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Conversations don't always go the way you'd like.
Posted by Laura Chavoen on April 22, 2008
That’s today’s lesson. Actually, a lesson from last week.
I received a response to my email last week, and it was very clear and concise if not appreciative of the decision we’ve made to move forward redesigning our website in a transparent manner.
I’ve edited the email for brevity and to remove any potential identifiers of the author.
Laura, can I get you to stop sending me these messages? I really don’t care about your web site, your thinking about your web site, what you think about the nature of conversations, or any of that. What I want is for you to do a web site in total silence, without continually asking me what I think, without self-conscious, self-aggrandizing self videos, without displays of how clever and progressive you and imagination are. Your web site is your preoccupation, not mine.
So please, take me off your mailing list, and save all of us the continuing harassment of that insecure question, “what do you think?” It is unseemly and completely inappropriate, a waste of time, a waste of effort, etc.
The point that is clearly being made is that conversations are not a one-way street. If someone is not interested in a conversation, they close the door. Initiating a conversation is always an opportunity, but sometimes that path doesn’t lead anywhere. And that’s okay. But if you don’t reach out, try, engage, you’ll never know what people are thinking….both good and bad.
The respondent is right about a few things. We are trying to show how progressive we are. We are doing this because our clients HIRE us because we are smart, forward-thinking, strategic. The respondent is also right that our site is our preoccupation. In today’s business environment, and in our industry, our website is one of our primary marketing tools. As such, it needs and deserves a great deal of attention.
The respondent may also be right that my video was self-aggrandizing. It was not meant to be that way, nor did I think it turned out that way, but that is certainly feedback that I am taking to heart, and will use to help vet future content for the site, as that is NOT one of our business objectives nor a brand attribute.
And although you can all mock me for this, please, let me know what you think of this email. I need to know so I can make better, smarter, informed decisions moving forward.
P.S. This also speaks to knowing your customer before you try to engage them and start a conversation. I’m planning to call the author of this email because it is a perspective on my business that is important to me, and I’d like to know what channel or medium would be best for engaging him/her. This is what we do here at Imagination!
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Comments
Andrea Scott said on April 23, 2008, 10:57 PM
I couldn't agree more with Bud. If everyone loved what we were doing and had nothing constructive to say about our process, I'd think that something was wrong. In life and in business you surely can't please everyone. I actually find that most often it's the harshest criticism that can serve as the biggest catalyst for change.
Laura - I'm glad you shared this on our site because I think it shows a different side of this process, which is important to note, even if its not pretty. The business that we're in relies on the existence of a partnership with us and our clients. We may think what we're doing is amazing - and without the feedback from them, we have no clue as to whether or not we're on course. Likewise, while they don't always love what we have to tell them, our clients' success depends on our ability to have those kinds of conversations and exchanges.
Why do I feel like I just summed up an after-school special? :)
Joel said on April 24, 2008, 08:52 PM
I'm not exactly sure of the circumstances surrounding this angry email but after reading the edited version I am moved to point out a few things:
1) At the end of each email blast there is a link you can click on to unsubscribe from the list. You ought to avail yourself of the option, angry emailer, if you have not done so already (which obviously was the case when you decided to write that email).
2) Additionally, emails are easy to delete, email filters are easy to set up, and certainly both of these options are less time consuming than writing out an angry letter. The time this person wasted each week dealing with the Imagination emails certainly increased many fold by writing Laura that message, which provides me a blissful pleasure as I wrap myself in the contradiction this person has laid at my feet.
3) A company website is inherently a vehicle of aggrandizement insofar as every successful website is simultaneously an advertisement for the website's content/products/services/etc. The charge that the videos are self-aggrandizing misses the mark. The issue is not that they're aggrandizing; it's that they're blatantly, overtly, uncomfortably aggrandizing. Imagination ought to work on doing more showing and less telling.
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Bud Caddell said on April 22, 2008, 06:47 PM
Conversations sometime mean you take it on the chin.
It's a valuable lesson to learn however, that the moment you knock on someone's door is all about content. Obviously, this client is not interested in what we're telling. (and what we're telling is being consumed by what we're selling)
Speaking broadly to all of our clients is a risk, but its a necessary risk to reintroduce not only ourselves, but our menu of services. Once these pleasantries are over, we will no doubt better our targeting and deliver more meaningful content to those audiences, or we'll be seeing more closed doors.