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The Seller's
Challenge in the Internet Age
The
seller has the reverse problem from the buyer. Again the seller may understand
how his potential buyer thinks. Perhaps he or she worked in that field.
The solution the seller has developed would work very well for the potential
buyer. The potential buyer would probably like to hear more about the
product or service, if only he or she knew that your company existed.
However that impregnable defense against unwanted email messages keeps
you out, even though it was designed to keep out the sp*mmers of the world.
A
way for responsible sellers to communicate with reasonable buyers
If
this responsible seller is to communicate with this reasonable buyer,
then something has got to give. If both sides give a little, then both
can win at very little extra effort. The way this is done is to follow
the Hermes Protocol. This involves a little more work on the seller's
part. However in a "permission marketing" based world, where customers
dictate how they are sold to, this work is something the seller should
be doing anyway.
E-mail
messages that follow the Hermes Protocol are called h-mail.
For
the buyer, there is very little extra work at all. The buyer must be willing
to weaken the email security sufficiently so that the subject lines
of h-mail from unknown sellers can be seen. However the Hermes Protocol
ensures that merely from the subject line, a potential buyer can very
quickly decide either to read more information on what is being offered
or put off any further contacts from the seller for at least 6 months.
Of
course the potential buyer can also decide to label the source as a junk-mail
sender and block mail from that source forever. The result for the buyer
is exactly the same as if the Hermes Protocol did not apply. Of course,
the responsible seller will not know why no reply has been received. So
he or she will continue to try to contact the potential buyer by any means
they can. In this case, the potential buyer has not used the full potential
of the Hermes Protocol to block sales solicitation for a time.
The
Hermes Protocol is very much a win/win situation for both responsible
sellers and reasonable buyers. The next section gives the details of the
Hermes Protocol.
The
Hermes Protocol
The
full details of the Protocol can be found at the following webpage, http://www.smmbc.ca/h.htm
Click on the link to open the page in a new window. Here we give a summary
of the main points.
The
Hermes Protocol requires that a responsible seller follow all the rules,
without exception. The rules cover the following points:
-
No automatic computer-based methods to crawl the World Wide Web to capture
e-mail addresses for sales solicitation
- Sales solicitation limited to those potential customers, who will
see superior benefits
- Verification by other means that e-mail addresses are correct
- Some effort spent in seeking permission by telephone or by regular
mail to send email information on products and services
Only one h-mail is sent introducing the products and services including
the following elements:
Subject line like this:
[H] Description of product or service being offered.
[H]
First line of text like this:
[H] This h-mail is governed by the Hermes Protocol.
See end of message for details. [H]
Last paragraph of text like this:
[H] This h-mail is sent to you under the terms
of the Hermes Protocol. Further information on the Hermes Protocol can
be found at http://www.smmbc.ca/h.htm It is believed
that the products and services offered to you can provide superior benefits.
If you do not want follow-up sales solicitation within the next 6 months,
then click on the reply button and send a blank reply including this
message. You will not be recontacted within the next 6 months, unless
you contact us to permit this. We apologize for any inconvenience caused
to you. [H]
The
advantage of such an h-mail is that, without opening the message and from
the subject line only, the potential buyer can do any of the following:
a)
Add this source to their junk e-mail addresses.
b) With two mouse clicks, send a blank email response signaling
no sales solicitation for at least 6 months
c) View the body of the email message for potential current interest.
The
seller undertakes not to recontact within 6 months any potential
customer who sends a blank reply.
The
advantages of the Hermes Protocol to the potential buyer
The
key advantage to the potential buyer is that h-mail signals that some
responsible seller has put some effort into tracking you down as a potential
buyer.
The
advantages of sending a blank reply rather than just adding the sender
to the junk e-mail sender list are:
It
cuts down on future e-mail messages and other forms of sales solicitation
for at least 6 months
It signals to a responsible seller that you are not currently in the
market but could be down the road
The advantages
of the Hermes Protocol to the responsible seller
The
advantage to the responsible seller is that h-mail is a privileged form
of communication. It signals that the seller has put some efforts into
identifying potential buyers. It also signals that you are responsible.
You do not wish to solicit sales if the purchaser is not interested.
It
is very tough to put the key content of your offer in a single subject
line. However this is the burden you accept in using the Hermes Protocol.
You are doing this so that potential buyers can very quickly determine
their current interest in what you are offering.
Using
the Hermes Protocol versus strict filters on your email in-basket
Strict
filters on your email in-basket are a severe way of coping with the email
flood problem. They reject all possible sources of new information. This
is an extreme solution to cope with a minor but nevertheless very irritating
problem.
The
Hermes Protocol encourages better behaviour to deal with the same problem.
It forces sellers to work harder to prepare the email messages they do
send out. When the potential purchaser puts a priority on reviewing their
h-mail, they are more likely to be seeing information that could be useful
to them.
A
possible problem with the Hermes Protocol and its solution
The
only problem with the Hermes Protocol is if unscrupulous sellers decide
to adopt the format of h-mail without accepting the constraints. Perhaps
they feel this will get them under the defenses of potential purchasers.
However given that the subject line must clearly state what is offered,
it is unlikely that the [H] at the beginning and end of the subject line
will make an inappropriate offering any more likely to get acceptance.
Potential
purchasers should be vigilant in applying tougher standards for information
given in an h-mail. If it seems clear that the sender has not followed
the Hermes Protocol, even though the subject line had the [H] / [H] format,
then the sender should be added to your junk email senders list and the
message deleted without reading.
When
both potential purchasers and responsible sales persons work vigorously
within the Hermes Protocol, then gradually h-mail can become the means
by which both become more effective in doing their jobs. At best, the
Hermes Protocol forces sellers to do a much more effective job. At worst,
the Hermes Protocol creates only a minor inconvenience to potential purchasers,
when unscrupulous sellers attempt to use it.
Conclusion
The
Hermes Protocol is a self-imposed discipline for responsible sellers.
SMM
will be happy to assist you in building your marketing and selling program
to use this to maximum effectiveness.
If you wish to use this approach, SMM will be happy to work with you. Our help can be configured to meet exactly the needs you have. Our strengths, experience, creativity and practical common sense can complement those of your company. So write us a Fast Message today, , on what you're looking for.
Barry
Welford
Feedback
So
do you agree or disagree? Will you be using the Hermes Protocol? Is there
some part of this where you have a problem? Whatever your reaction, please
give us your feedback. In this way, we can tune the contact of future
Newsletters to better meet your needs.
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