Don't EVER Cold Call Again.

My first post (now titled "Better Than Cold Calling") was setting up the ground rules for Referral Selling. Since that's a way to avoid cold calling (which most sales pros dislike), so I gave the post a title that seemed like a catchy way to introduce the subject: "Never Cold Call Again." It just seemed kinda pithy. Nice for a title.

Anyway, imagine my surprise when, later that day, the following comment pops up on the post:

I am the author of the book "Never Cold Call Again" and own the registered trademark of the same name. Please delete the phrase "Never Cold Call Again"from this article immediately as I did not authorize its use.
Thank you,
Frank Rumbauskas
FJR Advisors, LLC

What find funny, and also kinda sad, about the comment is that this Frank guy is apparently supposed to be some kind of sales guru, which presumably means that he's supposed to know something about sales and marketing.

He could have used the fact that I accidentally stumbled onto his book title as a way to get me interested in his work. He could have sent me a nice note asking me to change the blog title, and then sent me a copy of his book, and an offer to talk about his ideas.

Who knows? I might have been impressed and written about him. And since I always include links in my posts, he'd have ended up with some book sales, some traffic on his website, and maybe a new consulting client or two.

Instead, he shoots off a nasty little note that merely convinces me that he's a pill who doesn't understand basic selling, or basic courtesy for that matter. And that, in turn, makes me question whether his book is worth the paper on which it's printed.

There are two things that are ironic about his behavior:

First, this guy is supposed to be some sort of expert on Internet marketing. If he knew anything about the subject, he'd NEVER have tweaked a major blogger with a nasty comment. What did he think was going to happen? Seriously, this is the kind of blunder that one associates with a novice web user.

Second, this guy is guilty of doing exactly what he accused me of doing. He bought the Google ad word for "No More Cold Calling" -- the trademarked title of a competitor's book, Joanne Black's excellent bestseller No More Cold Calling.
Check it out! If you google "No More Cold Calling" you get a sponsored link to his personal site. Apparently the guy is so desperate for credibility that he tries to steal it from other authors. Pitiful. No wonder he thought I was trying to rip him off. It's exactly what he'd do, given half the chance!

Has anybody out there hired this guy? I'd love to hear about the experience.