Minutes after I posted my comments about holiday greetings disguised as sales pitches, I received another one…from Eloquah.

I just love how they are “celebrating their clients success in the changing world of marketing” – what does that mean exactly? Guess that’s the typical marketing speak we’ve come to expect from corporate. The funny thing is that I’ve never spent a dime with Eloquah, though I did present at one of their user groups talking about how marketing needed to get a sales mindset…I digress. How exactly does Eloquah know if I’m successful in this new world of marketing or not? Just wondering.

Soft sell to be sure, but this is basically a “Happy Holidays and aren’t we so great” email. They would likely argue that they’re just doing their job thanking their customers for helping them achieve #1 lead generation tools status. Seems to me that this is more about them and not much about their actual customer. Oh, and I love how in the p.s. they remind you that if you aren’t sure if marketing automation is right for you…talk to Joe the CEO. Is that like Joe the Plumber?

Anyway, this is certainly more subtle than other holiday emails I’ve received recently. AND this is exactly what I think is wrong. Great sales and great marketing is about building relationships.

There is a time to be real!

There is a time to forgo “selling”. People become jaded with these sorts of things. It turns them off, which means they then won’t buy from you! Get it?

Whatever happened to just saying Happy Holidays with no other agenda attached?

Lately, I feel that certain business people out there have stooped to new lows in their search for the clever email subject line that gets their message read.

In the past 2 weeks, I’ve received countless emails from people wishing me a happy holiday or so it seems. Several of these people I barely know so why I’m on a newsletter list I didn’t ask to be included on well… that’s definitely a subject for another post.

Here’s the deal. If you know me and want to send me a holiday greeting – cool. Thank you! I enjoy the well wishes and back at ya!

But for those of you who have decided to use a holiday greeting as an opportunity to sell me something…that’s just sleezy! Have a little integrity and be honest about what you are doing! Kindly leave your sales pitch at the door and stop including it in my Christmas card.