Monday morning. I was in the middle of going through all the stuff that had slipped past SpamAssassin, looking for those proverbial needles in the haystack of spam, when the phone rang.

Mondays are prime time for telemarketers, most of whom probably quit their jobs in fear of their lives by Wednesdays. So I was fully prepared to give the caller a piece of my mind and promptly hang up and get back to my treasure hunt for "real email".

Before I could ask the caller what he was selling, it slowly dawned on me that this was a real, live prospect. They want video coverage of an "apostleship" that would be held at their church in April.

I'll confess that I'm not all that religious, and had no idea of what an "apostle ship" was. It could be a ship launched from a rocket-type launch pad or a sailing ship that would carry an apostle across the seas. But I did know that things had slowed down since the new year and I was ready for some new business.

As it turns out, this apostleship was a bishop being promoted to apostle. But even more importantly, from a business perspective, was the manner in which I handled the call, all but assuring that any other videographers they might call, would not get this job. You too can use these ideas to seal the deal with prospective customers who call your business.