I have been so irritated by a message that I got from SellingPower.com that I’ve kept it for 6 weeks until I’ve had the time to comment on it.
First of all, this subscription is a legacy issue dating back to my life before marketing when I managed a variety of sales channels. I originally ran into the print version of Selling Power at U.S. airports as it wasn’t available in Canada at the time. I registered for their newsletter and have continued with it ever since. That, as you’ll see, is about to change.
The message reads:
“Congratulations on your company’s potential qualification to be included as one of America’s Largest Sales Forces in this year’s Selling Power 500. Selling Power Magazine is the nation’s leading sales management publication, covering all topics and issues important to top sales executives including CRM, selling skills, sales motivation and sales training. Selling Power Magazine reaches more than 200,000 sales professionals in North America and 33 countries around the world.
In the October 2008 issue of Selling Power Magazine, we will publish the Selling Power 500 annual directory of the largest sales forces in America. This directory not only advances the profession of selling, but has become indispensable for any company with sales forces nationwide.”
Allow me to break down my red-faced-ness:
1. Beginning a message with the word ‘congratulations’ smacks of spam of the worst kind.
2. What I’m being congratulated on is my company’s “potential qualification”. Isn’t that a little like congratulating a short person for almost making a basketball team?
3. Again, I’m being referenced as an American when I’m not, nor do I work for a company that is.
4. The directory is a listing of the “largest sales forces in America”; I’m out on both fronts!
5. They claim that their directory is going to ‘advance the profession of selling’ and has somehow become “indispensable”, yet both of these claims are unsubstantiated and without explanation.
This is truly one of the worst examples of destroying a brand’s credibility with its opt-in memberships list and for this truly pathetic lack of effort for anything that resembles list segmentation, SellingPower.com not only gets a Rant, but also just lost me as a subscriber!
P.S. The message was signed by a Jeffery S. Campbell (research@sellingpower.com/540-752-7000) and you had better believe that I called and left a message on his voicemail – lucky for him he didn’t answer…
Posted by kiteboy 