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September 3, 2025 15 mins

Have you ever been bombarded with sales calls after showing the slightest interest in a product or service? That frustrating experience is exactly what we tackle in this candid conversation about marketing follow-up strategies that actually work—and the ones that drive potential customers away forever.

Carmen shares her maddening experience with a lawn service that wouldn't stop calling despite clear boundaries, while another team member describes the overwhelming vendor calls following the SHRM conference—up to 20 daily contacts from people trying to "help" with hotel arrangements through aggressive tactics.

At the heart of our discussion is a fundamental question: are you building a transactional business or a relationship-based one? The transactional approach relies on volume and frequency—bombarding prospects until someone eventually says yes. It might work occasionally, but at what cost to your reputation and the feelings of those on the receiving end? We contrast this with our preferred "three-touch method" that respects boundaries while still providing multiple opportunities for engagement.

The most valuable takeaway might be learning to listen to what potential clients are communicating, both explicitly and implicitly. When someone ignores multiple outreach attempts, they're saying "not now" or "not ever." Respecting that message preserves dignity on both sides and leaves the door open for future connection when timing is right. Remember: business development isn't about trapping reluctant prospects; it's about finding the right matches at the right time.

Curious about implementing a follow-up strategy that builds relationships instead of burning bridges? Listen now, and then share your own experiences with marketing outreach that either impressed or irritated you. We'd love to hear your perspective!

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Karman (00:00):
Hello, Tammy and Scott.

Tammy (00:04):
Good morning Karman.

Scott (00:05):
Hello, Miss Karman.

Karman (00:08):
Oh, we get soft-spoken Scott.
There's another word I wasn'tcoming up with Sweet.

Tammy (00:14):
Scott, sweet Scott.
It's Sweet Scott.
I'm always sweet.
Yeah, he eats candy all thetime, so that's probably it.

Karman (00:21):
Yeah, a man after my own heart in that sense.

Scott (00:26):
As you know, people here's the thing the interns and
others are.
You know, I try and have alittle bit of ice cream every
day and they're like why do youeat so much ice cream?
And I'm like I have a geneticdisorder.
And they're like what?
I'm like?
Yes, my body does not make itsown ice cream, so I have to

(00:47):
supplement.
And I would prefer, like, ifpeople would not call me out on
my medical condition.

Tammy (00:54):
I love it.
You know, my father sufferedfrom that same thing.

Scott (00:59):
I mean, I'm seeing it become more and more common.

Tammy (01:02):
You know, it's one of those things that people we
really don't talk about it much,but I think there are many,
many people who suffer from thatsame issue.

Scott (01:12):
I mean pretty soon, it's going to be a protected class.

Karman (01:15):
People whose bodies don't make ice cream.

Scott (01:18):
Ice cream or nerds clusters or any other number of
things.

Tammy (01:23):
Sour Patch Kids, whatever .

Scott (01:25):
Sour Patch Kids.
Yeah, Sour Patch Kids, yeahyeah, First they're sour, then
they're sweet.
Oh sorry.

Karman (01:29):
Yes See, sour, sweet, you know.
I mean we can talk about Scottbeing sweet, but I've also seen
him.
You know, go papa bear onpeople who do not follow the
expectations.

Tammy (01:46):
They don't meet the minimum expectations.

Scott (01:50):
You mean I hold people accountable.
That's f***ing crazy.

Karman (01:54):
So we were talking the other day about marketing and
how people follow up with you,how people follow up with you,
you, us.
You know, in broad generalstrokes, years ago I said yes to
lawn service.
I was like, yes, I want aspring treatment and a fall

(02:17):
treatment.
Thank you very much.
And they called me everyfreaking week all summer long
and said, how about another one?
How about now?
How about now?
And be like no, we had a springone and a fall one.
Well, how about now?
Like if you don't stop callingme, I will never work with you
again.
How about now?
And I was like no.

(02:38):
And so whenever a thing comesin the mail from that particular
lawn service, my husband makessure to leave it in a very
special place for me, because heknows it's going to send my
blood pressure right through theroof.

Tammy (02:53):
Todd is so sweet, such a kind man, that he wants to
actually push your buttons Right.

Karman (03:01):
A friend was telling me last week they had the same
experience with a customer andwhat are the wrong ways to make

(03:33):
sure that people never want tohear from you again?

Tammy (03:39):
Well, it's interesting that you brought that up,
because Jen is our contact thatput all together everything for
SHRM 25.
When we went to the NationalSHRM Conference just a bit ago,
one of the things that we foundout by kind of being a speaker
there and attending and all ofthat, is that they sell the list

(04:00):
.

