I can only echo the first comment. Sales people certainly don't deserve any respect if they are emailing people out of the blue all of the time.<p>In the article itself, it mentions that a "no I'm not interested" reply will just lead to them following up with a host of benefits - so why would I bother replying in the first place? If I were to say I'm not interested, I would mean it.
Its easy to see this as a personal issue - I am tired of spam, I don't want to be bothered by salespeople.<p>But the article is a suggestion for a corporate response. The issues change. A responsible relationship with potential business partners becomes more important than satisfying personal whims about what is spam and what amounts to too many sales attempts.
"Secondly, salespeople deserve respect and deserve a response."<p>If their emails are unsolicited, then no, they don't deserve anything, since I can't differentiate their emails from spam.