One of my biggest pet peeves in business is when communication is made without my permission. Now, first off, Permission Marketing is a concept that has been widely developed and evangelized by Seth Godin. It basically states that your most effective communication in business happens after your customer (or potential customer) has given you permission to market to them.

One example of this is when a user signs up for a newsletter. They have given that company permission to send them material.

Now, I do a LOT of business online. I email companies about products, prices, service terms, etc. I love to handle it over the web. It allows me to communicate when its most convenient for me, and in turn, they can respond when its most convenient for them. (Its a win-win)

Here's my pet peeve: When I go onto a website and submit a form asking for them to contact me, and they CALL me back! (Especially if I selected the "Email" option from their dropdown asking what is the best method to contact me) If I really wanted to TALK to someone, wouldn't I just call their toll free number? The same thing can happen when I email a vendor asking a question, and they call me right away.

People think that any contact is permission, but its not. I now have to make sure I put in a fake phone number if I want to make sure to not get called.

Are you responding with Permission?


Check out Seth's book, I highly recommend his material: