I fully understand why business owners are skeptical of people like me who are trying to sell them a service. I see firsthand how many times my clients get e-mails, messages and calls from consultants and providers; sometimes they want to give you something for free and sometimes the offers are downright insulting.
Here’s an example of the latter. A client of mine received a call, asking for a donation to a foundation. My client (who was with her clients at the time) asked the caller to e-mail the information, however the caller tried to hard-sell the “urgency” of the donation as it was the last week to contribute to the foundation. Off the bat, that tells us that my client wasn’t on her original call list, rather my client was a last-ditch effort.
When the caller finally e-mailed my client the information she did three things wrong:
Spelled my client’s name wrong. No, it’s not a tricky name. In fact, it’s part of her e-mail address, so it only had to be typed in correctly once.
Spelled the business name wrong. Again, this doesn’t just imply a lack of effort, but it makes the caller appear as if money is the only priority no matter where or whom it comes from.
Used an e-mail which was sent to a previous potential donor. How do we know this? Well the caller failed to change out the business name, with my client’s business name. To make matters worse, the name left in the e-mail is a direct competitor of my client’s.
Here’s another example. A woman walked into my client’s office trying to sell video production services. She offered to create a free video for my client’s business. My client told the woman to e-mail me, her marketing director, all the information because she doesn’t make decisions regarding marketing without my input.
The woman e-mailed me. She also spelled the name of my client’s business wrong. She claimed to be a professional videographer and social media expert. I looked for links to her work. I found none. I looked for a website. Nothing. I looked for her social media pages. Again, no dice. I wrote her back, asking for work samples. Should I even have to ask a social media expert for links to her social media pages?
Turns out, she didn’t have any. So, I offered her a free membership to my client’s business (you know, since she can’t spell the name correctly I figured it might be helpful for her to immerse herself in the culture) so she could gain a deeper understanding of what my client’s business is all about, and capture that in her video. Crickets. She never wrote back. Guess she didn’t see the value in free.
This is why I’m not surprised when I message, call or e-mail a business owner and never hear from them. The unfortunate thing is, I only contact people after I do my research on them. I look at all the external marketing efforts I can find: websites, social media pages, online review, their advertising, and so on, if I can find them. I even pre-brainstorm ways in which I could honestly help them. Then I send a carefully crafted, one of a kind, personalized message.
My strategy is for you to discern which person trying to sell you a product or service seems to have your best interest at heart. Try and cut through the fakers and the pretenders and the ones who play the numbers game (100 of the same e-mail until someone responds.) Choose the one who not only claims to have experience in your industry, but the one who can provide proof. Not sure who, or what, might help make you successful? Give us a call. #victoryforbrands