What’s the Best Way to Contact You?
Last week I was speaking at the Performance Marketing Expo and one of the questions for the panel was “What’s the best way to get in contact with you?” and another was “How do I get the attention of big affiliate marketers to promote my products?“. I thought both of these were good questions and wanted to expand on this subject through the blog post.
Here’s my response and how I would answer the questions.
“What’s the best way to get in contact with you?“
Honestly… if you aren’t using email or AIM instant messenger, you probably won’t get in touch with me. I rarely ever answer my cell if it’s an unknown number. If you send me a text, I’ll get right back to you. For me it’s just so much easier to reply by email, instant messenger or text than having to get into a full conversation over the phone. Many people are phone people and love to talk… but I’m not one of them. This seems to be a growing trend among many affiliate marketers.
“How do I get the attention of big affiliate marketers to promote my products?”
This is an interesting question and can be broken down into two parts; how to entice big affiliates, and how to get their attention. Many affiliate manager just don’t get how the affiliate world works. New affiliate manager will expect all affiliates to want to join and promote their program, but it’s anything further from truth. If you are going to want super affiliates and high volume web sites promoting your web site, you need to cater to them. This means building custom landing pages, branded web sites, higher commissions or anything else the affiliate / site needs to deliver leads. After all, that big affiliate or web site that you are desperately trying to get to promote your web site… they probably have a good idea what works and what does. For big time affiliates and web sites, it almost always comes down to what makes money and what doesn’t.
Now let’s talk about how to get big marketers and web sites attention. How many emails do you get every with a new network or affiliate program saying “we have the best offers and highest payout!”… I get a ton, and I know you do too. These are the types of emails that just go unread and unnoticed. You will get no where with template based emails sent out at random and hope for success. Instead, take some time to send a formal email and make it exclusive and worth the time to read. Another great way to grab the attention of a big marketer, is to find something they are interested in, and just send them a gift. Yea… it may sound like a bribe, but it works! If someone sends me a new iPad, a gift card or even just something simple cheap and simple, but is focused on something I’m interested in… you got my attention. It’s the time and details others put in, that gets my attention.
So…What’s the Best Way to Contact You?
That was my take on how I’ve conducted business and contact with thousands of people over the years. Other people love the phone and never want to respond to email or text messages, then there are others who are the complete opposite. No way is right or wrong, and it’s all based on preference. The end results is what is driving results for you and your business.
Ok, not too sure what happened but I just typed a long email into a new response format and it disappeared after i hit submit. LOL
I'm not a phone person either. I word things better when using text format. Plus when using email you'll be able to leave a signature with a new product that allows the recipient to either opt in or out. It'll just seem like another sales call over the phone.
Agreed. Email is also a great way to reference back to what was discussed and agreed upon.
My recent post What’s the Best Way to Contact You
Yes I'm an e-mail first guy too. It is just a lot easier to get back to people at your own convenience. And yes it helps to be able to reference back to what was already discussed. A phone call usually ends up wasting a lot of time with small talk and refreshing what was already said.
Yep good point Art (brother :-D) & Zac. I use to be in insurance sales making cold calls all day and night. That burnt me out big time on phone usage. No more phones for me! I too, like to use email when contacting someone one on one. And blogging is a GREAT way to connect with the masses. When using either method you have time to think about what your saying and you can structure writing/words to actually grab attention!
To me sales calls are just that, a plain old sales call that no one wants to hear. I've met some people that can talk a person head off……..ugggh! bores me. Send me a good email or text, and you've not only got my attention.
And your right about needing to make it worth the big guys time if you want them to promote or even look at your product. Gifting is a great idea. You can be very creative in this area as well. If someone took the time to send me a gift that they had actually put thought into it would go a long way with me. Zac you said it best when you said, "even something simple or cheap". It's the thought and effort that went into the gift that makes a great gift.
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If you’re wondering if they’re ok, what they possibly could be thinking, what’s going to happen to the relationship, how you can get them back but they just don’t want to hear it or give you a chance, here’s how you can get them to talk to you again.
Agree with you, James. Sales calls are virtually impossible these days since no one (myself included) has the time for them. What might be a very worthy product or service is lost in the fact that I don't have the time nor interest in " hearing" about it. Email can be opened at my own convenience.
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Awesome post Zac,
I agree with what you said, and I am exactly the same, I answer my phone once in a blue moon, in fact I was thinking of canceling my phone altogether 🙂 I do use skype though and only sometimes for family or business things.
The only time I use my phone is when I need a quick solution like called my Host if the server crashed or something, but apart from that I use email for practically everything 🙂
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I'd say its email. This gives the other person the chance to comfortably either accept or reject your offer or even to just remain silent. With phone, things are one to one and declining or being silent won't be easy. They might feel "attacked". With email, they have the full control to respond whatever and whenever possible.
Jane.
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Interesting idea about bribing potential affiliates. We are expanding our affiliate program and it does take some convincing to get the bigger affiliates to sign up. Zac are you interested in a free Mezzi case? We'd love to have you helping promote our product line.
I feel the same way Zac, I almost exclusively use message programs such as aim or yahoo messenger to be contacted and to communicate. You could definitely say I am someone who does not like to talk on the phone and would rather simply type what I need to say.
– Robert
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Well Emailing is the safest and the most formal way of contacting a person who has got a busy schedule.
And I stick to it when trying to get in touch with unknown professionals.
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