This Bluebird shall be hung and quartered

In sales lingo, bluebirds are those opportunities that fly in the window with the salesperson not having to lift a finger. And in some cases, salespeople fumble them and kill their opportunity. The episode below, though, has my mouth agape. I have masked a few client and regional details.

So our market analysis shows a particular vendor could deliver a particular product at a client opportunity. So I convince the client to include them in the sourcing process. I call the sales person I have dealt with in past and have him introduce me to his colleagues in the client geography. It is a big, household name client, and the opportunity sounds like a good fit for them. They sign NDA, we provide them details.

Try to arrange next steps. The salesperson goes AWOL. Multiple emails, voice mails go unanswered. Could be on vacation, may have decided to pass on opportunity. But no response means my client will drop them soon.

So I reach out to the salesperson who I know and who made the first introduction to salvage the situation.

His response:

"I’m neither your messenger boy nor your coordinating body for requests processed by that region.. I’ve already informed you that the client request does not fall into my sphere of responsibility and I expect you to respect this fact.

A response is neither required nor desired."

Then he proceeds to send the client (not his as he has made clear - that of another region) a similar "leave me alone" note.

Now that is what I call "cruel and unusual" punishment to a bluebird.

Readers: If you were this salesperson's boss, how would you counsel him? If you were me, would you bother to invite this vendor to other deals?