#1 way to filter out non-genuine sales pitches
Why are you contacting me? I need to focus on my own startup.
During the startup process I have attempted to get my products name, Stor.Guru, out there. ( yes that was a plug ) I have signed up for product hunt, betalist, betapage, I have submitted proposals to YCombinator and HatchPad just to name a few. But now I keep receiving emails of people trying to "help me" with my startup and that they would like to setup a meeting or wondered if I would like more information.
Do you think they are selling their data? Did my info get scraped off a site? Yes and yes.
9/10 times I am now telling myself okay is this a sales pitch, a sales pitch for their product. Then I ask myself "are they really interested in what I am doing or am I just a part of a marketing campaign?" and I find that I don't trust the people who are reaching out to me.
I have wasted precious hours that could have better been spent focusing on my product.
So here is my new tactic, if they are genuinely interested:
Ask them to sign up for YOUR PRODUCT FIRST!
Ill let you know how it works out.
This isn’t just happening on those websites. “Business” social network LinkedIn is another culprit. I find that 80% of my connections are automated LinkedIn campaigns and when replying — they take days to get back, normally it’s someone who doesn’t speak English and their companies are in foreign languages. (Top 30%). The rest are just marketers wanting to “Help accelerate” my startup.
The internet is flooded with this and it’s only going to get worse so long as there is data sold, there will be marketers and furus to contact them.
Yeah I couldn't agree more. I think people have gotten a lot smarter when it comes to tech trying to advertise to them. They are going to have to find better ways in the future.
Speaking of, I'd just got another message from someone across the pond saying "I know how to boost your crypto business!" - Funny how I don't operate a crypto business... hah.
But yes, just like the hacker world.. There will always be White Hats & Black Hats.
Right like it is just a distraction to what you are really trying to do. I now have a templated email that ill be replying with.
Can you share it? 😂
This is just a first draft. No one has signed up yet, and I also haven't been distracted, so I guess it works right?
👏 That is brilliant haha!
Haha thanks, yeah yesterday I sent that out for the first time. I wish I had done it more in the past though.
Let me know how it all goes. I made my own and shipped two out. It’s like my account is white listed for contact. Need to privatise it more.
@zinglax That way they are a part of your marketing campaign as well haha!
But jokes apart, seriously this is a very irritating part about the internet.
I literally get hundreds of messages every month regarding ruttl and almost all of them are sales pitch oriented!
I feel bad for the genuinely interested people who truly want to help me out as they get drowned in these messages too!
Haha Yes I didn't event think of that but totally agree.
Right, like at this point I don't even think I have found anyone who was actually interested in Stor.Guru, only sales pitches and like sometimes I get caught in their net for a little bit and it becomes distracting. The other day I had a company reach out to me to be on TV, like c'mon.
I think this is a good way to filter out the BS ( Bad Sales ) attempts.
Plus if they actually sign up then you can just turn billing off or give them a promo code to use for free.
Trust is an important thing and I am becoming more and more skeptical of people who contact me first.
Absolutely bang on for sure!