After having some very long conversations with vendors at ad:tech, it is pretty interesting to see the various types of follow-ups. Many companies just threw me on a newsletter list. An alarming amount of companies sent nothing at all. Perhaps they did not have a strategy for following up prior to the show?

Here are two of my favorite follow-ups in no particular order.

1. A voicemail left for me very early in the morning (6am). Guess he didn’t notice I was based out of California. That’s ok. What was funny is that he sounded like an awkward teenager hastily reading a script, trying to sprinkle in my first name as heavily as he could.

2. An email from a company where I must have dropped my business card in the fish bowl for some prize. The email did not reference the prize.

Dear Contact:

Unfortunately, you were not one of our winners, but you have still a chance to boost your email marketing results for FREE! Just sign up for a free _______ new account and get our exclusive Marketing Secrets Guide at ….

Why does this second follow-up response make me feel like doing anything in the world but visiting their link? When a company puts your first name in a merge field at least you can pretend it is a personal note. Somehow this offer doesn’t feel very ‘exclusive’ or full of actual secrets just for me, mrs. contact person. When a name isn’t used in a personal style email one gets the sense the company is trying to speak to AT them rather than TO them. Taking the time to do show follow-ups makes the difference.

I will be at Dreamforce this week. Hope to see you there!  @annebot.