There’s an old adage that says ‘people want to buy, they don’t want to be sold to.’
This has been no more evident than since we’ve been back in the office after the Christmas break.
We don’t know about you but we’ve been getting a glut of LinkedIn requests over the last two or three weeks with biographies that are similar to these:
‘Is your accountant doing their best for you and your money? Talk to me because I can save you tax and safeguard your future’
‘I can help you grow your business to unprecedented levels, call me today to find out how’
‘I’m a business coach who’s helped thousands of businesses to achieve record profits’
Fair, people can say what they like about themselves, but as soon as you accept the request (we know, that’s another story), the message comes, almost literally within minutes…
__________________________________________________________________
Hey!
Do you want to end 2019 with record profits/paying less tax/phenomenal business growth? Take a look at this webinar I made just for you and contact me today!
Best,
[insert name here]
Sometimes they’ll put a smiley face emoji at the end to let us know they’re fun guys.
__________________________________________________________________
And then a few days later, the next one arrives, and they’re all the same…
‘I hope you had a chance to look at the webinar I made for you, let me know you’re availability over the next week or so and we’ll schedule a video call so I can tell you how I can help your business’ or worse, they will actually give you a date and time they’re available.
Is it bad that for every one of these we get, we delete the message then delete the connection?
Is this genuinely how people think it’s the best way to get business? To copy and paste the same tired, meaningless garbage, send it out to literally everyone and see who bites?
Are we being a bit precious? Is this how it’s always been but we’ve just not noticed?
How Do You Reach Customers Without Coming Across As An Annoying Pest?
It’s also fair to say that as SMEs, we all want to build our customer base and the ‘old’ way of doing things was to throw as much crap at the wall and see how much sticks. Before the internet, it was cold calls and marketing leaflets. It was cost inefficient and time inefficient and there were very few ways to accurately measure metrics or ROI.
Then, as now, cold calls were given very short shrift and marketing leaflets went straight in the recycle bin.
There’s no difference between the LinkedIn spam we’re getting every day and the calls we get asking about the recent accident we had. It’s a ‘no’ from us, but thanks for wasting our time and your own.
As a recruitment company, our business development plan is twofold – one reactive and one proactive.
Our proactive approach to marketing our business is to ensure our name is out there through advertising but as odd as it sounds, it’s the reactive approach that yields the best results.
In some ways we’re old-fashioned. We still believe in that by offering a good service and following through on our promises, clients and candidates will come to us. Word of mouth works, at least for us so it saves us the humiliation of having to make cold calls or worse, spam people on LinkedIn.
It’s still baffling – do people who claim to be experts in growing businesses think that the types of emails at the top of this post are the best way of getting new business for themselves?
It’s shameful, without a shred of dignity or credibility and a complete and utter waste of time.
Here’s What Not To Do
DON’T send spammy, scripted, impersonal messages claiming to be a guru in this, that or t’other. If you have to tell people you are, you’re not.
DO your homework on who you’re contacting. We’re in recruitment, what makes you think we’ll need the use of ‘an honest, reliable and professional industrial cleaning firm?’
AT LEAST personalise your pony. A LinkedIn message starting with ‘Hey!’ like we’re best mates is being filed under D for DELETE without being read.
DON’T spend your entire word count telling us how incredible you are without offering us some value in return. If you want to blow your own trumpet, you better have something to back it up with.
PLEASE DON’T tell us that the people we currently use (and trust) aren’t doing a good job for us. We’re not idiots. We’d know if we were being short-changed.
Here’s What To Do
Be nice guys. Do a good job. Treat your clients, candidates and customers with the respect you’d show your own grandmother. Let your actions be your best sales message.
If you want to contact us you know where we are but if you want to tell me what an incredibly successful business guru you are and how your patented formula for success can be ours, please don’t bother. We’ll just copy and paste the same message we sent to the other 37 clones who have got in touch this month.
Catch you soon.
The Liquid Team
