welcome to my world

May 28, 2014

spam and more junkSee that photo right there on the left? That’s what I found this morning upon looking at my email program. Crazy, yah? Welcome to my world. Besides spam, there’s something else I REALLY hate that pertains to email…

We get a ton of “sales” email messages besides the standard spam. Typically, they end with something like, “Is there a time that works for you today or tomorrow for a quick call?

I always respond when it’s obvious the sender has actually looked at our website and took time to learn just a little bit about our business. (This isn’t always the case — we’ve had requests from speakers who’ve been been in the business less than a year offering to provide speech training for a fee — and others asking if WE would like to book THEM as a speaker.) It’s my opinion that when any person/vendor/company has invested time to do a bit of research before contacting our office they have earned the right to be acknowledged. That’s just good business practice. If theirs is a product or service that might be of interest in the future (i.e. we don’t have time for a new project right now), I tell them that. And then…

NOTHING! …OR everything!

If I get no response within a week, I delete the email and all information and am no longer interested in whatever it is they have to offer. Just because I’m not committing to a call RIGHT NOW doesn’t mean that I’ll never ever want the offered product or service. If I contact an organization and they indicate our offering isn’t in their budget right now or the timing just isn’t right, do you think I would simply make a big red “X” and ignore them? That would be… RUDE.

Here are my 3 rules for sales contacts made via email:

  1. If I take time to REPLY to YOUR sales message, I deserve a response. Reply to me. Thank me for my kind acknowledgement. (I’ll remember if you do reply and I’ll remember if you don’t. If you respond, I’m likely to pass your information to others even if what you offer isn’t of interest to me.)
  2. Don’t pressure me it I’ve already told you “not now.” (If I’ve told you we don’t have the manpower to take on another project, you can offer it to me for FREE and I’ll still decline.) Wait at least 60 days and try me again.
  3. Don’t contact me every other day or even once a week. And for crying out loud… don’t continue to discount your cost for “TODAY ONLY” every single time you contact me. If you’re that desperate for my business, how good could your product or service be anyway?

Are your rules the same? Similar? If you are involved in sales — or email marketing — do you follow the rules above?