After spending about 18 years in marketing, communications and sales departments in everything from small nonprofits to Fortune 100 corporations, there aren’t many sales and marketing approaches, techniques, systems or plans with which I haven’t had at least tangential experience. I mention that as context for the criticisms that follow, because I’ve made errors aplenty and speak with that experience in mind.
Bottom line: most online sales approaches are flawed beyond repair and should be abandoned immediately or sooner. In this post I’m going to focus on a few of the daily epic fails I witness in B2B.
First on that list: Email marketing. Each and every day a dozen or more solicitations slip through my junk filter and choke my inbox. I read at least the opening lines of all of them because I’m curious to see if someone has come up with anything approaching an effective pitch. Here are a few actual examples:
“Dear Mr. DiSalvo, over the course of the last few weeks you have received several emails from me regarding my firm’s client management software…”
“David, I’d really like to sit down with you over lunch and discuss our newly released capture planning program…”
“You’re a busy professional, and I don’t want to waste your time, so let’s get right to the point: our database management system is unlike any you’ve used before…”
Of the many things that could be said about those openers, there’s one major problem with all of them – namely, I didn’t ask for information of any sort about any of these offerings. Cold emailing me simply because I subscribe to business magazines or because my email address shows up on conference registration lists is a bad idea. You don’t know what problems I’m facing in my organization, and assuming that you can throw enough wet linguini at me in hopes that a little will stick just ticks me off.
The only one of the examples above that I might evaluate further is the second, in which I’m asked to discuss the product with the representative. But the problem is that this person is assuming that the solution he’s offering is the one I need to hear about. Listen up: never approach a potential client with a solution in your hand. Ever. Your job is to find out what issues I’m facing and then introduce possible solutions.
Further, why are you emailing me? Are you trying to demonstrate just how lazy you are, as if that’s going to inspire me to spend an hour with you? Hear this: nothing comes across as more flaccid than cold-call emails. All you’re showing is that you’re uncreative, which leads me to think you’re not someone I want to do business with. If you really want to talk to me, then do your job and sleuth a mutual point-of-contact. Figure out who knows who and draw a line through the dots until you reach me. Then call me and we can figure out if meeting is worth both of our time.
The first and third examples above are terminal fails and it’s hard to believe someone was paid to write them. Patronizing me with references to how busy I am simply shows that you have zero ideas worth listening to. If you know how busy I am, then why are you taking up my time with unsolicited emails? And yes, I know you’ve pelted me with “several emails,” and the fact that I haven’t responded to any of them should be evidence enough that I’m not interested. And yet, you send me another stating that all of your attempts have hit the rocks? Yes, I know – I’m the one who kicked them there.
Of course, what we know is that not a single one of those emails was written with me or any particular person in mind. They’re targeted to a list of recipients dangling from the same vertical tree. And that fact alone should be enough to convince anyone who actually wants to sell a business service or product not to hit send. Just don’t do it. Pretending to address me personally when you’re actually boilerplating a pitch is worse than incompetent, it’s insulting.
Another bad idea: Webinars with entanglements. If you invite me to a webinar on a topic that may interest me, fine. At least you’re offering something of potential value for my time. But if I choose to accept your invitation, know that I am trading my time for your message. Period. Beyond that, our relationship will only continue if I find value in what you’re offering and want to know more. How will you know if I’m interested? Simple – I’ll tell you.
If I do not, and you approach me once as a follow-up, I’ll politely let you know whether or not I intend to inquire further. If my response is that I don’t intend to do so, and you persist in contacting me over and over anyway in hopes that I’ll change my mind, you’ve made a mistake. Now, not only am I not going to pursue your offering, but I am going to make sure everyone I work with avoids your webinars. You’ve just catalyzed anti-marketing, and unfortunately for you it’s nearly impossible to outrun word-of-mouth.
An equally bad idea is sending me an email with a link to a website. Unless I know you, or have done business with you already, I’m not going to click on a link no matter how eloquent your pitch. If the information is worth seeing, then format it upfront and don’t make me dig for it. Besides, I have no interest in providing you with more information about me, my company, or anything else you’re collecting when I click through the link. Populating your capture database is not my job. Same goes for attachments.
I’ll return to this topic in future posts, and will end this one with a closing thought: Unless you’ve done the requisite work to find out who I am, what I do, and what my needs are—in other words, targeted your pitch based on credible knowledge—then don’t contact me. It’s really that simple. Generic marketing is dead. Resurrecting it in poorly aimed emails and other scattershot solicitations will get you nowhere, so don’t waste your time and resources. If you do anyway, you might just end up in an article like this one.
Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2012/01/20/sales-tactics-you-should-never-use-part-one/
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