Did You Know That You Had Me at Hello?
After four cliffhanger video-emails, I reached the Tipping Point.
No, not that Tipping Point.
They were good, I’ll admit it. Charming, hesitating, intimate; stopping courteously before taking up too much of my time. Promising to sell me… something, right after telling me a few more secrets. Asking for my patience. Why, of course! Believably amateur. Slickly unslick. Each one had me hanging on the edge of my seat for something that never materialized, like the date who can’t get up the nerve to kiss me.
Four was my magic number. After that, every email that came in from him I marked as read and put in a “someday if I have absolutely nothing else to do” folder. If you can’t put one over the plate in four pitches, you walk.
Minimum customer experience. No sale.
Eroding my resistance or eroding my confidence? How many pitches before you notice you’ve been slimed?
Grow and be well,
Kelly Erickson
Are you the most creative thinker reading the MCE Blog today? Claim your prize and bragging rights. Please click here to read the rules, and take a Whack at it. (The comments may give you some hints.) Three days left to find the post where I make a reference to my age!
Thanks, Crystal. We’ll take another Whack at this subject tomorrow.
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19 May 2008, 4:01 pm
Excellent point. Must paint, but I love this post…later. Jan
19 May 2008, 5:09 pm
Uhh…nice post, Kelly.
I’ll…uh….read it later, okay? When I have time.
(Sorry..heh heh heh!…)
I just couldn’t resist.
19 May 2008, 5:15 pm
Man, oh man. You are hitting me, no, whacking me hard with trying to figure out this age thing. I don’t want to give up, ’cause I’m competitive, but should I admit defeat.
Haven’t received a video email yet. I don’t want one. I like to spend time on things I want to do. Like sipping chardonnay, or figuring out your age.
Sell, sell, sell. Everyone promises me the one thing that will change my life. Why should I trust someone I don’t know? I trust the people I talk to her in the blogoland. But some random person won’t do it. And relationships take time. This is an interesting thought I am having here.
19 May 2008, 5:17 pm
Friar! I swear he is following him. And I KNOW his age. Same as mine. Tell you what Kelly, find the post where you find Friar’s age and YOU will win a prize! I have a few books…
19 May 2008, 5:18 pm
He is following ME. Typing too fast.
19 May 2008, 5:38 pm
Janice,
Make it beautiful. We’ll wait.
Friar,
I know this one’s a bit too long and drawn out. Get Claire to read it to you.
Ellen,
“He is following ME.” For a minute it sounded like Dr. Seuss. He he.
Yeah, trust is the key. I opted in to this dude’s email persuasion, on a loose recommendation, so there was some trust. That’s why he had me at Hello.
The one thing that will change your life is within you. Those outside of you can only sell you their way to access that hidden potential.
Regards,
Kelly
19 May 2008, 7:52 pm
Doesn’t everyone kiss on the second date these days? Sheesh, should tell this guy it isn’t Leave it to Beaver.
(and no cheap shots from you Friar…)
Yep, I’ve got a couple of these turkeys sending me stuff too. Lots of promise, no payout.
Thank goodness for filters in Gmail…
-Brett
19 May 2008, 8:50 pm
Brett,
Friar can’t leave that alone for long. My poor blog.
The dude with the opt-in videos didn’t kiss on the 4th, and from the quantity of stuff in that folder I made for him, I’m guessing he didn’t by the eighth, either. Though I did stop listening…
I really thought I might like to hear what he had to say. Then I fell asleep. *snore*
That’s the Tipping Point for NOT buying.
Until later,
Kelly
19 May 2008, 9:52 pm
@Kelly
Oh, man. I’m sorry I mentionned this whole Claire thing.
If the real “Claire” reads my blog, and identifies herself, I might be in a lot of trouble.
I better ask her out and just get it over and done with.
@Ellen
By the way, if you wanna guess my age, I have a birthday coming up (relatively soon) so you might be off by a year.
19 May 2008, 10:18 pm
Friar,
I thought I read your age someplace. 43 (?), and a Cancer… boring boring, so you said. Cancer was on your blog, maybe I read the age on Brett’s or maybe I’m imagining it. Your sign I remember because I thought don’t let Monsieur Chartrand hear you say that, he’ll snap you with his own Cancerian claw.
Aren’t the town residents who hate your letters to the editor a lot more likely to seek your blog out than Claire? They have time on their hands and would love to flame you…
If you said the truth (about liking your life as is and about being hounded), why should you be in trouble?
Until later…
P.S. You are not sorry. You got a great post out of it and let off some steam.
