The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

I love the thrill of getting stuck into something new.

The inquisition into how a business runs.

The exploration of how others see it and the category it plays in.

The history of why it started not just what is is doing.

All coming together to help formulate a point of view for the discussions you’ll have.

I’m not saying it’s easy. And in this economy, it will not only be harder to encourage new ways to tackle old problems … they’ll be more companies trying to do the same thing, often using price as their leverage rather than rigour.

Oooooh, look at me being all judgemental. But I’ll stick with it.

Anyway, the point is, new business is the lifeblood of all business.

What you do and how you do it may alter, but bringing in new clients and projects is oxygen. Not simply for the financial strength of the company, but the ability to reinvent who you are with every assignment.

Now there’s lots of ways people and companies approach new business but one I loathe is the speculative letter. Blanket and blind correspondence trying to make you care about something that you didn’t ask for and don’t really want to consider.

But as bad as that is, there’s now one that is even worse.

The blanket and blind lazy letter.

I know … I know … what could be lazier than blanket and blind?

Well, I’ll tell you, this …

Everything about this is hateful to me.

+ The suggestion they know someone who has told them what I am looking to do at work.

+ The desperate attempt to close with a call.

Does this approach work?

Does anyone take them up on this scam?

What makes it even more of a joke is the Clustox website claims they ‘build software that grows businesses and startups’.

What software is that exactly? Spam software.

I tell you what would help you Clustox … know who the fuck you are talking to.

It’s not hard.

At the very least, make sure the person you’re writing to has some relevance to what you’re flogging. Has some connection to the industry you claim to serve and can assist with.

In fact the only effective thing this piece of unsolicited communication has done is ensure I will never work with you – even if I suddenly want to hire oodles of tech engineers.

And that’s exactly what I’ll tell Patricia when we talk next week.