I wish everyone in advertising understood 'target market'

In the last two weeks, I have been 'accosted' in my store by four - count 'em - four newspaper advertising salespersons. I say accosted because that's how they made me feel. And it seems they all recently attended a class on "Don't Take 'NO' for an Answer!"

These are all papers (or almost all; I actually never heard of one of them before) that you would know if you live in the area - a daily, two weeklies and a monthly publication. None called for an appointment.

I was nice. I didn't ask their rates because the cost is irrelevant (of course, if it was free to advertise in their papers, I'd be in every issue of all of them). After their initial "pitch," I explained that my target market was pregnant women. I told them that I focus my marketing and my advertising on that target.

I don't believe any of them understood the concept. It seemed all they heard was "No, I'm not interested." Each one said something like, "Well, pregnant women read our paper." I explained that the shotgun approach just didn't work for me. They repeated, "Well, pregnant women read our paper."

They just didn't get it. One explained that his "neighborhood" paper went to young families. Another asked if I would be interested in their Holiday Gift Guide.

None seemed interested in me, my business or wanting to know more about target marketing. It was obvious I was a hash mark on their daily marketing report.

How do you handle situations like this?