I received an email from a printer in Tennessee not long ago that read, “Thanks for the opportunity to provide some pricing. Attached is my proposal for your consideration.”
My initial thought was, this was one of two things: Spam or sent to the wrong guy. So, I replied to the email (without opening the attachment, just in case) to let the sender know he had the wrong guy. A few hours later, he wrote back…
“Bill, I’m so sorry but what you received was spam. My account was hacked and the attachment contained malicious software. Do not open!”
I replied something like, “No worries” and quickly forgot about the whole episode.
Later that day, the printer wrote to me again to say, “The funniest thing came from this hacking I just had to share it with you. The email was sent to everyone in my address book and two people got back to me and placed orders! Despite the fact they knew it was a bad email, it reminded them of something they needed.”
The lesson here is not to use the malware approach but rather work to stay top of mind with your clients. Top accounts require regular contact. Send them something regarding their industry to let them know you are keeping them close (as the late great Dan Canzoniero would say). To the others, either send an email to replace the occasional phone call reminding them of your capabilities. There is no downside to remaining top of mind and it shouldn’t take an email account hacking to prove its value.
