Why is it that vendors don't understand me? I'm an executive in a sizable yet still growing tech oriented company. Because we run lean, I'm a jack-of-all-trades. I'm always busy analyzing, directing, fixing and planning. I have over 1300 emails in my inbox, and every one has been read but I'm keeping it for some specific reason. Only a few are more than a few months old. I periodically cycle through and make sure those projects are complete before deleting the mail. That's not counting the 65 other folders I have for long term storage.

I hate interruptions. Constantly shifting gears causes productivity loss. I don't often take phone calls. The phone system is programmed to route my wife's incoming calls directly to my desk, and my assistant handles the rest for me. Even while writing this my cellphone actually rang and showed "Private Number" on the display. I'm certainly not answering that. They didn't even bother leaving a voicemail.

I work from e-mail. With e-mail I can address things on my own schedule, when I'm ready to address them. Even if I'm spending $80,000 on new equipment, I don't want to talk to you. I want you to email me the quote and I will email a purchase order back. I'd appreciate an email when it ships.

I will occasionally call a vendor the first time, but when I'm wanting to order something and I already know exactly what I want - I don't want to talk to you.

If I have to return something, I don't want to talk to you. I want to use email or a web form. I can spend 20 seconds typing out a quick email, instead of wasting 10 minutes on the phone with you. And I'm sorry but "online vendor support chat" systems are ridiculously stupid. They take longer than phone calls.

It's the electronic age. Please, Mr. Vendor, I wanted to buy your services, but I am not going to "arrange a call" to talk to you after I've asked for a quote on your software twice by email already. I gave you everything in the email you need, and if I missed something I bet your email software has a "reply" button at the top. No, I don't want to talk to you about setting up a demo - I want to know the price. That's a sure buying sign for anyone who truly understands selling.

Now it's time to find another vendor for a similar software package.

And while I'm on that topic - Thanks anyway Webex, but I already have an account and it's working just fine, I don't want to talk to you about it. Please stop calling me every other week, I'm getting tired of deleting the voicemails.