Comments on: Teaching Our Customers to Hate Us

By: Karen Swim

Karen Swim — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:03:20 +0000

Jonathan, excellent points! It has become all too common for individuals and companies to assume that possession of your information is blanket permission to market you. I believe everyone could do a better job at respecting these boundaries.

By: Jonathan Kranz

Jonathan Kranz — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:21:58 +0000

Peter,
“Sustainability” makes the speaker sound thoughtful — without committing him/her to anything concrete. It’s the cumulus cloud of PC catchphrases.

By: Peter Korchnak

Peter Korchnak — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:51:04 +0000

“Relationship” is indeed yet another word that marketers and companies use without always knowing exactly what it entails. “Sustainability” is another of my favorites.
We humans are simple creatures. I believe the issue is the complexity of such concepts, and how much thought, effort and passion actually has to go into cultivating relationships or being sustainable. It’s hard to wrap our minds around all that, particularly when we can’t see beyond immediate gratification or short-term results.

By: Katrina Hollmann

Katrina Hollmann — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:47:28 +0000

I also keep a separate email account solely for filtering out the spam.
And I agree with the other posters. If you provide meaningful, relevant content I will save the email, bookmark the link or in general remember where/how to find you. Don’t give me popups to sign up for your newsletter. Allow me to read your content and determine it’s importance to me. Provide a well-designed, prominent space for me to sign up for an email or RSS feed. For me a soft sell, while demonstrating and promoting your expertise, will work far more often than an in-my-face push.

By: Jonathan Kranz

Jonathan Kranz — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:45:45 +0000

Barbara,
How things have changed: now it’s nearly impossible to find a department store clerk when you actually want their help.

By: Barbara Phillips Long

Barbara Phillips Long — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 02:32:07 +0000

Same problem, different era. When I was growing up, I learned that I didn’t enjoy shopping when the clerks were insistent about helping me — sometimes to the point of standing in the open doorway of a department store fitting room to give the sales pitch.
As long as companies try to increase market share, there’s always going to be tension between the need to encourage customers to buy the product and the level of civility the customers expect.

By: Barbara Phillips Long

Barbara Phillips Long — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 02:31:55 +0000

By: Jonathan Kranz

Jonathan Kranz — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:14:00 +0000

Liz,
Unfortunately, we’ve all learned that “free” doesn’t mean free; we’re going to pay for it one way or another.
I hope the whitepaper was worth it!

By: Liz

Liz — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:59:27 +0000

I was going to write this blog post yesterday. Guess I was too late.
Very well said. I know I hesitate before downloading a “Free” whitepaper because I know what it means- an unwelcome sales person is going to contact me and push me to set up a demo for a product that I do not need or want. Which is exactly what happened to me yesterday.

By: Jonathan Kranz

Jonathan Kranz — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:52:17 +0000

Great comments, all. Thank you!
Hey, after we dismantle “relationship,” why don’t we dismember “partnership”? Don’t you hate it when would-be vendors approach you with a “partnership opportunity” when really, they just want to sell you something? There’s nothing wrong with trying to sell me something; just don’t call it something it’s not.