Throughout the course of any given day I will receive email for a bunch of stuff I don't want. Now I'm not talking about all the offers for enlargement, weight loss, stamina and all that stuff that only a moron would buy, I'm talking about invitations to conferences, special offers for hotels, updates to software that I don't actually own anyway, and all the other crap but falls just to the right side of 'polite' spam. But it is still spam. All of our in boxes are stuffed and we spend so much time every day simply clicking on the delete button.
This blog however, is not to complain about these people. It's never going to stop, and at least the reputable ones offer the facility to unsubscribe. This blog is inspired by a conversation that I just had. I called to introduce my company and the very nice man told me that they don't ever buy merchandise but that I was welcome to send him an email.
Now I've talked about this before - people that ask us to send in catalogues when they tell us that they don't buy. Well this is no less offensive to me. You see this very nice man was under the impression that he was letting me down easy, and of course email is free, so there's no real damage done right?
WRONG!
Let's look at all of the negative things to come out from this:
- I have to take time out of my day to write an email that is not likely to ever even get opened, let alone read.
- The client will receive an email that he will not read and will almost instantly dismiss as another piece of junk.
- My database will log communication with a potential customer which will come to nothing, hence I have to make notes to that effect so that neither I, or any of my colleagues will waste any of their time on calling this company.
- The client's nose is put out of joint ever so slightly when an email comes in that he does not want to read, thus interrupting his day, his workflow and his thought process.
- I feel a sense of resentment towards said client for showing no respect for my time and a complete lack of ability to simply say thanks but no thanks
Let's take a look at the positives
At least the email was not unsolicited.
Hardly an even balance is there? Why are we so afraid to just say no? Thanks but we don't buy merchandise. Listen, the worst thing that could happen is that any skilled salesman might start asking some good questions that cause you to think about your marketing strategy and perhaps even improve upon it. Oh no! How awful - you might actually benefit from the call after all!
Look, if, when you get a sales call, you can honestly say that you've considered all of your options and are simply not interested, then just say so, and go on about your day. Any professional sales person will not take it personally and will, like you, move on. Anyone less than professional will be delighted to send you that all important email. What a shame.
Feel free to share this with your colleagues, associates and clients - but only if they've asked you to do so!
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