Mistakes real and fake

Last week, I accidentally sent an email message to a prospect that was meant for my assistant. This was a prospect I had been trying to reach, to no avail. But this time she responded right away to let me know that I'd made a mistake, which I appreciated.

Then she answered the question I'd been asking for a while. So my mistake prompted her to respond when nothing else had, which made me think....

I'm not advocating deception as a marketing technique, but what do you think of this idea for very special situations?

Comments

[Jasmine Holmes]

I agree that you would not want to use this technique very often and would have to be very careful with its use. In this case, it was effective. I might try a "mistake" if I was trying to get an answer on a very big job but would otherwise be too chicken. I would be afraid of getting caught!

[Jezra Kaye, Communicate with Power and Ease]

Last year, a clerk at Brooklyn's Community Bookstore mistakenly forwarded a desperate note from the owner (saying that she was on the verge of going broke) to the store's entire mailing list. The owner was mortified, but the community rallied, help was offered and today the store is flourishing. Mistake or "mistake"? No one cared, because the outcome was so good.

[Heidi Yarger]

Ilise, what happened after the client notified you of the error? were you able to keep up the conversation?

[Cedric Hohnstadt]

I think you lucked into a connection with the client, but it would be wrong to adopt that as a deliberate marketing technique. Even if just used for "emergencies only", it's still dishonest.

Good blog, though. I enjoy reading it.

[Nicole Bandes]

One technique I have used that seems to work well when I can't connect to someone is to send a get well card. Include a message on how you haven't been able to reach them so you were a bit worried and hoped they were well. No deception but it does seem to get a response.

[Claudia El-moor]

Sometimes it happens to send back, after a couple of months, reference material given by the prospective client at the first meeting. It is delivered at their office with a handwritten note. I usually get an answer explaining why we didn't get the job or asking me to set up a new meeting to get it done. In my opinion, it is good anyway. If you don't get the job, at least you can know why.

[Ilise Benun]

Thanks everyone for all these comments. I'm fascinated by what actually gets people to respond and I love Jezra's Brooklyn Community Bookstore example.

Heidi, to answer your question, I got the answer I needed so not much more back and forth was appropriate but the mistake definitely unblocked the communication.