On Attracting v. Closing Business
Yesterday I received an interesting email.
I say “interesting” because it resulted in my writing this post… and maybe some more will come of it.
It was from a guy who was let go from him job late last year, and who is now “actively pursuing” self-employment. To that end, he wants to pick my brain.
Image: Yorick_R via Flickr, CC 2.0
I get quite a few emails like this, and I suspect that if you are perceived as a successful independent PR consultant, you do too. However, there were a couple of things about this particular email that stood out:
- This person put “PR opportunity” in the subject line of the email, and began it by asking if I would be interested in talking with one of his current clients to see if some of their needs – I assume requiring a different skill-set from his – and my services would be a match;
- He directed me to a few different web properties of his, so that I could learn more about him; and
- The “picking brain” part of his email said this:
Filed under Business, Shonali Burke | Tags: business development, client relations, closing, sales | Comments (30)
The Sales Pitch From Hell, And What Sales Can Learn From PR
A couple of months ago I received what has to count as the worst pitch/follow-up to me, to date.
Image: Thomas Hawk, Creative Commons
Surprise surprise, this wasn’t from a “PR person” or “flack;” you know the kind. It was from a sales assistant at a provider of chapter management services, which I was unlucky enough to receive because of my involvement with IABC/DC Metro.
Here’s what happened.
A lady (I’m just going to call her K__) person called me in February to talk about S__ (the company) as a replacement for our current chapter management system. Since I had no idea who she was, and was unfamiliar with her organization, I asked her to email me the relevant information, following which I’d get back to her.
She did as I requested. When I received the information, I circulated it among my board, and was then surprised to find she hadn’t just called me, but several board members, one of whom wondered how she had his work number (my guess was that she probably pulled it off the chapter website). One of them told me he’d do the demo, so I thought, great, that’s it.
Filed under Business, Public Relations, Shonali Burke | Tags: pr, Public Relations, sales | Comments (13)