Scott (04:00):
They sure do, they sure do.

Tammy (04:02):
And Jen has been getting not only emails but phone calls,
because for her she had to puta phone number in because we
were speaking and all thosetypes of things, and she told me
she's getting 20 a day aboutthe hotel arrangements for the
26 conference in Orlando.
Okay, and these people get onthe phone and it's like hey, you

(04:26):
know, you need, you need tomake your hotel arrangements.
And she's like I've alreadymade my hotel arrangements.
Thank you very much, I'm takingcare of.
Well that, how much did you pay?
Well, I'm very satisfied withour hotel arrangements.
Well, we can get you a betterdeal because they probably
ripped you off.
Actually, I'm very satisfiedwith my hotel arrangements.
Well, I think you should lookat it again.

(04:46):
Well, I'll make that decisionsome other time, but right now
I'm satisfied.
Well, when are you going tomake that decision?
This is exactly theconversation she and I had about
this last week.
Now, first of all, I would havehung up way earlier.
You don't hang up, you don'tanswer the phone.

Scott (05:03):
To begin with, Number one you don't answer the phone.
Number two if you answer thephone, it's I'm not interested.
Remove me from your call list.
Put me on your do not call list.
Have a lovely day.
Click Absolutely, yeah, givethem my number, give them my
office number.

(05:23):
We're going to have some fun.

Karman (05:27):
Listeners.
Scott's office number is 1-800.

Tammy (05:34):
All right.
So, mr Bergmeier, what is, inour humble opinion?
How do you?
You've made a commitment.
So let's say we're the peoplewho are quote unquote, selling.
Okay, how do you go about thatprocess of serving them without

(05:54):
driving them insane?

Scott (05:56):
Well, and I think when I step back, I think we have to
separate the.
In my mind it's also a kind ofbusiness, so I think of lawn
care or other B2C business toconsumer.
You're probably going to get alot of push, marketing and
pushing things to you, whetherthat's mailings, phone calls,

(06:17):
outreach, whatever that is andthere's some level of follow-up.
And Beth and I were looking atsome furniture this last Friday
and we went to a place you knowhere there is no Nebraska
Furniture Mart or Homemakers, soI looked up what's the
equivalent and it took us to aspecific place in Houston.

(06:39):
We walked in and there wereprobably 12 salespeople at the
front desk who just swarmed youand I'm like, oh my gosh, this
is what it's like to getbombarded with e-marketing,
except it's in person.

Tammy (06:55):
You just showed interest, and now the whole world.
And, by the way, this happensif you go out on the internet
and start typing in oh for sureLocation to such and such place.

Scott (07:05):
The next thing you know, you have all of this stuff
that's headed towards you, yep,yeah, and so it's just, it's
fascinating, like we'll never dobusiness there, no, never.

Tammy (07:15):
Like we'll never do business there.

Scott (07:16):
No, never, like we walked around.
I think we spent like eightminutes in the place.
So, right, there's a feel.
So I think it's also this howdo you want your customer or
your potential customer to feel?
I love that, scott.
I think if there's so muchnoise, I may have to bombard
them.
If there's so much noise, I mayhave to bombard them.

(07:37):
From my perspective, it is waymore about how am I building
some sort of relationshipconnection to understand their
need?
And this is where the research,if you look at e-marketing, is
like.
Depending on what you read,depending on who you read, then

(07:59):
I have success, which is weirdto me, versus I look at when we

(08:25):
approach it.
We use a three-touch method andwhen we were at SHRM, this is
what I said to people hey, weuse a three-touch method.
If you say you'd like to have aconversation, we're going to
reach out to you because you'vegiven us your contact
information.
We're going to reach out to youand we're going to try and set
up a time to have a conversation.
And then, if we don't hear fromyou seven, you know, five,

(08:45):
seven, ten days we're going toreach out again and if we don't
hear from you, we're going tosend what we call the breakup
email.
Hey, you're probably busy, yougot a lot going on.
We're just going to kind ofstep away and you know, if you
want to connect, let's have aconversation, and that is the

(09:09):
method we use.
Now, sometimes do we not followup as quickly as we would like.
I mean, we can have that wholewhole conversation, but to me
it's all about how do you wantthe person to feel, and what I
see a lot of people doing inmarketing is they're saying no,
no, no, it's spray and print.
I'm going to shoot a bunch ofstuff out there and pray.
Someone sees it, looks at it,which I guess you can do.

(09:31):
I mean, that's fine.

