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Regulars
Why your carefully
prepared email may
not even make it
past the first hurdle
I finally took the plunge and bought myself a
lovely little netbook, which is cool because I
am actually writing this article at 35,000ft –
not that PPD is financing this endeavour, but
it’s always good to try something new.
I was struggling for a topic this month.
Whenever I’m putting my blog together, I write it
in order to rant to the end user.
As my fellow distributors, you’re all well aware
of the myriad of stupid mistakes that these people
make.
You know the sort. “I need 17,000 mugs printed
full colour in Berlin by Tuesday and I only have a
budget of £500 – can you help”
“Of course we can, sir – now, did you want
those delivered by unicorn or overnight elf”
But it occurred to me that preaching to those
people in this magazine is a waste of good column
inches so, in an attempt to square up to my suppliers
and colleagues, I’d like to use this column to
submit a humble request.
Stop emailing me.
That’s it – I’m not trying to be rude (I really don’t
have to try), but the fact is that your marketing efforts
are a poor example of what our industry can
do for the world.
You can do better, and let me tell you why.
Every day, I get emailed price lists, special offers
and “newsletters” telling me who’s won the latest
iPod for selling the most widgets.
I know that it took you time to prepare them,
but the truth is that very few actually get my attention.
They don’t even get read.
What’s worse, some people have got multiple
versions of my email address, so I get the same
annoying email three times in a row. Guess what
That’s just an extra two things for me to delete.
It’s not that I’m not interested in the information
– OK, some of it really doesn’t interest me at all,
but I’m not going to name names.
The problem is that it is essentially junk mail –
the information is unsolicited.
Sure, it’s good to know that certain items are
being taken down to half price in an effort to clear
them, but don’t you think your account manager
should call me and let me know about it
Those suppliers with whom I have the best relationships
don’t ever send me special offers without
an upfront phone call – they ascertain whether
or not I want to know about the offer, and then
they send it through.
Even better, they will have gone to the trouble of
creating a mailer with my logo and end user prices
so that I can send it straight out to my clients.
Not only are these mails getting read, they’re
getting actioned and isn’t that supposed to be the
point in the first place
And let’s talk about those multiple email addresses.
Your data is filthy – it’s so filthy that they
won’t even put it on Channel 4 late at night.
Just how difficult would it be for you to call your
best customers and ask them if they have the best
address for you and then delete all of the others
Exactly.
And whilst I’m on my soapbox, do we really
need to get emails about special offers coming
Rose Read
Paul Rose
through not only from the supplier, but from sourcing
websites as well
These sites are doing their customers a disservice
– by duplicating the information, they make it
half as interesting and eventually, sick of seeing the
same name come up in our inbox five times a day,
they never even get a second look.
It’s a shame, because they mean well, but sadly
they are shooting themselves in the foot.
Whether or not our suppliers choose to take
on board any of these points really is anybody’s
guess.
None the less, it occurs to me that this column
– indeed this whole magazine – gives the distributor
an opportunity to speak to the marketplace en
masse.
For those of you with something to say, I encourage
you to submit an article – an open forum
really is something that we shouldn’t take for
granted. A lot like stress balls.
■■Paul Rose is an Account Manager with
Merchandise Mania. As well as this column,
Paul also writes a blog every Thursday. You
can find it at paulsmania.blogspot.com –
comments are always welcome.
■■Three employees of Glasgow-based Orb
International were among those who passed the
first ever bpma Academy. Pictured arriving at the
Houses of Parliament to receive their awards are,
from left, Theresa Richardson, Morvern McLeod
and Louise Henderson. Orb MD Mike Smith said:
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“I was absolutely delighted to be able to send the
girls on the bpma course and it was great news
when all three completed the Academy successfully.
They have all gained a greater understanding
of the industry and have been able to use that
knowledge to good effect in their jobs.”
LM in the UK with
a new subsidiary
Promotional merchandise supplier LM Accessoires
GmbH has set up a UK subsidiary in association
with Thomas Van Riessen (Xindao and
Eastrop Trading) and Andrew Rosenberg.
The new company, LM Accessoires UK, now operates
out of offices in Basingstoke as the exclusive
UK distributor for the LM range. Additionally, LM
UK has started up a UK sampling operation offering
the majority of the range from its UK warehouse
on a next-day service.
Andrew Rosenberg, UK Area Sales Manager for
the German company for the past two years and
Sales Manager of the new company, says, “I am
really excited by the prospect of setting up the new
British company.
“With the founding of LM UK, we can offer a
great range with service levels second to none.”
For more, visit tradeonly.com/lm