I've been a software tourist dozens of times. Even have a Google Voice mailbox just for software salesman to blackhole into.
I'm just curious about stuff. I want to play with the trial, read the manual, see the data sheets and whitepapers, etc. But your stupid website demands my contact information. I'm not trying to waste your time, and if you'd just let me at the damn PDFs I wouldn't.
>>I'm just curious about stuff. I want to play with the trial, read the manual, see the data sheets and whitepapers, etc. But your stupid website demands my contact information.
It's so that a few days after you download the PDF, someone can contact you and ask what you thought. I've been in that position a few times and I really appreciated it, because I was really busy and had totally forgotten to read the material.
Besides, it's a really, really good way to identify which companies are worth doing business with. You provide your contact info to five companies and then check to see which ones care enough to call you vs. just spam you with junk. IME signals like that matter as much as the product itself.
Why wouldn't it? Have an automated email sent ~8-11am in the morning their time, personalize it with their name, ask for their thoughts. They either reply or don't - either way, automation made sure you didn't waste any time.
OK, if you don't want to engage with the company, no need to engage. No need to make it a principles battle. Not every business is concerned about entertaining your itch for reading.
I assume you didn't accumulate the 128297 pdf's in the space of a day or a week or even an year (that would be over 351 pdf's per day, every day of the year). I assume you download like what? 10 pdf's per day? If you can take the time to visit 10 company websites and go through their documentation every day, I assume you cab find the time to read (and possibly respond to) 10 emails per day
If you can take the time to visit 10 company websites and go through their documentation every day, I assume you cab find the time to read (and possibly respond to) 10 emails per day
Many software professionals can become a free sales force if software companies would let them. I may tour dozens of solutions for different things - I'm educating myself on what's out there, and just because I'm not in your sales funnel now, it doesn't mean that I won't leave business at your door step in the future (which I've done several times throughout my career)
I'm just curious about stuff. I want to play with the trial, read the manual, see the data sheets and whitepapers, etc. But your stupid website demands my contact information. I'm not trying to waste your time, and if you'd just let me at the damn PDFs I wouldn't.