Tammy (09:32):
Well, I think, scott, one of the pieces that you really
have to decide, are you anorganization that's
transactional?
Are you looking at, I need awhole bunch of little wins, okay
, hit, hit, hit, hit, hit, hit,hit, and that makes you like
commodity, right?
There are other people who areselling the same thing that you

(09:55):
quote, unquote, sell, and so,therefore, you're hoping that,
of their a million choices, thatthey choose you.
And if they need that thing Ineed a mattress, or I need lawn
service, or I need a trainingprogram, like I'm just going to,
you know, keep pounding andwhen somebody needs that, my
name is going to be right there,or I actually hit them at

(10:18):
exactly the right moment andthey go yes, I do need that, and
they hit the button they moveforward with me.
I think, if that is thephilosophy of your organization,
the answer is do what they didto Karman, do what they're doing
to Jen.
You keep going, because all youneed is one person to say that

(10:38):
every blank, minutes, hours,seconds, whatever that thing is.
The question is is that, isthat the kind of organization
that you want to be?
We've made the decision that weare going to be in relationship
, which means I want you tochoose us and we want to choose
you.
Ok, you're never going tochoose the person that calls and
calls and calls, and calls, andcalls, and calls and calls to

(11:00):
have a deep relationship with.
You know that's not how you goabout having a deeper
relationship with someone.
And so eventually you know ifyou're in that relationship
You're dating.
Yeah, it is, it is, and in thatspace, if you're going to say

(11:21):
Wait, hold on?

Scott (11:22):
Isn't that?
Swipe left, swipe right.
I wonder if they make amarketing app that you can swipe
.
You know that's what theseconferences need to do.
Yes, If you want to talk tothis vendor.
Swipe left, swipe right.
That would be fantastic.

Tammy (11:38):
Actually, that would be super helpful for us, scott.
We should actually invent that.
That's not a bad idea, becausethink Sherm Head how many, how
many vendors do you think wereat National Sherm?

Scott (11:48):
Fifteen hundred probably.
And you can't guess, I don'tknow.

Tammy (11:52):
I mean, you would have to go if you were actually and
they did sell an exhibitor onlypass right.
You would have to to see a 1500, you would have to go, and
that's what you did the wholetime and not go to sessions.
So I mean, if you're lookingfor partners, that's a great
thing to do in that space.
But, honest, I think this pieceis like having a deeper

(12:14):
relationship, pieces like havinga deeper relationship.
And, Karman, it's interestingbecause we met a bunch of people
and we had conversations in thebooth and said do you want us
to follow up?
Okay, and we even had a cardthat said no, I'm only here for
the price.
Just, you can tell us that andthat's not a problem and we'll
give our stuff away.

(12:34):
That's great, we won't bug youat all.
But we had people who said, yes, please call me.
Okay, please call me about this.
We even had people who, at thatmoment, set a meeting, a
follow-up meeting, with us, andone of those people that we had
a follow-up meeting with and hada great conversation of all my
notes, actually was like why areyou contacting me?

(12:54):
And it was like hey, here'syour card.
Remember this conversation?
They're like no, not interestedand I know what happened is
they thought we were one ofthose transactional.
Somehow or another they didn'tremember who we were.
They thought we weretransactional and they'd been
bombarded by so many people thatwe just fell into that mix with
other people.
And that is that a problem withthat.

(13:16):
And it is why, if you want to bein relationship, you have to be
really, really clear.
And then you have to keep thesecommitments three and out,
because if you continue tobombard them, you are not in
relationship.
So what makes that relationshipwork?
Listening to what they've askedyou to do?
And if someone is ignoring you,they are saying not now or

(13:42):
sometimes, not ever, and youhave to be willing to accept
that and move on.
And I think honestly, that's thebiggest part is don't be afraid
to ask the question.
Okay, I've reached out a coupleof times and I don't want to be
that person that's justknocking on your door, knocking
on your door, knocking on yourdoor, knocking on your door.
So if you would like me tocontinue to kind of contact you

(14:04):
it's just the timing isn't rightLet me know, otherwise I'm just
going to go ahead and put youin this list.
We'll send you a newsletter andyou can reach out when you're
ready.
That is accepting the messagethat you've been given and
ultimately, to me, it's not eventhree and you're out.
It's asking the question andthen giving them the chance to

(14:27):
opt out in that, instead of justassuming that they want to talk
to you and keep bombarding.
I can't stand it.
I don't know anybody who can.
So listen to the no, Accept theno and live with it.
It's no big deal.
There'll be another opportunityfor you to do business with
someone else later.
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