Help me say No.

[Waffle]

HELP.  I need to answer an email and I don't know what to say.  Or maybe it's that I don't know how to say it.  I don't know why this is so hard for me.  Here's the situation, I received an email at work from a sales rep.  Here is what the email said (names have been changed)

Waffle - thanks again for pointing me in the right direction today. I’ll possibly be in the area on the 12th of November. If it works out, would you mind if I pop by to meet you and Ann?

The sales rep called me because I used to be in purchasing and mine was the name and number that he had.   I told him who in our corporate office handled the items that he sells and I also gave him the name and contact of the local purchasing person ("Ann").  

I am no longer in purchasing.  I am thrilled to be out of purchasing.  I don't want to meet this guy or any other sales rep. (But I can't write that back in an email, either.)  If was still in purchasing I could and would have had no problem telling him something along the lines of I'm not the decision maker for his particular line of items - so a meeting would be a mutual waste of time.  I don't want to key in on the date aka, the 12th isn't good for me, because that just leaves it open for him to pick another date.  Anybody have any ideas of how I could answer this.  I don't know if Ann would want to meet him or not.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Say "I no longer work in purchasing so no thank you.  Here's Ann's contact information again in case you lost it. You can see if she's interested".

[Waffle]

Thanks Drama!   I knew there was a simple answer, it just wasn't coming to me.

[Deleted]

Do you have any personal relationship or history with the guy? If not, the email back does not need to be gentle. A simple, "I am not interested in a meeting" works fine.

[Waffle]

Nope - no history.  I had met with his predecessor a few times, but I've never met or dealt with this guy.

[Deleted]

Personally, I'd just ignore the email, but I like Drama's response too,

[mmhmm]

I'd use Drama's response, myself.  I've also never had a problem telling such people I don't mix my social life with my business life.

[Spellbound454]

I don't know why people have a problem saying no.

Its your basic right as a person to say "no" to something you don't want to do.

No need for lengthy explanations(usually) a simple and polite  "No, I'm not interested thank you" is usually sufficient.

[lynnerself]

Oct 28, 2013 10:17:25 GMT -5 @monkeyunderpants said:

Personally, I'd just ignore the email, but I like Drama's response too,

If you ignore the email, he may "pop by" anyway.  If you are not his appropriate contact, redirect him to someone else and let them decide what to do.

[gooddecisions]

I usually just delete without responding to emails like this as well. I get about 6 emails/week from vendors who want to meet with me. I have no idea how most of them got my contact information. I am not in a position to negotiate or even influence who my company creates contracts with. I view them like telemarketers, if you answer- you'll keep getting badgered and if you don't they'll eventually go away. It doesn't take any time to click delete, so the emails don't tend to bother me even if they never do go away.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

The problem with ignoring these emails is that the vendor tends to show up at the most inopportune time so then you need to tell them no face to face.

[happyscooter]

it didn't sound like he wanted to meet on a personal level.  am I wrong?

[Waffle]

Oct 28, 2013 18:13:11 GMT -5 happyscooter said:

it didn't sound like he wanted to meet on a personal level.  am I wrong?

No - it wasn't personal.

FWIW - I used a combination response drawn from what Drama and Archie said.  He replied and said he understood, he had just thought I might have some insight as to my company's use for his company's products.  he also said that he was going to reach out to "Ann".  I didn't reply to that one.

[happyscooter]

I read reply #6 and it sounded like it might be personal.