Received a voicemail from Andrew Krueger at Good Life Media regarding working with one of the local country clubs in the area. Upon returning the call, the voicemail went to a femaie mailbox. Shoulda known better.
After Andrew called me back, I was then transfered to a Project Manager who then went thorugh a series of reasons that Golf Club member publications are so good to advertise with. I showed some interest and then listened, only because the exclusive country club is around the corner from me.
Here are some things he said that didn't seem that consistent and tipped me off to do some research.
- As a part of their $40,000 CC membership, the members get this magazine for free.
- The magazine's name was Good Life and featured the PGA schedule, rather than events happening within the country clubs community
- He parrotted the categories I listed as the one's they needed to fulfil within the magazine
- They do a lot of research on the companies they call, yet he had to ask for my website
- The prices for a 1/4, 1/2, and Full page ad were fixed for the year, but was able to quickly reduce those prices when he heard my marketing budget was blown for the year.
- When asked about their "F" rating with the BBB (which I had plenty of time to look up because he just kept talking), he said their owner isn't interested in spending money to fight the ratings.
- His tone changed when I said repeatedly that I wasn't interested. When I said it was about his rating, and the reviews online, he then asked which company I was looking up as it probsably wasn't his company.
- At the end, I said it was not in our best interest to do business togethter and then he blamed me for getting snippy and even if I wanted to spend $1500 for a cover ad, he wouldn't take my credit card. Then continued to blame me for the poor customer service on the phone and that he really sees how my company operates and wouldn't want to do business with me.
- Final straw, he said he was going to try and keep me on the phone until I hung up... which is exactly what I did.
It's amazing how many scams are out there to attract small businesses. I'm just glad I spent 20 years in sales prior to starting my business to ask better questions and then listen to the inconsistent answers to make a decision prior to giving any credit card information