There is some debate about the source of the term, but the generally accepted version is that it comes from the Monty Python song, "Spam spam spam spam, spam spam spam spam, lovely spam, wonderful spam…" Like the song, spam is an endless repetition of worthless text. Another school of thought maintains that it comes from the computer group lab at the University of Southern California who gave it the name because it has many of the same characteristics as the lunchmeat Spam:
Nobody wants it or ever asks for it.
No one ever eats it; it is the first item to be pushed to the side when eating the entree.
Sometimes it is actually tasty, like 1% of junk mail that is really useful to some people.
I like the lunchmeat spam one - like it says some of these emails could actually be worth something if it came as something you asked for.
A case in question is the following : I received an email from a guy called Trevor Ketler from a company called Trevor Ketler Presentations. They might be good at what they do and reading through an article called "Ten steps to sell you" they go on to promote steps you can take to get people to take you seriously. Great stuff ! Except they did not take anything seriously by sending this to me in a SPAM mail.
O, it was disquised as a serious piece of mailing by inserting the following words:
“You have recently being referred to us from past delegates or our referral system and we take pleasure in forwarding your first Newsletter”.
Now this is Bull... If there actually was such a person why would they not identify him/her ?
Why did they not address me by my first name in the first paragraph ?
Amongst the steps quoted in the article the following caught my eye ( Especially because they did not take cognisance of their own steps) :
1. Know the person:
Find out what the needs of the person are and why they want to deal with you.
(How can this happen if they do not even know who their audience is ?)
5. Have the right words for the right person:
Every person dealing with you has different needs – so ensure that you are pitching around those needs.
What needs ?
7. Get the person emotionally involved:
If it ’feels’ good to the person he/she will make the decision to buy-in to your ideas.
The only emotion the mail stirred in me was irritation - This was no better than the guy at the robot wanting very seriously for me to open my window to take his flyer.
Now take note of the following when you send out emails : If you do not know the person on the other side DO NOT SEND AN EMAIL. If you ever want to be taken seriously get to know the person on the other side - preferably in person. How do you do this _ Get involved in business networking - serious ones , not MLM ! Local Chambers of commerce has networking events - collect business cards - I am a serious collector and have around 1000 reasonably recent ones and have met every single person whose card I have. It is now very easy to say : Trevor , I met you at the cocktail on Thursday - here are some more details on what we do............" No offence given or taken - no spam - a personal email !
These and other serious marketing tips and tricks are going to be discussed at our Marketing workshop on the 6th in Centurion. - We have some great names in the marketing world that will discuss these and other serious marketing stuff ! You must be there to experience it ! Send me an email for an invite - Oh and please address me by my first name: JOHN!
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