Over the last few months, I have been inundated with emails from offshore web development companies suggesting we outsource work to them. The emails usually start "Hi" or "Dear Sir/Madam". None of the emails are addressed to me as none of these companies have bothered to find out what my name is. Several of the companies have sent me repeated emails during the last few weeks that say "awaiting your response", clearly surprised that I haven’t replied – Well, I’m not going to reply because I don’t respond to unsolicited emails. Surprisingly, one of the companies spamming me claimed to be an ISO9001 registered company.
You may not already know it, but unsolicited emails (or "spam" as they are better known) have been illegal under UK law since 2003. Unfortunately, the law doesn’t apply to spam sent to business email addresses. Nevetheless, this doesn’t change the fact that unsolicited email is both unethical and irritating. Spam is impersonal and it also cheapens your brand. No one is going to take a service provider seriously when they haven’t bothered to find out the name of the person they are emailing. And you have to question the ethics of a company that send out unsolicited email. Would you trust them to handle your clients privacy?
So if you want to be taken seriously by potential clients, follow the following basic tips:
- Only email people you have been in touch with before. i.e. by phone, by email or in person
- Ensure your contacts opt in before you add them to your mailing list, that way you’ll only be mailing people who want to hear from you.
- Just as you avoid sending “cold” emails, avoid cold calling wherever possible and network instead. It’s a lot more cost effective and wastes a lot less time. Someone introduced by a friend or business colleague will be much more willing to talk to you than someone who you contact out of the blue. We all know an average of 1,000 people. So if you network with the people you know, and they in turn introduce you to the people they know, you are potentially linked to millions of people.
Do you want to know how to network, we can show you how show. Call us on 020 8953 8820 for a free consultation.
