As such, I get a fair few salesmen contacting us and behaving as if they ahve an absolute right to speak with me.

Why wouldn't they have an "absolute right to speak to you"? Are you so important and special that they shouldn't even dare talk to you?

If you manage a business then you're a decision maker. That means you have both a legal and moral duty to weigh up benefits for the business in an objective, unemotional manner.

Basically: You're the best person to speak to. Why wouldn't they speak to you? You don't get deals by talking to secretaries.

Furtunately I have reception staff, but don't appreciate the abuse they sometimes get when they pass on the message that we are not interested.

Trust me when I say I'm sure your reception abuse as much as they are abused.

Regardless, let's turn that on it's head: If I have a product, product X. Product X will improve your BPM by some degree. Let's say it'll cut your costs on an annual basis by ~5%. Or maybe I'm setting up meetings, and I've got connections with people who're quite literally your target customers, talking about multi-million dollar deals.

That brainless "We're not interested" I get from some secretary (or would get if I didn't know how to avoid secretaries) COSTS you business.

If I know my product is good. And I know it'll work for you. And I know it'll either make you money or save you money, then from my perspective all your secretary's doing is costing you money.

Why is it so hard for salespeople to understand that, if I want a product or service, I will go and research the options for myself?

Becuase you won't? Because time is limited? Because often salespeople work in environments where they need to train/teach the market?

At one point I was working for a company on one of the most leading edge developments in our space. Our customers had no clue what we could do or how we did it... How are they supposed to research that?

You might as well say "Why do they have ads on TV!? I can just research things on the internet!"

(Note: Your complaint here isn't with the salespeople btw, but their bosses. Salespeople don't need to understand whether or not you're going to research it. Your claim, spurious as it is, is that you would make the exact same amount of purchases with or without any prompting and such that Salespeople are unnescessary, the same business would be done with or without them... Well then, they don't understand that because you're wrong.)

If you go and look at a car, then arrange to go back for a test drive, does that mean you have to buy the car - that you are not entitled to decide to go and buy a different car, or to spend your money on a holiday instead? If you do so, what business is it of the original salesman why you decided not to buy the car from them?

You don't seem to be differentiating between a PERSONAL decison and a BUSINESS decision. Which makes me think you're working in small business. There's legal duties around business decisions, anytime I hear people making business decisons purely on emotion I just cringe, "You make decisions on what you feel like in this moment? Do you treat all directors duties that way?"

Regardless; The point is if you make a decision and can justify it, then you can have a discussion about it.

Using your, again spurious, example. If I show you a car and you decide to buy another car, then I should be able to ask you "Oh, what makes that better?"

If you can't answer that then you're not making a rational decision and you're definitely not doing businss right.

If you make a rational decision then you're able to debate the pros and cons of that decision. If you, like everyone else, are instead not making a rational decision, but instead scared of making a decision, scared of anything, and just looking for an easy "No."

Well then, you can see why salespeople disdain you.

A suprising number of salespeople appear to interpret what is of help to Their business as being of help to mine.

Again, you're conflating the employee with the business.

And again, if I can show you, categorically that what I offer will help you and you refuse to have a discussion around that or you run away from that discussion because you're scared to say yes. Well, you're clearly not operating a business rationally are you?