During college I supported myself as a waiter at the Tex-Mex restaurant chain Chi-Chi’s. I recognize how challenging it is to work in food service so, nearly 25 years later, I still generously tip when dining out.
I embrace the same view when receiving a sales inquiry. This is my chosen profession. I appreciate the fortitude required to reach out to a prospect and initiate dialogue.
As long as the sales rep has conducted an appropriate level of due diligence on me and Strategic Communications Group (Strategic), I give them a listen. (It is important to note I have little patience for the “smile and dial” methodology employed by some organizations when it comes to sales.)
This is why I am disappointed when I receive this type of response from a new business prospect:
Hi Marc, can you please unsubscribe me from future mailings and put me on your do not call list?
It is true this marketer’s message is polite and professional. And each person absolutely has the right to make this type of request.
Yet, this person’s job is to drive demand for her organization – lead generation, account based marketing programs and sales enablement.
How does she think her company’s sales reps identify new business? How should the thousands of contacts in her marketing automation and CRM databases react to her company’s Emails?
The inherent nature of B2B sales is intrusive. Yet, when a rep is sincere, diligent, professional and best practices oriented, marketers should consider “tipping” by investing a few minutes of their time.
I have included below a brief clip from the movie Boiler Room I thought you’d enjoy.