There is a great post over at Liz King Events about the things that you should do once you have someone’s business card. Great post with some great tips and I recommend that you read it. In fact, that post inspired this post.
I want to share one thing that you should NOT do.
I met you, I liked you (or perhaps you are an ass and I just liked your product) and I want to continue the relationship but I did not ever, ever, give you permission to add me to whatever mailing list you are salivating to stick my name on…. in fact, just taking my card and shoving my information into some CRM system that adds me to a mailing list is probably going to piss me off to no end and the relationship that we had just begun is now going to come crashing to a halt faster than you can spell d-i-v-o-r-c-e.
Listen up there hotcakes, if you want me to be on your mailing list, this is the perfect chance to email me when you get back to the office. Something like this:
Hi Keith,
Great meeting you at the World’s Greatest Event, I forgot to ask, can I add you to our mailing list? It contains great information and only comes out once a month so we won’t be jamming up your mailbox.
It will be great to tell you more about our Amazing Event Machine when we get a chance to meet again.
Thanks,
Bob-the-awesome-sales-dude
When I receive emails like this, my response is typically SURE! I give a positive response because you have let me know that you respect my inbox, you want me to learn more and you are doing it in an upfront, un-spammy way.
Be good at what you do, don’t be a jerk
Image: Vince Lamb
