Communicating with Customers

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This past weekend I checked out a few properties on a website for real estate in Indianapolis. I was casually looking and the site required me to fill out a contact info form to get access.

Over the past three days, I have received nearly a dozen phone calls from a realtor associated with this website.

  • First, my voicemail message clearly states that if you are attempting to sell me something, you must send me an email.
  • After this realtor finally emailed me, I responded that I was just looking and decided the property I saw was not a right fit for me, but thanked him for his time.
  • I received another voicemail from him this evening telling me to give him a call because “HE preferred to use the phone.”

While I was already annoyed by the number of calls, his insistence that I conform to his preferred method of selling and communicating was a clear signal that he wasn’t going to be much help.

If you’re selling a product and the customer prefers a method of communication, you either need to embrace it or sell to someone else.

My first 500 words…

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I read a great post on Information Diet, 500 words before 8am, about starting your day by “producing” information instead of “consuming” information.

I love consuming information – from reading blog posts to exploring The New York Times to scouring my Twitter feed for content others have shared. I often consider myself an excellent curator of information because of the (extremely awkward) moments when people tell me they love “following” me on social media because of the content I share (Note: while it’s flattering, it’s creepy – so either think of a nicer way to make the compliment or hold it in).

I’ve attempted blogging before – in high school I co-founded a blog on politics, entitled Political Equinox. While we had interesting content – a co-blogger’s experience at the Iowa caucus, reaction to a professor studying political polling, and reviews of attendance at speeches by Bill Clinton and John Edwards, I often lead myself to believe our blogging team lost interest because of the one-dimensional nature. I’ll have no restrictions here.

I’m hoping to make this an outlet to not only make me a better producer of good information, but a better writer and communicator.

And to end, an excellent clip produced to introduce The Information Diet.