Last week I made the mistake of purchasing a “.us” domain for one of my businesses without doing the proper research.
Because you must be a US resident to purchase a .us domain, they don’t allow any kind of whois protection which means that my company information is on record and searchable in whois databases, as associated with this new website. My company is small enough at this point that the phone number is just a Google Voice account which forwards to my cell phone.
Since purchasing the domain last week I’ve had dozens of phone calls from would-be web developers and desigers, and hundreds of emails from people trying to tell me that they’re the best web designers on the market, and that only they could help me build my new website.
Sales and marketing are at their absolute worst when the strategy is spray and pray. These people haven’t delivered any value, and in fact they’ve immediately given me more work to do in going through their unsolicited pitches, thereby making my day more stressful.
Call me crazy but when I work with clients we only look for ways to deliver value, to become the prospect’s friend and servant, and to figure out how to show up in their email or voicemail box as a helper rather than an enemy of the people.
But this… What a waste of time for everyone involved.
Permission marketing evangelism and thought leadership is a worthy pursuit, my friends. Sales and marketing is supposed to feel good when it’s done right. Everyone’s is supposed to be a winner.
Not like this, though… oof.