To further our discussion on conversation marketing, we recently started a discussion group on LinkedIn called Idiomatic: Conversation Marketing (we hope you’ll all join the discussions). Today, we had our first smam post–Thanks Lilly, an Account Manager for an expense management software company.

Here is Lilly’s post:

Expense Management Software

Certify is the leading self-service, online expense management solution for small to mid size companies. www.Certify.com is an on-demand subscription that gets you up and running instantly, configured to your needs and your travel policies being fully enforced.
• Completely internet based – no software to install or maintain
• Easily capture and submit expenses with your cell phone,PC,or fax
• Outstanding business expense capture, tracking and reporting
• Award winning service and support
• Available for both Personal and Corporate use
• Get started with a free 30 day trial
For more information regarding go to www.Certify.com

It would seem that Lilly did not read the group profile description:

Conversation marketing is the practice of strategically interacting in the market conversation. This group focuses on the marketing industry’s market conversation for building mutually beneficial relationships with Influencers; responding to market conversation topics and initiating topics that do not include traditional marketing messages; extrapolating market conversation content to utilize as company/product proofpoints and counter sales objections; and internalizing the market conversation for business growth. All marketing, sales, communications and other business professionals are invited to join in by sharing their experiences and asking questions.

If she had, she would hopefully have thought twice before posting this in the group. I have kept the post up, but did comment that it was a prime example of a sales or marketing person not understanding that by posting their “ad” in the group, they are spamming the group and will eventually be banned from the group and people will think less of the company/product they’re pitching.

I hope Lilly won’t be too mad at me, but I decided to send an email to her company. Unfortunately, the company is of the old-school of thought that they should not publicly post the email or phone numbers of any staff. The only addresses to be found were sales@ and support@ and info@ etc. I did find the PR person’s email on their press release so I sent the message to her and to sales@

I specifically said that I was writing in good faith and hoping they as a company would find it thought provoking and an opportunity to take a look at their sales and marketing practices. Here’s a bit of what I wrote:

Here is a great article about why social media is failing to help sales people. http://tinyurl.com/dkxnd4 The reason sales people are not having more success with social media is because they are using these online tools to do exactly what Lilly has done.
1) Because of the profile of this discussion group this is not the right place for a sales person to find leads
2) If Lilly were to find groups and communities that discuss business management practices, startup companies, accounting practices, etc. then she would have something valid to contribute to the conversation because those topics are in line with what your company offers.
3) Today, people have spam filters and they can turn off popup ads and they can ignore google Adwords results and they can trash their junk mail and get on the do not call list, etc. An online community post that reads just like a marketing brochure will not be looked at favorably by the group. Marketing messages have their place, but participating in the actual market conversation that is centered around fulfilling the business and accounting needs of companies will get a sales person much farther.

Again, thank you to Lilly. Hope you don’t mind being our example of what not to do.

Cheers

I posed the question in two groups: 1) Technology Marketing Community and 2) On Startups (I was hoping to find recommendations on some startup companies.) Here is what I received in response from these community groups:

• A total of 9 comments posted: 8 were NOT recommendations, they were all sales pitches directly from providers and 1 was a “recommendation” but from someone who has a vested interest in the company they recommended.
• 10 inmail messages directly to me: All 10 were sales pitches
• 7 phone calls: They tracked down my business number and, you guessed it, all were sales pitches.

My first reaction is to ignore them all, but I am looking for someone to do this work. I’m quite bummed that not one of my marketing peers looked to help me out with a recommendation, but perhaps my interests would be best served to go find reviews of companies instead of seeking advice from peers who are busy trying to find recommendations for their work.

What’s your opinion on the sales pitches? Is it detremental to the group if sales people are trolling for prospects this way and they all pounce when they see a chance? If I had turned to a web development community group and asked the question there I would expect that the members of that group would come back saying they offer that type of work. But I went to a marketing and a startup business group to ask for recommendations, not sales pitches.

I enjoy participating and listening to the groups I’m a member of, but this type of experience reduces my enthusiasm.

What do you think? Is it a positive marketing or sales approach to troll for leads this way?