Vendor Fair Etiquette: Is It Tacky to Solicit Business Through Email?

[reba515]

am I just being _itchy!!!??

I am doing a vendor fair tomorrow night at a pre-school and the organizer has been emailing all the vendors w/ details.

so this morning I get a e-mail form the Tupperware rep with her website and how to order info and a note saying we should have our orders ready in case we're busy working our tables,blah blah.
I just hit delete...whatever

Then I get home from work and there several more emails form other companies saying the same crap.

I guess my way of thinking is "if someone doesn't GIVE ME their email knowing what for, I am NOT going to solicit biz from them this way" I also think it's totally taking advantage of the organizer who most likely never even thought she should BCC everything.

so back to my question???? am i just being a witch for thinking this? just because I don't choose to run my biz this way? would you do this??

 

[Stampaholic1961]

I think you are completely justified in your feelings. You didn't ask to be on their mailing lists so they are spammers. The organizer needs to be told about it too.
It makes me so angry when people don't use BCC!!! It's one of my pet peeves!!

 

[GeorgiaPeach]

I think you are completely justified in your feelings. You didn't ask to be on their mailing lists so they are spammers. The organizer needs to be told about it too.
It makes me so angry when people don't use BCC!!! It's one of my pet peeves!!

I agree. I think it's just rude to not BCC people and then to USE those email addresses is just wrong.

I'd wait until after the event and then email all those people and ask them to remove you!

 

[sarahlegare]

Yeah, although I can see their point of view (fresh, new blood!!), it's wrong for them to solicit you if you never even signed up for their mailing list! Maybe they actually think they have the best products around & they're doing you a favor! ROTFLMAO!!!!!
I agree with Lisa though~wait til after the event & have them remove you!! Good luck at the fair!

 

[JAE]

I would not wait to tell the organizer about using BCC, though. I don't hesitate to tell people to please use BCC, but many people don't know how and don't think about it. An organizer of an event really needs to comply, though.

 

[DebbieJ]

Wow, that's rude! I would never dream of doing that!

 

[PCJenni]

This just reminds me how I want to run my business, how I don't want to run my business!

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Here is a slightly different perspective......

I just participated in a Fundraiser Vendor Fair this past Saturday. I was invited to join them, because a great host of mine is friends with the organizer, and they were looking for a PC consultant - so she told them about me. Almost all of the other vendors there were friends, and belong to a DS Networking Group......they all know each other, and have done this event together before, so none of the emails I received were BCC - they probably didn't see any need for them to be. They all ordered from each other and checked out each others booths at the event ~ and did the same for me. In fact, 2 of them booked shows with me, and they asked if I would like to join their Networking Group.......(I'm not, because I have a recruit who lives more in that area, so I am going to have her get in contact with them.)

So, I would hesitate with protesting, if you aren't familiar with the group, and wait and find out the "lay of the land".......this may be opening up a whole new world of contacts for you too!

 

[JAE]

Becky, I don't disagree with you very often, but I'm going to have to on this one. Only because I think people should always BCC when sending an e-mail to a list. It is considered SPAMMING when someone solicits business from you over e-mail w/o permission from you to send things to your e-mail. I would only say something to the organizer, and I would say it in a nice way, also showing her/him how to use BCC.

 

[Shawnna]

I don't like to get a lot of unasked for email, but I would just hit the spam button on my email account and go on. You won't get any more emails from them. I might suggest BCC...maybe she doesn't know about it. But, I have found that responding to unwanted emails...and other annoying things...only puts more stress on me. I just hit the spam button and release the bad feelings.

 

[reba515]

thanks ladies for making feel better! I was really (and don't often) thinking I was blowing things out of proportion!

I will let the organizer know that next time she should BCC. She's a past host of mine (a few times) and I feel comfortable telling her what happened.

I won't say anything to the vendors because I really couldn't be bothered (at this point) to care about how they run their biz.:angel: now that was _itchy !

 

[Chef Kearns]

Reba, you can look at it this way...they just given you permission to add them to your contact list. SPAM their's and add them to your newsletter list.

In all honesty though, I think you should inform the organizer that you didn't appreciate the unwanted emails and to please use BCC. However, I would, like Becky says wait to get the lay of the land. Other consultants can be VERY beneficial to our business. I have had several email or call me with information on upcoming events. However they've never solicited business from me (not really). I've been added to some of their newsletters, but just delete the ones I'm not interested in and move on.

 

[LibrarianChef]

The main person sending out the email should always BCC the group to protect personal email addresses. Making private email addresses publicly open without your permission goes against every nettiquette business rule list I've ever read, but the person doing it often doesn't know about that or even think about how it might appear. I have contacted people before to request they protect my address by using the BCC function. It's not too surprising when they do that for EVERYONE next time they send out a group email. But as far as all the business owners sending mass emails by grabbing email addresses off a list... shame, shame.

I DO think it's great when owners of different booths work together and give one another business. During the last booth I ran everyone was going to each other's booths when we had a slow stretch. It was definitely more personal and inviting than a mass email.