Contacting businesses via E-mail.

[tec0]

This is probably the biggest fail if there ever was one. Countless businesses advertise online and have a webpage. Others just use advertising pages and leave a phone number and e-mail address behind.

So what to do?

I myself have tried to contact businesses trough there e-mail but had close to zero success with about 90% of them. Now this can be, because I use a free e-mail account. Or it can be, because they wish not to do business with a free e-mail account.

When I was still with Vodacom I used to use their e-mail account once or twice and I end up being spammed. Thus the customer has a choice, use a legitimate account and get spammed. Use a free account with reasonable protection “this include dumping the account if spammed”.

So in your opinion if someone send you an e-mail with details about the product do you as the business ignore the mail or do you as a business answer the mail?

Yes the other side of the coin is true some will only request some info and never talk to you again. That said what is the point of giving out an e-mail in the first place? Was it to get exposure and build up a client base or just to look professional and dump all e-mails because it was just too much work?

How much is your business losing if e-mails don’t get answered by your staff?

As a business you are spending the money on Data and hosting and you spend the money on staff to give you the edge and make you stand out. So if your staff is failing to give feedback, why spend the money?

Just a thought.

[Blurock]

We are back at the cold calling debate again!

Unsolicited direct advertising has become a total waste of time and has a success rate of less than 1.8% according to market analysts. Just consider your own view. Do you open and read all the pamphlets and junk mail in your post box? Do you read all the junk e-mails you receive? We even change channels when TV ads are aired.

Even the insurance and time share industries have realised that this is not working and have changed their tactics. Cold calling does have a place in your marketing portfolio, but it has to be planned well and executed with care. Gone are the days of sending out 1000 pamphlets and hoping for the best. A shotgun approach is unlikely to work. You may also be marketing to the wrong audience, which is a waste of money.

A better approach may be to identify your target market, find out who the decision makers are and then make plans to meet them directly. Do you have any clients that can introduce you or put in a good word? Get past the gatekeeper. The receptionist or the boss's secretary are important people that can open doors for you.

There are various ways of selling directly and I am sure The Forum members will come up with a great number of techniques. One thing to remember; why should the customer buy from you? Don't be a "me too" business, but differentiate yourself on Price, Quality or Service.

[adrianh]

@tec0 - I know exactly what you mean. I sent a mail to an international company asking to be directed to their local distributor...no response. It seems that a lot of companies either ignore their "generic" email address or they set their spam filters so tight that legitimate queries are also ignored. On the other hand, some companies respond within the hour. But I agree, if you are going to post the email address, then you should at least monitor it and respond to queries.

[Citizen X]

I'm not entirely sure if it was Blurock who remarked that one wouldn't read the yellow pages for fun? It is only fairly recently that I'm using Outlook and a .co.za domain. I was actually very happy to use gmail. With their new look however it's becoming increasingly difficult to use, slow, sluggish etc. I suppose this is at the heart of need satisfaction. If one has a need for a product or service one is more predisposed to looking at the advert or reading that email..

[Dave A]

How much is your business losing if e-mails don’t get answered by your staff?

As a business you are spending the money on Data and hosting and you spend the money on staff to give you the edge and make you stand out. So if your staff is failing to give feedback, why spend the money?

I'd ordinarily say "why are you keeping the staff", but when it comes to a lot of these online supplier finds, the person ignoring you is the owner.

Actually I'm not complaining. The great thing about the low service levels typical in South Africa at the moment is most often you just need to provide good service to get the business.

On the direct marketing side of this discussion:

Unsolicited direct advertising has become a total waste of time and has a success rate of less than 1.8% according to market analysts.

If the costs are low enough to pump out those cold approaches, that 1.8% success rate becomes a perfectly viable return.

[tec0]

Think of the following, a person owns a business. They put out advertisement and people respond to the advertisement but they don’t get feedback from the business. The customer will just simply ignore your business in the future. So basically the business owner just shot themselves in the foot.

For example I wanted a small inexpensive part. But I wanted quantity! So now I will go someplace else. So not only did they lose me as a customer they lost the chance of repeat business.

Was it worth the time and money to setup a domain and internet account along with an e-mail account? Nope... sadly not...

[Blurock]

Actually I'm not complaining. The great thing about the low service levels typical in South Africa at the moment is most often you just need to provide good service to get the business.

Agreed, this is why South Africa is the land of opportunity. In the land of the blind, One Eye is king!

On the direct marketing side of this discussion: If the costs are low enough to pump out those cold approaches, that 1.8% success rate becomes a perfectly viable return.

As long as it does not take you 1000 personal calls to get 18 replies. We all know that time is money and we could apply ourselves more productively than paging through the Yellow Pages. If it is an automated type of marketing, not taking much of your time it may be OK.

[tec0]

I find it interesting that companies actually pay for the facilities just so that it doesn’t get used? Also consider the possibility that the business may end up with a bad public image. Incompetence does come to mind.

I know that a business will get a lot of phone calls of people looking for stuff and 7 out of 10 people will go and buy the item requested. Now e-mail works the same way it just allow for more information kind of like a fax did.

My thoughts remains if you have no intention to reply to an e-mail then perhaps an automated response would be better than nothing?

[Just Gone]

My thoughts remains if you have no intention to reply to an e-mail then perhaps an automated response would be better than nothing?

Why ? I never asked for the e mail in the first place! I get up to 20 spam e mails a day from suppliers mainly in China "selecting my company to sell their product" - I never asked for the spam e mail so why the heck should I reply - I BLOCK sender and delete !

[tec0]

Why ? I never asked for the e mail in the first place! I get up to 20 spam e mails a day from suppliers mainly in China "selecting my company to sell their product" - I never asked for the spam e mail so why the heck should I reply - I BLOCK sender and delete !

I would imagine that an e-mail from a customer and spam is not the same thing?

[Blurock]

Why ? I never asked for the e mail in the first place! I get up to 20 spam e mails a day from suppliers mainly in China "selecting my company to sell their product" - I never asked for the spam e mail so why the heck should I reply - I BLOCK sender and delete !

Spam must be the biggest irritation in a business. That is why marketers have to be very careful of how they approach a customer. Once branded as a spammer, I will NEVER buy from you.

[wynn]

have you considered using

http://www.phplist.com/

Which is a free source email campaign manager

Just make sure that you don't use a domain that is crucial to you or a host that has your crucial hosting as you may be closed down by the server police.
Register as eg. my mail1 so that if you get closed down you just move to my mail2 etc.

[tec0]

Spam blocking is an art as of late but most companies will ban free accounts regardless if the account is legitimate or not. That said even if you use a Vodacom e-mail address or that of MTN it also get blocked. Now why that is I don’t know.

[Dave A]

Spam blocking is an art as of late but most companies will ban free accounts regardless if the account is legitimate or not. That said even if you use a Vodacom e-mail address or that of MTN it also get blocked. Now why that is I don’t know.

To get an idea of the factors, take a look at what Spamassassin tests.

[wynn]

I got my first viagra spam in a long time today??