Look, I know sales isn’t easy. I get that.

I am also very aware that the technology we have today provides sales reps and account managers with the ability to track, send, and report on just about every little movement from a potential client.

For nearly two years now, part of my role is to obtain international bulk accounts. The vast majority of the communication that I do is electronic. I have used just about every tool provided to improve that process. Some of the most recent applications allowed me to see when a potential customer had opened an email that I sent, if they clicked on a link, and how many times they did each.

This provided me with valuable data and I could then customize follow-up emails to them. It also allowed me to fine tune emails that I would send to others. I was always in the process of evaluating what was sent and how to improve it, ultimately to close more sales.

But these tools can be abused and when that happens, you can easily burn a potential lead.

Too Aggressive
I received an email newsletter from a company and their click-bait article caught my attention so I went to read it. Within 10 minutes I had another email from someone at this company acknowledging that I had read the article and they wanted to touch base about my marketing needs. About 10 minutes after that I got a phone call. Cold calls are hard, but the feeling of someone sitting over my shoulder while I read their content and then jumping in my lap unannounced was too much.

Too Many Calls
The trouble I run into is that some of this content I genuinely enjoy reading. But knowing that these places are tracking my every move now makes me not want to read it as much. One such company I had specifically told them after they called that we would be evaluating our 2017 budget and would not be making a decision for 3 more months. Today I received another call from this same company and she actually began the call with “I know you wanted us to reconnect with you later” and went into her speech. These people are doing a job just like I am, and I hate to be rude to them, so I tried to politely explain everything again. The result? She wants to call me again at the end of the week.

Too Many Emails
From the scenario above, not only did I receive phone calls before I told them we would be in a position to make a decision, but now I also have additional emails.

“Average office worker receives 121 emails a day.”
DMR, February 2015

And that report was from last year.

Not only do I have the usual volume of email, but as soon as I hung up, I had 2 more emails from her.

I will be unsubscribing from this newsletter and future communications. Maybe that will be enough of a hint.

Since I too have to walk this path, I try to find the balance of staying in touch without overloading the customer to the point where I push them away. At the times I have been most successful, it has been contacting potential customers in the same manner that I would want to be contacted.