First off, my apologies to all my sales friends out there, and also to the awesome sales people who truly understand relationship building. This post is not aimed at them.
I can’t pinpoint when it all started to go downhill, but I assume that Linked, social media, and the fact we all have websites has made it easier to get in touch. There is also more information out there on potential prospects then there has ever been. And therein lies the problem. With more info at sales peoples’ disposal (for the sake of this post, I will loop you all in together), their selling habits have not changed.
They are aggressive on first touch point. They know very little about you or the company you represent. They throw out numbers that have little true meaning. Or they offer a client roster that is irrelevant to your business, industry, or department. And they over-confidently ask for budget or the sale way too early.
So let’s get started on what annoys us – your potential prospects – the most.
Change the *!c%en Font!
Through discussions and informal polls of what irks us as digital marketers and Ecommerce professionals the most, none is further up the list than the template email. Here is what it looks like. “Hi Johnny…” which is followed up by a 2,000 word novel that borders on a diatribe throwing out some industry terms like ROI, SEO, SEM, and social commerce. There are a few flags as to why we know this happens (so listen up, and fix this, pretty please).
- The “Hi Johnny” font and font size are completely different than the text that follows. (Sarcasm coming). Well done on the copy and paste.
- You have forgotten to insert the current company I am working at, so for instance, instead of writing in “Bentley Leathers,” it reads “insert company name.” Or possibly worse, you call us by the wrong name (damn CRM system) or insert the wrong company name.
- Your sign off name is a completely different font than all the text above.
I understand. You are likely using a marketing automation tool to get this all done. But if you can’t make the effort to personalize the experience, then why should we take the time to respond?
