"We don't like to email people because they might be deceased, and no-one likes getting a letter for a colleague who's passed away. So we phone instead" ... so said a sales caller yesterday.
We're a small company, but in such wide ranging business areas that we have to buy everying from soap to web servers, and from organic cheddar cheese to highlighter pens with our logo printed on them. And this means we have a wide range of suppliers, many of whom only see sporadic business from us ... how long does a gross of hotel room emegency sewing kits last, after all? And these suppliers. when they've not see an order in a while, want us to remember them in case we need more product - they would prefer us to purchase from them and not from their competitor. So the "keeping in touch" call that says "I'm your rep ... can I tell you about a special deal / how is our product going?"
We're a small company, and these "keep up" calls always come at the worst possible moment. I'm training and can't take the call, Lisa has grabbed a block of text containing a calculation algorithm into a cut buffer and has to remember to paste it to a new place, and Chris and Sarah are offsite. So Lisa grabs the call, and explains to the rep who also called three months ago that we'll get in touch if we need supplies, we don't chop and change on a whim (giving us the nightmare of old stock to use up, new accounts to set up, etc), and that he's doing himself a dis-service by re-calling rather than emailing or posting a very occasional catalogue.
Lisa and I remember these people (and I
could name and shame some of the companies here!), but they promise to make a note, say they understand ... then make so MANY more calls in the following three months that by the time it comes around to reviewing our account again, they take a look at what their computer says and think "that can't be right ... surely they want to talk to
me as I'm an important supplier of [insert product here] and I have [insert special offer] at the moment".
But I was left open mouthed to be told that the guy yesterday was calling rather than emailing in case the person he had on his lists was deceased. "No - (s)he's very well thank you - but if the concern of emailing someone who's no longer with us is a serious concern, please switch to sending any emails to our "info@" email address ...".
But I expect I'll go through a similar conversation with the same company in 3 months time.
Picture - from our "
around Melksham" series.
(written 2010-01-26, updated 2010-01-27)
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
G502 - Well House Consultants - Business Practice [15] 90 to 10 or 80 to 20 rule - (2004-08-15)
[27] Sales technique - (2004-08-25)
[68] Get the strategy worked out and the tactics just fall into place. - (2004-09-30)
[77] Telephone systems - (2004-10-07)
[88] Getting the right level of trainer - (2004-10-14)
[95] Five red flags - (2004-10-21)
[108] A typical morning - (2004-11-03)
[121] Fair and Simple - (2004-11-17)
[125] Staff theft - (2004-11-21)
[129] Trawling our site to prevent student copying - (2004-11-24)
[137] Certification schemes - (2004-12-02)
[157] Automatic service upgrades - (2004-12-19)
[180] Skunk works - (2005-01-17)
[188] Pink elephant and appreciation - (2005-01-24)
[200] Tips for the top - (2005-02-03)
[211] Look after your staff and they'll look after you. AOL. - (2005-02-12)
[217] Use of time - (2005-02-16)
[226] Growing our systems - (2005-02-24)
[297] A reminder that the customer is King - (2005-05-01)
[321] Sales - the alternative close - (2005-05-23)
[399] simplicity hides real size - (2005-07-31)
[438] Fair system for travel and accommodation expenses - (2005-09-07)
[457] Do the work and take the risk - a PHP contract to avoid - (2005-10-06)
[467] Tell them three times - (2005-10-17)
[487] On line course booking - credit card protection - (2005-11-06)
[491] Being atypical is typical - (2005-11-10)
[536] Cancellations and penalties - (2005-12-21)
[626] Not just a pretty face to answer the phone. - (2006-02-26)
[652] Morning Post - (2006-03-20)
[664] Ruby course - oops - it's not happening - (2006-04-01)
[766] Discounts and approved supplier lists - (2006-06-17)
[808] Sales call - (2006-07-19)
[849] Staff Meeting - (2006-08-30)
[869] UNABLE TO ATTEND - (2006-09-16)
[883] Age discrimination law - (2006-10-01)
[906] A commitment we won't be making - (2006-10-27)
[1057] Selling by phone and Skype - our policy - (2007-01-30)
[1084] Writing terms and conditions for conferences and other events - (2007-02-17)
[1133] B-2-B Networking, 20th April. Useful for YOUR business? - (2007-04-03)
[1157] Speed Networking - a great evening and how we arranged it - (2007-04-21)
[1165] Extended Credit request - train in June and be paid in September - (2007-04-27)
[1243] Heavy duty hole punch - (2007-06-24)
[1260] An inspirational business talk from one of our prospective MPs - (2007-07-06)
[1263] 0800 043 8225 - a new phone number for Well House - (2007-07-10)
[1319] Customer feedback - lifeblood of a business - (2007-08-25)
[1342] Google, wwmdirectory, Freshwater, ATP - new scam? - (2007-09-09)
[1373] New Month, New Quarter, New Laws - (2007-10-01)
[1394] Business to Business Networking - North and West Wilts / Melksham - (2007-10-17)
[1453] What makes our courses special? - (2007-12-02)
[1485] Copyright and theft of images, bandwidth and members. - (2007-12-26)
[1626] Early May - a short chance to regroup and improve - (2008-05-01)
[1713] Ways to accept credit cards - or not! - (2008-07-19)
[1855] Volunteer v Employee - a skewed balance? (FSB) - (2008-10-25)
[1913] Alastair Darling helps make paperwork and confusion - (2008-11-30)
[2044] Please Trouble me - (2009-02-16)
[2122] Commission Creep - (2009-04-08)
[2126] Weeding out old phone numbers - (2009-04-11)
[2161] Get it right ... if it goes wrong, it takes so much effort to sort out! - (2009-05-08)
[2187] Are we IITT (Institute of IT Training) members? - (2009-05-17)
[2190] How you are (re)presented at an exhibition - (2009-05-19)
[2283] Everyone is in the customer relations business - (2009-07-12)
[2331] Certification Revisted - Lua - (2009-08-09)
[2465] Melksham Town - asleep or awake? - (2009-10-21)
[2788] Cost of Sales - (2010-06-01)
[2821] Chancellor George Osborne inspires Perl Program - (2010-06-22)
[2936] The service that customers should receive - (2010-08-27)
[2966] Cheap Country Hotel in Melksham, Wiltshire? - (2010-09-21)
[3073] Customer Service - the boundary - (2010-11-27)
[3157] A new monopoly on the ferry to Northern Ireland - (2011-02-04)
[3333] Honesty and a friendly welcome goes a long way - (2011-06-25)
[3506] Cold call contacts - preference services and turning off spam sales approaches - (2011-11-03)
[3613] Keeping Business Local. But is that realistic? - (2012-02-13)
[3665] Will will smile? - (2012-03-22)
[3750] Matching opening hours to when customers can come in and buy - (2012-06-04)
[3755] Cruising on the Mersey Ferry? - (2012-06-07)
[4107] Snog, Marry, Avoid - (2013-05-31)
[4293] Certification - (2014-09-15)
[4415] Buffet review - taking the price into account - (2015-02-05)
[4520] No cold sales calls please - but delighted to hear from others! - (2015-09-29)
Some other Articles
East of Melksham - Building Work StartsRuby - is_a? v instance_of? - what is the difference?Go Programming Language and Courses?Telling Apache web servers apart / notes for the non-technicalAn excuse for making a sales callDoes my course include breakfast, lunch, dinner and a hotel room?Http protocol - what does a web server sendTwelve skills / knowledges needed for the design of a web siteMelksham Area - your community view is soughtFood and drink launch