager and asked if there was anyone more technical in the office than the VP (yes, but they all report to him). And if you were to make a valiant effort to recover the lost opportunity by calling the anticustomer again, and he were to be so foolish as to give you a measured 60 seconds, don't you think the first words out of your mouth should strongly resemble "I apologize deeply and sincerely. I completely misjudged you and I did not listen to you. I beg you for another chance. May I please email you these resumes immediately?"

Because if, instead, you choose to rant about how the anti-customer NEEDS YOU in this market, and continue the hard-sell spiel... you can expect to be hung up upon.

And then perhaps someone will reprogram the PBX to recognize your number and display the caller ID as "DUMB ASS".

Remington International: avoid.

A brief note to anyone engaged in a customer-facing role which might lead to increased revenue.

If the potential customer says "Fine, send me this specific bit of information and I will contact you with my selections," it is time to confirm the prospective customer's contact info and thank him. Then hang up.

It is not time to go into an extended selling effort involving a complete understanding of the hopefully-future customer's processes.

It is not time to ignore anything the near-customer says in favor of a hard sell.

If you make the mistake of pushing the almost-customer in those ways, and repeatedly NOT saying "Sure, I'll get you those resumes immediately", and in fact ignore repeated attempts by the not-yet-a-customer to correct your misperception... to the point where the exasperated not-a-customer hangs up on you...

It is definitely NOT a good idea to call back immediately and say "I think we were disconnected." Because the unlikely-to-ever-be-your-customer will say "No. I hung up on you." and proceed to repeat that action.

A few minutes may elapse while you consider your options. In those few minutes, the never-going-to-do-business-with-Remington-person might consult with his office manager and the VP of Engineering, and discover that you had already cold-called the VP, been rude and played the same stupid hard-sell games on him, and that further you had called the office manager and asked if there was anyone more technical in the office than the VP (yes, but they all report to him). And if you were to make a valiant effort to recover the lost opportunity by calling the anticustomer again, and he were to be so foolish as to give you a measured 60 seconds, don't you think the first words out of your mouth should strongly resemble "I apologize deeply and sincerely. I completely misjudged you and I did not listen to you. I beg you for another chance. May I please email you these resumes immediately?"

Because if, instead, you choose to rant about how the anti-customer NEEDS YOU in this market, and continue the hard-sell spiel... you can expect to be hung up upon.

And then perhaps someone will reprogram the PBX to recognize your number and display the caller ID as "DUMB ASS".

Remington International: avoid.