This Just In: Another potential scam avoided!
We just had an interesting event occur in our office that might ring a bell with some of you. A broker in our office just received a sales call from someone claiming to offer promotional materials.
Please beware of these calls!
The caller told the broker they were offering left over materials at "end of year" drastic discounts. He said that he had 200 Key chains left and would give them to her with her imprint for half the normal cost. The price he quoted her sounded to me like the regular cost at other firms. And of course she would need to purchase them right now to get the discount. He further tried to entice her buy stating that my team had just purchased 100.
Fortunately, my co-worker's savvy assistant came over to my office while the broker was on the phone to see if this was true and if she could see a sample. The bottom line is that I did not make such a purchase and this caller is just another example of some of the predatory sales tactics out there.
Lesson Learned:
We get sales calls on a regular basis for a variety of products and services. Some seem legitimate and others do not. Our team policy is that we always request the caller to email his/her information to my assistant for review. This tends to weed out quite a bit. I am constantly amazed at how many people in the year 2007 claim that they do not conduct any business through email and they do not have a website. Red flag #1! Legitimate companies gladly comply and send their information so that it can be reviewed and researched. They stand by their service or product and are happy to provide you with additional information. I am also amazed at how often callers who claim to provide goods and services just happen to have an item that must be purchased immediately. Red flag #2!
1. Always request the information be emailed to you or for the caller to give you their website address so that you may review their product/service.
2. NEVER purchase something right away! Anything worth buying is worth a little investigation.
3. NEVER give out your credit card information to a source that you cannot verify.
I hope this incident prompts others to develop a policy and practice for handling sales calls. Please be careful out there!
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