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Comment by anemitz | Hacker News Reader

Not sure why there's such backlash against the idea of calling customers. You signed up for a service. If you're at all serious, there's a good chance getting a call right away will either 1) help overcome some stumbling blocks with activation or, 2) leave you with a feeling of personal connection. Both are good things in my book.

But yes, of course, no one wants to get a used car salesman calling them and stuffing a sale down their throat. That's not what this post is advocating. But in case you're worried (or not serious about using the service) there's an easy way to avoid getting a call: don't enter a phone number (or at least a real one).

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I think the key thing is for there to be a reason behind the call (other than "we hope this will help conversions).

If you're early stage and doing customer development it makes sense because their input actually will be important to the direction of the product. If your product is complex, comes with a range of options and/or is very niche and high-value it makes sense because users feel your call actually might help them. If your ideal client is the VP Business Development or Marketing Manager and effective use of your product directly affects their bottom line they probably want to talk with you, and if you're selling a solution to a particular large enterprise problem there's probably someone whose job is talking to people like you.

On the other hand, if your typical customer is a mid-level software developer who can probably grok what your product does on the rare occasions they're likely to use it, they'll call you. And there's something quite dubious about most consumer products sold through cold calls.

Less intuitively, senior people within organizations (if you can reach them) are often much more willing to discuss in detail because they're used to being asked for feedback and seeing that feedback implemented, and making purchasing decisions isn't a painful process for them. Their career advancement has often been aided by their willingness to listen to people with useful suggestions too...

Not all of us get warm fuzzy feelings of personal connections from unsolicited marketing calls.

Sure, it'd be bad if it were a marketting call. No one wants to be called for an upsale.

But what if the call is just part of the onboarding process to answer your questions better than any FAQ could?

I'd still be irked that some "customer-centered" jackass thinks so little of my time that he'd call me in an attempt to play a game of 20 questions about what questions I might have.

Look, if I want to know about your product, I'll let you know. Read the last four words of the previous sentence again: I will let you know.

Ah, its my mistake for phrasing it as if the question was posed to you in particular. I meant it in a rhetorical sense... speaking about a general population.

On HN, we're entrepreneurs and ought not to care about outliers when it comes to making business decisions. If most people will benefit from a phone call, and those who don't benefit won't be too adversely impacted then I say.... make the call.

As with many things in life, what works for you may not work for everyone.

Some people don't even know what they want to know. In the words of that great poet, Donald Rumsfeld: "there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don't know." [1]

That said, here's something that works for most people when they get an unwanted call: "I don't want to talk about your product. Do not call me again. Have a nice day."

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_known_knowns

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