How to handle “DO NOT CALL ME!”
Have you ever had a person fill out a contact form on your B2B site and put in the comments “DO NOT CALL ME!”? We periodically review EchoQuote requests for our newer clients and we sometimes get these. But why so angry?
I think web users are finally sick and tired of sneaky ways being used to get their information so a sales person can “help” them. Guess what? They don’t need help or at least not the kind you’re offering.
If you really want to help a prospective customer and you promise them something on your website, make sure you deliver on that promise before engaging them and even then you should probably use an email, not a call.
Clients that use EchoQuote to help their website visitors learn very quickly that when you get a request for budgetary pricing you need to approve that request before you engage them, period.
Here’s a sequence that works for our clients:
- A quote is requested from their website via EchoQuote
- The request is routed to the appropriate person/group for approval
- The marketing/sales person quickly analyzes whether it is a friend or foe
- If a foe, the request is denied and the quote is not sent
- If a friend, the request is approved AND the quote is sent (no calls before the quote is sent)
Ten or fifteen minutes later a courtesy email is sent with the following message:
“Hello, my name is Mr. King and I’m with XYZ Corp. We approved your quote request and this is a follow-up to make sure you received it. If you have not, please check your spam filter.
My only question is: Have you defined the requirements for your project yet, or no?
We have gathered broad requirements from many customers and put them into a bulleted list. If you would like a copy please let us know.”
It’s understandable how skeptical potential customers are these days about requesting anything on a website. Too many companies pounce on incoming leads and simply scare them off. If you promise something in return for their contact information, make sure you deliver before you engage.
By the way, feel free to call me :).
