As advertised by the Sales Genetics Pty Ltd web site their office is located at Suite 2.01, 104 Buckingham Street, Surry Hills, Sydney. This building does not have any makings on the outside to indicate commercial tenants inside and in order to enter the building you press a door buzzer for your respective tenant to allow entry. Inside the building are a number of commercial tenants where I was not able to see any signage to direct me to the correct door and I eventually found my way to a security door (without any markings other than a room number) with the direction and assistance of other tenants.

After the usual polite courtesies I was able to speak with Chritopher Fennel (Managing Director) where he presented me with his business card made from a business card sized sheet of solid metallic brass (not the usual paper or plastic varieties), brushed, with his company logo laser cut from the metal and a slogan stating 'BORN TO SELL' printed in black capitalised writing along with the usual contact details that business cards contain.

Initially my enquiries were general in nature where Mr. Fennel proceeded to explain that he runs a marketing company, and that, he charges between two and a half and sixty thousand dollars per month for the service of lead generation and marketing for other companies. In the scenario of a client paying two and a half thousand dollars (sixty thousand dollars is definitely out side my budget range as a self employed person) he had suggested that the first month would be utilised mainly for creating a data base of suitable candidates and then subsequent months would generate five leads for interviews with potential clients. Mr. Fennel mentioned that he has approx. a dozen clients stating that IBM (yes, that is, the computer company International Business Machines), SAP (Service Access Protocol, a german information technology company that you might be used to seeing the SAP logo on the top of a building when traveling north on the Sydney Harbour Bridge or Tunnel) and, S1T2 (a software development company called 'Story 1st, Technology 2nd' that happens to be across the hall from where Sales Genetics is located) amongst other names mentioned.

Inside the Sales Genetics office space were about three or four desk rows, and without counting, I think there might have been twenty or so telephone hand sets. Mr. Fennel stated that he has approximately twenty five telemarketers, of which, most operate out of this office. On the day that I had visited there appeared to be only three people working and Mr. Fennel had indicated that this was quiet day for him.

Mr. Fennel as well as one of his telemarketers stated that his company uses 'Sugar' for their CRM.

Mr. Fennel had indicated that his telephone service provider was (at time of conversation) 'Commander Telephones', and that, he was formerly working for the 'Commander Telephones' conglomerate of companies that has been bought out by what is now known as 'M2'.

In the month of June 2015 I had received a phone call from (02) 9690 6600 making a general enquiry. Shortly after this event I began receiving a series of phone calls which collectively fell into two categories:-
• calls from a blocked or anonymous phone number which when picked up there would not be any other person to speak to on the other end and no other background audio to indicate a normal telephone call, and,
• calls would be made from a number of 00011976000 or 61011976000, a number that I have not been able to identify or make contact with, and, indicating that this number might be a VIOP source.

This combination of blocked and VIOP calls presents a signature that is the same as series of harassment phone calls that I had encountered one to two years earlier and consequently reported to ACMA quite some time ago. Due to the stress associated with being presented with a rerun of previous experiences, consequently, I had stopped answering calls from (02) 9690 6600, 00011976000, and, blocked numbers where by a further two calls were attempted from (02) 9690 6600, and, one call was made, on the twentieth of July 2015, at my request while I was in attendance at the Sales Genetics office for the purpose of verifying the origin of the (02) 9690 6600 phone number.

When this issue was presented to Mr. Fennel, he had apologised by stating, "I'm sorry if these phone calls have bothered you." While this apology came across as being quite sincere I needed to point out to him that if the word 'bothered' is a word that he prefers to to use I will not correct or force him to change his words, however, I do not agree that, the word 'bothered' is the correct, and that, the correct word to use in this situation is 'harassment'. I also explained that I do not wish to forfeit the possibility of proceeding with legal action if, and, when we get to the stage of doing so.

When I asked Mr. Fennel to identify the purpose of the phone calls made to me, and after some time having checked his computer system, he stated that he did not not have any record on his database as to why I was being contacted. He supplemented this by stating "We record all our phone calls, however, there is opportunity for telemarketers to create their own spreadsheets." With an understanding that it is a requirement for telemarketers to record phone calls I found it perplexing that Mr. Fennel would not be able identify the reason for contacting me and consequently would now need to consider the possibility of someone else in the building that is hot wiring his telephone connections.

The other thing that has me slightly me perplexed is, that, if Mr. Fennel has a 'Sugar CRM' system then having a situation where Mr. Fennel states ' . . . there is opportunity for the telemarketers to create their own spreadsheets.' defeats the purpose of paying for setup costs and having a CRM system in place.

I proposed to Mr. Fennel that the next time I do receive a call from his organisation I would initiate a three way conversation to his mobile for the purpose of giving him the opportunity to:-
• recognise and identify the persons voice, if he is able to do so, and,
• walk up and down the aisle of his company's desks to confirm that the call, is, or, is not, occurring at his location, at the time of the conversation.

Since having this discussion with Mr. Fennel, on the twentieth of July 2015, there have been no further telephone calls :-
• originating from (02) 9690 6600, and,
• presenting with the 'harassment' signature as stated above,
up until the point of writing this article.

References:-
www.salesgenetics.com.au
www.truelocal.com.au/business/sales-genetics/surry-hills
Mr. Fennel mobile 0414 143 763