Dear Eddie,
Thank you for your call this afternoon, and I have reviewed the information sent. I always like to offer the opportunity to create a business relationship, and do my best to give a fair look at all options. One does not learn, grow, or build, without keeping ones eyes open.
Upon review of the information provided, I can find nothing that catches me or draws me to look further into a partnership at this time, but I will offer some unsolicited feedback, in an effort to help you understand how a well researched and put together presentation can sometimes fail at the one thing it is designed to do. Grab the attention of the viewer, and entice them to take a second look.
Starting with the cold call:
Cold calls are difficult. Mostly for the caller. You have to make more than you care to, just to get to someone who will let you finish the first sentence before cutting you off with a flippant “Not Interested”. I can here it in the tone of your voice. It is that patient methodical presentation that one must hold onto to make it through that part of your day.
That being said, from the receiving end, it is rare that I ever even pick up that phone line because the only people who end up at my land line extension….are cold calls. Anyone I do business with has my cell number, so picking up the line; I am predisposed to the other side of cold calls. I patiently listen, permit information to be sent, and hang up as soon as it sounds like someone thinks they are getting a commitment from me for anything more. I was pleasantly surprised when you skipped right to the “May I send you information” phase. It grabbed my attention. It enticed me to look.
Then I got the info.
Never lie. Even when being polite. I am hard pressed to understand what pleasure you might have derived from our conversation, though perhaps it was the fact that I was not rude and did not hang up on you, but to say it was a pleasure to talk to me today, does not bode well for how your day went. If I mistake, forgive me, and know that I am glad to have improved your day.
The bulk of my disinterest in the product though, is through no fault of your own. The info included on your email spoke of a company that can spend a great deal of time telling me nothing. Lovely inserts of “business type click art”, a well taken picture of the corporate headquarters building, and lots of words telling me that your company sells lots of quality products and services at a great price. Welcome to Capitalism 101. We ALL sell lots of goods and services at a quality price. The information left me with no gut feel for why your company’s goods and services are the right ones for my company. The only thing I was enticed to do was to click the link to the website in hopes of finding out the answer to those questions.
On the company web site, I found…. More of the same.
In all, I get the impression that there are an awful lot of things that En Pointe does. I haven’t the time or energy to spend finding out if any of them are things I need though, and I find that most companies that do a lot of things do none of them in a significantly marketable improved way over the other guys.
So thanks for your interest in my business, and good luck in your endeavor.
Charles Mckeithan
Facilities and Technology Devison
CCLC Inc.
You are more than generous providing positive feedback to an intrusive, unsolicited telemarketer. ALL telemarketers (like the people who write internet pop-up programs) should be drawn and quartered. No excecptions! If I sound harsh, it is with good reason. First of all, if I need a product or service I will call you. Do not treat me like an idiot, I am smart enough to look in the phone book or research it on the web. Secondly do not like or try to trick me into giving you information. I know with whom I and my bosses do business with. If I don't know you, you are not getting past me. But the thing that bothers me the most is not that I get just one or two of these calls a day. It's the fact that I can get up to 10 a day and it wastes my valuable time when I'm already busy. At this point I don't care if I'm rude or sometimes tell these lowlifes off. If their feelings get hurt they can get another job. I can almost guarantee that your well written and kind letter will fall on deaf ears because these people are sub-human.
Posted by: Teresa at July 20, 2004 09:14 AM