This is the first  in a new series I’m calling “Marketing Sabotage.” It’s inspired by an experience I just had with a web service company — one that has some of the very best marketing I’ve seen. But, they probably won’t get my business. Point being that great marketing will get a prospect knocking at your door, but what happens after that will make or break whether that prospect becomes a customer.

In my current situation I was greatly impressed by the marketing of this company. The owner/founder is a knowledgeable and passionate speaker and would always make a point of getting herself prominently featured at regional trade shows and business groups. Her talks were always relevant, informative and convincing. Her company’s online marketing was (and is) unsurpassed. So, I decided to take advantage of her free 20-min consultation.

It took a couple emails to set it up, but once we connected I became more interested in using her consulting services. After the 20-minutes I requested an email documentation of our chat with her fees and any fee options that she might want to offer based on our chat. She agreed and promised to do it right away. I was eager to get it and move forward. Two days later I’d received nothing. Then day three, four, five, and six passed. Seven days later I emailed her and got an apologetic excuse with a promise to get it to me later that day. Day eight and nine passed. And, finally, on day ten I got the email — a full-blown website proposal for thousands of dollars. Only at the end of the proposal was there the documentation of her consulting fees  that I’d wanted. I emailed her back with a question about her consulting fees a couple days later. A month passed with no response. In the interim I’ve started working with a young web consultant whose hourly fee is a fraction of hers. But, for the heck of it I just emailed her again asking if she’d gotten my email. She said she didn’t, but promised to get back to me tonight.

Now, one might easily argue that this woman is just so busy with more lucrative web projects that she really doesn’t care about my meager business. That may be true and her behavior would certainly support that. But, even if true, it’s Marketing Sabotage on multiple levels.

First thing, I may need a totally new website in the very near future. But, I’d never ever commit to a multi-thousand dollar project without first getting to know, and like, the web service company I’m hiring. In fact, all my large projects first began with a few hours of paid consulting and an established rapport.

Second, I know, and talk to, lots of people. I also blog. Interestingly, during my travels this past month I actually came across someone who knew someone who worked with this person. And, guess what, the feedback about her service was less than complimentary. The last thing that any business owner needs is more people on a bad mouth bandwagon, nevermind someone who also blogs.

Lastly, it’s just bad form. If you can’t help someone for any reason, just be honest with them and try to refer them to someone who can. They’ll be grateful. And, so will the company that you refer them to.

BTW, it’s now 3-days after her “Sorry, I missed your email, I’ll get back to you tonight” message.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 19th, 2010 at 12:31 pm and is filed under Business, Customer Service, sales, Small Business Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.