I’ts an important question to reflect on before giving a go-ahead on any email marketing campaign. Personally, I hate spam as much every other person out there, I like the concept of using purely opt in lists or double opt in lists to run email campaigns but practically I also know not everyone can build perfect opt in or permission based lists and rely solely on them. I am not against email marketing on custom built targeted email lists just as I’m not completely opposed to cold calling and believe they can both be effective “if done right“.  I also realized I just made a rather bold move defending the use of non-optin lists to send out emails to companies as a marketing strategy and I just set myself up for a lot of flak for making this statement. But before we go straight to the comments section below think about this question. How do you perceive spam and when do you consider an email spam?

When I get an email which is completely irrelevant to what I do, who I am and  what I may be interested in, it’s no longer email to me…its spam.

• I am a B2B marketer (at least when I am in the office and at work I am) 
• I generate leads, look for new ways to drive more customers towards our business and manage marketing projects (its what I do)
• I am interested in anything that helps me become a better marketer, helps me drive more customers, helps the business serve customers better (is some of what interests me)

If I get an email from an unknown company and an unknown person with an email on “Join Us For The IT Security Systems Configuration Training Seminar” that is SPAM simply because its irrelvant to me and I could not care less about that IT Security training seminar as a marketing manager. Similarly drawing the parallel to cold calling, I would be more than a little annoyed being called and invited to attend a conference on improving manufacturing processes or called by someone selling an accounting software solution. On the other hand, if I received an email again from an unknown company and an unknown person introducing on “Introducing our new instant landing page creation software for lead gen managers” I dont look at it as spam.  Even if  I’m not interested in buying it, the way I look at it is ‘it was addressed to the right person in our company’. It’s within my area of responsibility to evaluate such an application and its within my subject of interest as a B2B marketer. Similarly, I’m glad to talk to someone who cold called looking to see if our compnay was interested in a listing on their new B2B Marketing online directory even if at the end of the call we decide not to or that we are not interested at this point. It’s still within my area of responsibility and still related to my area of interest. 

In the first case I would say if the company had sent their email to someone responsible for our IT security, their email would have at least been read if not replied to. By sending it out to the marketing manager it was treated as spam. So is it spam when you dont know the sender or the senders company and you haven’t said you would like to receive an email from them? Or is it spam when even someone you have allowed to email you sends you something that is completely out of your sphere of interest? If you blocked out every new business contact that you have never heard of before from connecting with you through any channel… could you be missing out on some great opportunities? 

I still believe in trying to generate the best possible opt in and permission based lists and doing everything possible to get more opt in email addresses and build a strong internal list. I also believe that its not blasphemous to run an email campaign on a very well built target list where you know the person is the right person to connect with and if its done right. What would you define as spam? Whats not considered spam? Is knowing the sender and providing permission the only criteria or is there more to it?

Jim logan posted an absolutely brilliant piece on the B2B Rainmaker blog titled “The problem with the problem with cold calling” which is a must read and brings out a very important point. In his post Jim says:

If the call you receive is irrelevant and unwelcome, the problem is with the preparation before the call, not the call itself.  The person making the call failed to do their homework before the picked-up the phone.

Cold calling and telemarketing has picked up a bad name and in recent times has become a lot more notorious than it was a few years ago. As Jim points out really well, there is nothing wrong or ineffective about the process of cold calling its the preperation or lack of it which determines how effective it is. Havinig worked with clients varying from small startups to large fortune companies, we know cold calling is still a very importnat channel for sales and leads. Surprisingly, something as small and simple as the business contact lists or marketing databases which these companies can use for their telemarketing campaigns can be an Achilles heel if its not of the highest quality. One of the most important questions to ask before picking up the receiver and dialing away is:

“Am I calling the RIGHT person?”

Have you ever walked into a movie cinema a bit late when everyone is seated and you have to feel your way through the dark, bump into and trip over everyone, irritating them and apologizing as you go along? Thats what its like cold calling into an organization when you have no clue who you need to speak to finally and how to get there. Decision makers rarely outright reject calls that are relevant to what they do or will be unwilling to speak to someone who has something to say that is within their area of responsibility. It’s the constant irrelevant calls which have nothing to do with them which put them off and give cold calling a bad name. Bad contact lists are also to blame. 

For example : the IT Manager of a company responsible for quality control software and systems used by manufacturing should usually be open to a discussion if he is called about questions or technology related to quality control. However if he is called by a sales person who starts talking to him about IT security and anti-virus software products he’s more likely to snub the caller for interrupting his work. In the second case the caller assumes just because he’s speaking to an IT Manager, he must be open to talking about anti-virus software. Wrong! If  business contact lists and data are built based on roles of the decision makers rather than simply by job titles, the chances are connect rates are higher and conversations will be much higher than unqualified contact lists. More conversations, more opportunities, more sales. Cold calling isn’t ineffective. As Jim Logan sums up very well:

The problem with the problem with cold calling is there is no problem.  The real issue with cold calling is preparation and technique – the use itself is valid.

Contact us or sign up for a free trial list of role based business contacts with complete direct contact data to experience the difference in calling on higher quality decision maker lists.