My husband’s cell phone rang the other day. It was a normal summer day. It was the middle of the day, the middle of a field, in the middle of a project. He was hot and sweaty and irritable because the project wasn’t going too smoothly. Then Jennifer called. 

He answered because he was expecting a call about parts for his project, and he didn’t look at the caller ID because the screen on his phone is messed up and he can’t see who is calling.  But it wasn’t the parts guy, it was Jennifer. 

You know, Jennifer from the cruise lines. She was calling to tell him what a great deal she could give him on a fabulous cruise.   

For some reason, he was less than enthusiastic about talking to her about a fabulous cruise. But it did lead to an interesting conversation between the two of us.

 “That was Jennifer.”

“Jennifer Who?”

“Jennifer from the cruise lines. She wants me to take a cruise with her.”

“Really. Does she like guys with big bellies?”

He didn’t like the way that conversation was going, so he got back to his project. But it made me think about people who call complete strangers at inopportune times and try to sell them ridiculous things. Somewhere, someone is not doing any marketing research.

Wouldn’t it be great if Jennifer were to call in the middle of the day and tell you she could get you a great deal on a pivot gear box…and deliver it? Or maybe Sexy Stacy could call and tell you that you just won a free trial of a new contraption that makes hay dry down ten times faster. 

Or perhaps Carmen could call and offer a new type of fencing that holds any animal, costs less and is easy to put in and take out. Anybody who has had to fight with a determined, knotheaded cow to put her back in the pasture would be happy to talk to Carmen, especially if she offered to install the fence herself.

 I think marketing is a lot about timing. If you just had a way of knowing the exact right moment to call people, you could be the world’s best salesman. If you could just KNOW when someone runs out of twine at 2:00 a.m. or when a bearing goes out and stops a whole harvest crew.  A salesman who could be there in two minutes with the twine or bearing or whatever could become a mega-millionaire in about two weeks.

But alas, nobody quite knows when these things will happen, so salesmen…and saleswomen…have to just keep trying.  But one word of advice to Jennifer…calling a farmer in the middle of the day in the middle of the summer is not a good marketing plan, unless you’re selling pivot parts, haying supplies…or snow cones.