19 May 2008, 10:51 pm
@Kelly
The town residents who hate my letters are mostly old codgers who are unlikely to be computer-savvy enough to catch on to my Blog.
Though, the main editorial in the paper last week (bitching about me) was apparently written by the wife of one of my old managers.
Lucky I dont’ work for him anymore (but you see what I mean, about potentially getting into trouble?).
Not that this is gonna stop me from writing.
As for my age. Yep. You got it right. I’m 43 (or 301 in Dog-years).
19 May 2008, 11:21 pm
Friar,
I prefer to think of retirees as perfectly capable of stalking you on the Internet, and now that you’ve said that here, I plan to send some to your blog to do so.
As to the age, big stuff I have to write down immediately, because little stuff such as the age of Canadian nuclear engineers who are also watercolorists clogs my brain.
Until later,
Kelly
19 May 2008, 11:58 pm
Well, I guess I shouldnt’ label ALL retirees…for example, my Dad knew more about computers than I did, and he learned it when he retired.
But I would venture to say the Anti-Friar Fan-club retirees from Splat Creek aren’t the most open-minded people in the whole world. I dont’ think they’d be bothered to look too hard for the Deep Friar.
If they did, I’ll probably have a crowd of burning torches and pitchforks at my front door!
Have you heard of drive-by canings? (We have them in Splat Creek on a weekly-basis !)
20 May 2008, 12:07 am
Well, I heard you got called out at your own house, which is pretty nasty. I don’t think you mentioned a cane, but that’s probably coming after Friar’s next incendiary letter to the editor.
20 May 2008, 12:23 am
Yeah..I emailed the letter yesterday. What’s done is done..let the chips (or canes) fall where they may.
I’m just glad the guy knocking on my door was a harmless 70-year-old , and not a 250-lb Hells Angel!
20 May 2008, 12:34 am
Plan your vacation for the week when you write a letter to the editor about Hell’s Angels, my friend. On another continent.
20 May 2008, 5:57 am
I didn’t do it. That’s all I’ll say. Wasn’t me. I didn’t do it.
20 May 2008, 6:48 am
James didn’t…
Send me a video-email?
No, because then I’d know what you look like.
Erode my resistance or my confidence?
Still working on at least one…
Offer to give me a book if I’d find a reference to his age?
No, because I know you too well.
Wander on over to burn down my blog?
Thank you, darling.
Later,
Kelly
20 May 2008, 11:40 am
Hey! I so love this line: “Believably amateur. Slickly unslick”
I can’t find it anywhere, but I read an article this time last year that said one of the worst things you can do to is “make your website look too good.”
The position was that glossy high-end websites intimidate infrequent/unskilled /newbie/unconfident Internet users…and of course, they won’t buy if they’re made to feel uncomfortable/unqualified to use your site.
And hey, based on what we’ve been seeing, maybe that’s true? “Slicky unslick” indeed!
Thanks for the mention, and the quotables
20 May 2008, 4:08 pm
Crystal,
It’s that deliberate naïvete that started bugging me about these videos after a time. I don’t object to looking good. I object to looking not-so-good to try to buddy-up with me, which I believe is what’s going on.
Kind of what we were talking about at your blog. Is it real or is it a “tactic”? Like seeing Hillary in a flannel shirt slopping pigs, to get the farm vote. (Which she wouldn’t do.) That’s insincere.
I don’t mind glossy, to a point, though it can certainly go into user-unfriendly with ease. If you’re trying to tell me I’m priced out through your website, then glossy high-end is probably the way to go. It saves me some trouble, as a consumer.
Come on back, you’ll be getting another ping, because our conversation really got me thinking about these emails I had mentioned at Bx3. Your writing always makes the wheels at MCE turn a bit extra!
Until later,
Kelly
26 May 2008, 1:54 pm
Howdy again!
Okay, you’ve got really good stuff all through that comment.
So maybe the core of our discomfort, disappointment, and maybe disillusion, is the whole authenticity/insincerity thing?
Like, to demonstrate a persona or a behavior or an attitude or a lifestyle or a workstyle that we don’t really have or do or whatever for the sake of selling more is a poopy tactic.
But that same persona or behavior or etc (within reason!) delivered authentically is fine, because it’s honest?
26 May 2008, 6:33 pm
Crystal,
You said it. It’s all about being who you really are, not who you think “I” need you to be.
It’s funny how that shouldn’t be a fine line, and yet it is. Be truthful. That’s all.
Regards,
Kelly