I seem to be doing a lot of these Fail blogs, but I actually find them very useful to know what not to do as well as what you should be doing.
I may be a kinesthetic learner, who likes to learn through hands-on experience, but I also learn from other’s experiences – their successes and failures.
Here’s a perfect example of where they are trying to do it right…yet FAIL no matter how easy I make it for them.
I was contacted in early April by a web outsourcing company (it’s amazing how many out there are actually actively cold calling for work) by my contact Bob*.
He told me a bit about his business, the services, they offer, where they are located, etc. He then asked if he had my correct email address and listed it off quickly. Because of his accent I couldn’t quite tell if he had it right but let it be since I didn’t really want to be cold called.
A month later, he followed up in May. I mentioned that I had never received the email and asked if he had my email address correct. He sort of shrugged it off, repeated their list of services and said he was sending me another email.
Today, I received a third call. Again telling him I hadn’t received the email. I’m not actually interested in these services (I prefer to work with people I have met, are local or who I have a connection with in some way, a referral etc – as do many of your clients) but I like to scope out what other companies are doing.
It turns out, he had my email incorrect. How many times did he say he was sending me an email? If he had just waited to see if I received it, or asked to check if the email address he was using was correct (I even point blank asked if he had my correct email) he may have gotten somewhere. He was great on staying on top of calls (to my annoyance) but failed to actually put any of it to use.
Why make the effort if you aren’t going to do it right?
*Name changed
