‘Out of Office’ e-mails can be worth plenty

Think twice before you cross off a lead because you got an “out of office” e-mail response. It may contain valuable intel you can turn to your advantage.

For example, it might say something like, “I’m out of the office on vacation and will return Oct. 21st. For immediate assistance please contact my assistant Diana at diana.jones@monolith.com, or call her at 555-213-6543. For operations issues e-mail fred.smith@monolith.com.

(Signed) Steve Marshall, VP Operations, 555-213-3456 direct 555-312-8998 cell.”

In this example you’ve got two other relevant contacts to pursue: the admin as well as Fred Smith. Contact either or both of them to start a conversation.

You also have solid intel in the prospect’s automated e-mail signature block, including title, direct dial phone line and cell number, which you probably didn’t have before.

Source: A post by Michael Damphousse at www.green-leads.com