When you work in a job where you have to talk with customers, sometimes you will get one who really likes to talk without ever getting to the point.

The salesmen at the steel yard in this story found that farmers were generally very nice, but took forever to say what they wanted.

Getting information out of them was like pulling teeth, but he was eventually able to get what he needed and make the sale.

Farmer wants a quote

I work for a steel supply yard, things like diesel tanks and steel pipe. Farmers will often call up to receive quotes etc.

I would not have expected this.

I don’t know if any of you have dealt with farmers before but they are the most infuriating people to talk to.

Ahh, now it makes sense.

They are the nicest people that I’ve ever met but take SO LONG to get information out of them. It’s the verbal equivalent of waiting for large photos to load on dial-up internet.

This is how one of the calls went yesterday:

Me: Hi this is <name> from <place of work>. What can I help you with today?

Seems pretty direct and to the point so far.

Farmer: Steel pipe! What have you got?

Me: We have sizes ranging from 30mm to 1700mm outside diameter. What size will you be needing?

Farmer: Oh something fairly decent…

Me: Ok, What size is fairly decent?

Hey now, watch it…

Farmer: oh you know, 3-4 inch. (Like the rest of the world we use metric in Australia, but some people refuse to move ahead with the times)

Me: well we have a large quantity of 9m x 90mm outside diameter with a 5.5mm wall. That’s about 3.5 inches.

Farmer: Price?!

Me: They’re $100 each including GST

How many is a few? And he already gave the price.

Farmer: How much for a few?

Me: The price stays the same. $100 each including GST

Farmer: What about more then a few?

This guy just isn’t getting it.

Me: Same story, price isn’t negotiable sorry.

Farmer: Right. Well how much will it cost me to get enough for my yard? I’m cutting them up into fence posts see.

Me: (Yes because I can read your mind and know how many posts you will need) How many lengths of pipe will you need? I’d be happy to work that out for you.

Farmer: Oh a fair few.

This would be infuriating.

Me: So how many is a fair few?

Farmer: A good portion of a trailer.

Me: (This can’t be happening) So, if you were to put a number on that, how many lengths of pipe would you need?

Ok, so he did know what he needed.

Farmer: (immediately after i finished my sentence) 171 lengths.

Me: (So he knew exactly how many he needed before even calling) Alright, 171 lengths at $100 each will be $17100 inc GST.

Come on, he already explained that the price is the price.

Farmer: Can you do any better on the price?

Me: No sorry, as I explained before our prices are set.

Delivery can be expensive.

Farmer: Righto, Well if you can deliver it for nothing I’ll take it. (He seriously wants us to deliver 20 tonne of steel for free???)

Me: We won’t be able to deliver it for free but if you give me an address I’d be happy to give you a quote.

Farmer: Sure, I’m at <Random station name>

Just give an address!

Me: Where is that? (Our yard is in northern NSW)

Farmer: Queensland (screams internally)

Me: What town are you in?

Wow, what is so hard about being specific.

Farmer: I live in Longreach (1200km away…) (experience has taught me that they never live in the town they tell you, often it’s just the closest large settlement and not the actual region they live in)

Me: So are you in Longreach itself or outside?

OMG.. Just give an address!

Farmer: No I’m 200km out of Longreach (screams louder internally)

Me: In what direction…

Farmer: North

Hang up on this guy and let him get his stuff somewhere else.

Me: So you’re not in Longreach are you?

Farmer: No I’m not

This guy is more patient than me.

Me: Ok thanks for that. I’ll give you a call back this afternoon with a delivered Quote. Thanks for the call.

Farmer: No worries, thanks mate

At least he made the sale I suppose.

He ended up taking the pipe. Nice enough guy but I can’t for the life of me understand why it’s so hard to get information.

I don’t know how he did this without yelling at the guy. It should have been about a 30 second call!

Let’s see what the people in the comments have to say about it.

Why be so vague?

It must be a global thing.

Here is a person whose dad is just like this.

This commenter says to just use numbers.

This clears it up.

Get to the point!