Don't Do This

I'm a trainer. I work for Verizon, not the wireless company, but the land-line side of the business. In addition to training, I also deal a little bit in marketing; not any specific product, but marketing from the standpoint that as a trainer, I am always trying to sell my concepts to the people I am training. I guess that means that I also am in sales (aren't we all?). Because of this, I read a lot about sales techniques.

One newsletter that I read on a regular basis is this guy. After 23 years of writing his newsletter, he probably knows a little bit about sales. What I really like are the stories he shares in his newsletter. Normally, they start out with something like, "I received this phone call the other day, and the guy starts off by saying....." As I said, I like the story approach, but always thought they were a little too perfect to be real. Not that it changes the point of the story, but I used to think there is no way that someone would do that. That is until I received this e-mail (I've removed the names of the business to protect them):

Hi, Kevin.
I'm curious to see if you've had a moment to review the *****
video and poster as a possible theme for an upcoming
meeting or to further motivate and inspire your team at Verizon Wireless?

When you have a moment, please let me know if I can help
with ideas to create a ***** culture with your team. Thanks.

Best regards,
(Name Removed)

What's interesting here is that I have never heard from this person before so the name in my inbox was unknown to me, but I opened it anyway. The person obviously knew that I had contacted ***** company in the past, but in no way did they take the time to find out why I contacted the company; they just assumed that I requested information. I did not. Also, the sales rep must be located in an area where Verizon is not the local telephone company. How do I know this? Because they referred to my 'team at Verizon Wireless". Everyone across the country has heard of Verizon Wireless, but in my travels, I have come to find out that people don't know of Verizon as a Plain Old Telephone company because their local phone company is not Verizon. Normally this would not be a big deal, everyone makes mistakes, but this person made some assumptions in this situation, and didn't take the time to know me as a potential customer.

My guess is that this sales rep took over for someone who moved on to a new position, and went through all their old contacts and sent out e-mails hoping that someone would bite on the offer. As a new sales person, don't do this. You run the risk of turning that person away for good, and even worse, they may post your e-mail to their blog for all the world to see.

E-mail is a great contact tool and once you establish contact with someone it's great to use it to stay in touch, but do yourself a favor, when making initial contact with a new prospect pick up the phone and talk to them live. It will make all the difference in the world.