Below is an email exchange between someone trying to sell me a service (online advertising) and myself. It started with an unsolicited email (aka spam) but sometimes I’m just intrigued to see whether I can get some sense out of people. In this case, not.

Original mail:

I work for ***, a leading broker of online advertising, dealing with thousands of independent webmasters like yourself, worldwide.

I’ve had a look at your site and think Openquery.com would be a good match for our client, whose target demographic is similar to your own. We’re working on their behalf to acquire advertising from sites such as yours.

We would be interested in purchasing advertising in the form of a text-based advert on your site. We pay you a fixed annual fee for our advertisements.

My initial reply:

Can you please describe that target demographic to me?
thanks

Their reply:

Great hearing from you today. Thank you for your response.
I have two pricing options for you, depending on the type of client you would be interested in working with.

Option 1: We can offer you 250USD for a client in the gaming industry; or
Option 2: We can offer you 200USD for a client in industries including mobile phones, travel or insurance.

Let us know your preferred industry. Next, we’ll complete a quick assessment of your site and then advise you of the best client fit. In the meantime we can answer any questions you might have.

My reply:

I already asked you a question in my previous reply, and your response did not address it. In the above you are trying to sell me something, and we’re by no means at that stage. To refresh your memory, you wrote:

>> I’ve had a look at your site and think Openquery.com would be a good
>> match for our client, whose target demographic is similar to your own.

And I asked:

> Can you please describe that target demographic to me?

Feel free to answer the question; it was your own statement I am referring to, and I do hope you are not making unfounded statements.
thanks

Their response:

I apologise for that. The target demographic for our client’s advert would typically be anyone who has access to the internet, and it would also depend on the type of client you would choose.(Option 1 or 2)

Let me know what you think.

My final reply:

I think that’s pathetic and useless.

“anyone with access to the Internet” has absolutely no reason to visit our site, as it’s highly specialised. Conclusion: you did not research your prospective client (me and my site) at all.
Go away.