"Yes, but how much is it going to cost for the bricks?"

The guy from the window company who cold-called me all those years ago to try and sell me a conservatory had a great pitch, he was engaging and affable, the product was described clearly, references were available, he was happy to arrange for anything that would help me to make a decision...

... but he wouldn't talk to me about the price of the bricks.

He couldn't understand why I kept bringing the conversation back to the cost of the bricks. They weren't important to him. They were negligible. Peanuts. He could dismiss them. There were more important things to talk about.

Everything about the call was pretty much perfect from his point of view. He painted the picture of what it would be like to have a conservatory (I had already confirmed that we didn't have one), he confirmed that it was my own property (and not rented), he made me visualise the installation journey, he soothed me, he would let me have a fully itemised quote ... but the price of the bricks still didn't worry him.

He made me want that conservatory...

... but I was never going to buy.

All of his effort was in vain. His pitch couldn't have been better but it was never going to result in a sale. He could have offered any deal - anything at all - and the answer would still have been "No". Don't get me wrong, this wasn't the fault of the chap on the call. He did nothing wrong. He could have talked for hours and still not earned his sale.

If only they had sanitised their data first.

I would have loved to buy that conservatory from him.

It would have been the perfect addition to my second floor flat.

Who qualifies their leads before trying to make a sale? If you don't, you could be wasting your time...

... talking about the price of bricks.