When you meet someone online, connect with, friend or
follow them, how should you treat them?
All too often I see people connect with me online, and as
soon as I accept their connection...bang! They send a big, shocking pitch. The
pitch is no short blurb either.
How does that make you feel? All warm and fuzzy?
Personally, It makes me feel like I have been slapped in
the face. I haven't even had a chance to get to know the person yet! We haven't
even discovered if there might be some way we can collaborate.
To me, this way of pitching immediately after the
connection, especially with social media, demonstrates one of three things.
1. The person has no idea how to build relationships with
anyone online OR offline.
2. The person is not interested in building relationships
online.
3. The person does not care how he/she comes across
because it is just a numbers game.
This reminds me of a connection request I accepted on
LinkedIn.
I call myself a Lioness on LinkedIn because I will
connect with pretty much anyone, as long as they have a headshot. (L.I.O.N. -
LinkedIn Open Networker...ess - means female)
I accepted a request to connect from this gentleman and
sent him a personable response to thank him for linking up and joining my
network. Then I asked him what inspired him to use LinkedIn.
The response I received was a 3 page pitch about his
company and all the things that they have to offer and how they can help me and
the specials they have this week if I purchase before Friday.
Honestly! I felt like he was slapping me upside the head AND
in the face multiple times as I read his pitch.
Once I recovered from the initial slap, I gathered my
composure to ask him how this type of approach was working for him and how many
people he had been sending this message to before he got a sale? I was shocked
to hear that he had made one sale thus far. It surprised me because I was
thinking that he probably would never make a sale the way he was pitching.
Wow! It made me wonder what kind of client that was?
Obviously they had no more respect for people in business than this gentleman
had for his prospective clients.
How do you feel that he might have improved on his
approach?
Is this the way you would approve of being
approached?
Personally, I feel
that all marketing online, especially LinkedIn is about respecting those you
are connecting with. It should never be about myself. I feel it is my duty to
ask others what I can do to help them.
If platforms like LinkedIn are professional, then
everyone on there should be a professional, don't you think?
I would love to hear how you feel on this issue.
Christine Till
The
Marketing Mentress
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