What is your preferred method of being contacted by a sales person?

I am Old School, face to face works me, I respect people with drive and not afraid to meet eye to eye. He/she may have a product or service, I was not aware of, plus if I am interested I can ask questions to a warm body in front of me. I get  what seems like a million texts and emails, they all blur into a vast pile of "blow that off for now bin"and are soon forgotten.  Old school is still the best,eye to eye is still the best.Flock shooting emails or texts anyone can blow them off,similiar to the phone,the gate keepers control that to.

There is an awful lot of "don't, I'll find you" here.  While I completely understand that none of us wants to be called/emailed/hounded by sales people, there is definitely no way I could possibly see every need I have or know about every product that is out there to solve it.   Additionally, I would rather support people in my community than someone at a national level...but of course when I look myself to solve a problem I am more likely to find the national person and not even realize that my neighbor could have helped.  

At the end of the day I prefer when people network their way to me.  If I can have a casual conversation with someone I know and they have an idea that might help I'm glad when they have connected me to someone.

I have just read many of the responses. Yes this is the information age but not everything is black and white. The internet may have information but as on the news, not everything is totally correct or true. It also depends on how you do your search. Enter the incorrect data and you might leave out the most important product or service that could have helped. Just because you spend a lot of money for marketing does not mean you are the best solution.

If you cannot take a few moments to listen to someone and if they said something that perked your interest than make an appointment with them for later discussion. If not you can then say no thank you. If the world has gotten that cold then I feel sorry for the way is world is turning.

Many others say communicate by email, voice message or drop off literature  but make it impossible to do so. These are the same companies that will not give out contact information or if they do, they are not even professional enough to send a short reply - NOT INTERESTED or thanks but not now.

Yes it is difficult to be a sales person, but all of them need to make a living the same as you do and many are worth seeing. They may just have what you have been looking for. 

I do not have customers but am lucky enough to have clients. People I take care of and communicate with the way they would like. I am their point of contact for all types of issues and not 5 different departments from the internet site and none of them know what I have purchased from them and why - nor do they care.

Just my thoughts.

Unless I have asked for the product or service, I prefer no contact at all.  I am in an entrepreneur and share my products with people who request my help..  People come to me organically. Cold calling is unacceptable and intrusive...there, I said it 🤣

I prefer written communication either by email or text. This allows me time to think and prepare and ultimately decide if I want to hear about what they are selling. 

I also like when sales people post videos on social media about their products & services and build a follow. Then if I decide to follow them I’m just about sold on them.   Then I would reach out to them for purchasing.  “attract” marketing vs “attack” marketing.  

Referral!

Morse code

A PROPER email or connection request through Alignable or other platforms is preferred. Meaning... NEVER send a spam email trying to sell me your services with no contact information - that is the quickest way to get reported as spam and blocked. Instead, your first contact should simply be an introduction which INCLUDES all of your contact information so that I know you are a legitimate business person and not some scammer. Alignable was created for this very purpose. It's not about selling right away, rather it's about building and growing your relationships that can potentially lead to business.

When it comes to connecting with sales representatives, I appreciate a well-crafted email as my preferred method. It allows me to review the information at my convenience and engage when I'm ready. However, everyone's preferences can differ, so offering multiple communication options like phone calls or even virtual meetings might cater to a wider range of business owners' preferences. Flexibility is key in ensuring effective communication. Thank you for considering our preferences – it truly makes a difference! 📧📞🏬

Networking and referrals. 

The worst are the nondescript linked in messages asking to have a "quick chat".  If I had a "quick chat" with everyone in my inbox, that would be a full time job.  

If you do send a LI message, be very transparent about what you want and what you are selling.  Vagueness goes in the spam file.