Not sure how to respond!

I received this email today and I am not sure how to respond.

"I was reading about your company in the 'Executive' magazine with a great deal
of interest. I have recently moved back to Inverness (my home town) after many
years living in Southern Africa and I was exploring the idea of opening a kind
of 'boot camp' for the many people who seem to be overweight in the U.K.

This would consist initially of educational lectures by selected dieticians, a
strict healthy diet combined with a rigorous training and exercise programme
devised by people like myself who are fully qualified fitness instructors. A
typical day for example would start with a 4 kilometre run followed by a
breakfast, a short rest before a rigorous bout of resistance exercises working
with free weights in the gym. The rest of the day would consist of light
exercise and educational programmes consisting of the benefits of eating earth
food and the detrimental effects of manipulation by selected media.
As you are no doubt aware, according to the Scotsman's article on the
25thOctober, Scotland faces a diabetes timebomb with one in ten Scots expected
to suffer from the disease by 2030.
The condition is increasing faster than anywhere else in the UK and experts
blame the nation's endemic obesity.

The camp I have in mind will not be easy for most people ....in fact it will be
painful but failure to act now means a bleak future of spiralling NHS costs and
worsening public health. Across the UK as a whole, diabetes is calculated to
cost the NHS £1m each hour.
I fully understand your commitment to your chosen industry in as much that you
have seen an opening in the market place for the majority who know no better
than to seek to indulge in mass consumerism and hedonism with little regard for
themselves, other people or their environment.

I would be extremely grateful to you for your thoughts on this matter.

Kind Regards

N Bailey"

I sent it through to a friend for her feedback. She suggested that I just file it in the recycling bin. Our chocolate is high quality without added fats, additives or preservatives and is gluten free.

Should I respond to this, and if so - how?

Oh, and keep it clean please! :-)

That's quite bizarre!!

I have to say.. everything in me would be screaming "respond.. respond.. respond" and I would probably draft an e-mail that would figuratively rip the recipient to shreds......

BUT.. my draft e-mail would be swiftly deleted without hitting send.. I'd then move on and forget it.. After all.. it is probably only you who would be getting all wound up and your response would almost certainly fall on deaf ears.

If, however, they send you any more like this then... take no prisoners!!!

Yes respond, I would thank them for their interest and go along the lines of as they have looked into your products and have seen this is a 'high quality without added fats, additives or preservatives and is gluten free' you feel this would be an ideal opportunity for them to offer THEIR customers a healthier alternative to chocolate. Maybe they would like to consider some sort of affiliation as this would obviously benefit the health of their target audience.Make sure you thank them for identifying you as a qualkity supplier etc..

You get the jist of it

Kev

What a strange email.

Is he (she) trying to raise finance, publicise the project, or reduce you to guilt-ridden tears?

Do you have an email folder labelled "Idiot"? That's where it should be filed !!

I've just realised - the Scottish obesity epidemic is all my fault!!!!!!!!

Oh, how will I sleep tonight!

Right . . . So some muppet thinks that they can wing it back to the UK, fix the entire UK health situation by making them attend boot camps which oddly and conveniently they just happen to run and stand to make a profit from. I think I have the measure of it.

I'm 6ft 4ins. I'm around 19 stone. According to the 'official figures' on my doctors wall chart (Who incidentaly I haven't seen since I moved here 7 years ago but had to attend a 'well man clinic with when we signed to his practice) I am morbidly obese.

Strange then how when I was working for the Police (during this time) I was then expected to carry an extra 1 1/2 stone of body armour, assorted weaponery and paperwork and still outrun the local youths. When I told my learned doctor this he said "Ah well that's OK then".

I very much like the idea Kevin Arrow had - use them to promote your healthy chocolate.

Mr Arrow strikes again, his idea is genius with a capital G

If you do respond, here is what it should be.

Thank you for your kind words and your order for £1m of our fantastic product, we are more than happy to accept your endorsement for our products and will be putting it out to the Scottish press.

Or you could just ignore it go to sleep and forget it ever happened.

I decided not to respond to it at the moment. I will wait and see if they contact me again and deal with it from there. It amazes me how people feel they can say things because you are a business without any thought at all!!!!!

Thank you for your thoughts. I definitely think the idea of having an idiot folder for emails is a fantastic one.

Hi Lee,

If it's a choice between wasting time responding to a very odd looking email and working on making your wonderful chocolate...
...Ignore the email and make the wonderful chocolate. Especially if you're bringing some with you on Friday!

Allan

some people have time on their hands. Do you?

Odd way of asking for discounts on products for his customers!

Lee

I've had a brainwave, give me his e-mail address and I'll pitch to him for the delivery of his £1 million worth of chocolate, he can then get his 'fatties' to unload the lorries by hand as part of his most excellent fitness regime, what do you think?

rgds

Phil

i would get back to him and say duh! its chocolate stoopid. eat it and your going die. the whole we are healthy bit is to make our over weight clients feel beeter about their next small truck load of orders. we do not want them to start running and feeling better. in fact the more obese the country becomes the better business is for our company der brain.

i have just found a vacancy for you in saffa, wild lion tooth surgeon, no experience required.

Love it!

I bet your chocolate tastes great deepfried