While I know the underlying reason why a construction company sent this to me, it was personal, polite, there was a plausible reason for them to contact me, and most importantly it resisted the urge to sell to me. (There's a chance it is 100% genuine, but I am cynical, so let's assume it is intended to plant the seed for me to use their company.) It would have been so easy -- expected, even -- to throw a sentence in there at the end about considering this company if I am in need of home renovation services, but they didn't go there.
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| (removed the company letterhead and my address from the top) |
It may seem like a small difference or even a missed sales opportunity, but directly suggesting that I consider their company in the future would have made me roll my eyes and recycle this immediately. "I can research construction companies on my own, if I need to." Who likes ads or being pitched?
Instead -- to borrow the trust account concept from the 7 Habits -- by seeking to build trust before trying to make a withdrawal, he made the thought of using their services in the future independently occur to me.
It has left me thinking about how that concept might influence how my company sells and delivers services.
- A macro idea might be to ensure that all interactions that occur before and between sales pitches (trust account withdrawals) should seek to deposit more trust in the account.
- A micro idea might be to send a similar message to the above to IT when you are working with business stakeholders, to establish your good intentions and open a line of communication, in case you need to work together.