If you want to sell something to TechCrunch, or anyone, the best way of going about it isn’t to call people at their home number, accuse them of dishonesty, and then follow up with an email requesting a clearly unethical trading of services.
All those things happened to me in the last five minutes. An account executive from CDNetworks called on my home phone to discuss our content delivery needs. I said we were all set. I was asked if I traded content delivery for PR. I said “yes, we always trade stories for free stuff,” and, when she didn’t hear the sarcasm, told her I wasn’t being serious and that I was offended. We hung up.
Then I get a cheery email offering content delivery in “some type of exchange for some article write up or PR with TechCrunch.”
Sorry, that may be how the old trade magazine did things, but it isn’t how any ethical blog would behave. But you can have this post for free.
It’s worth noting that lots of companies give us free services all the time, and we often thank them with a link in the right sidebar. But asking for free press is just so distasteful. And I hate sales calls to my house.
Hi Michael,
Great chatting with you today. We are interested provide CDN in some type of exchange for
some article write up or PR with TechCrunch. If you are interested, would love to schedule a
call with my VP Marketing to discuss more.Let me know your level of interest.
Thanks
Update: A follow up email from CDNetworks:
Hi Michael,
I wanted to follow up with you regarding your exchange earlier today with one of our sales reps, which has caused some confusion and this rather critical blog post.
During this call, our sales rep thought she had contacted a technical decision maker at TechCrunch (not someone on the editorial side) regarding CDN services. Our records indicated that earlier this year, we were engaged with TechCrunch to perhaps provide CDN services free of charge in exchange for a notation on the website as the “official CDN provider for TechCrunch.” However, she apparently gave you the impression that she was trying to offer free CDN services in exchange for positive press.
I can assure you that this could not be further from the truth. In no way were we attempting to ask TechCrunch to compromise it’s journalistic integrity to provide PR in exchange for services. This is certainly not our company policy, and we know this is not the policy of TechCrunch.
Like many other companies, we are often asked to provide our CDN services free of charge to various companies (including non-profits) in a legitimate exchange for an acknowledgment such as “TechCrunch delivered to you by CDNetworks.” This is what our sales rep was referring to, but obviously she did not convey that to you clearly, hence the misunderstanding.
I’m sorry that we gave you the wrong impression on this call, and I’m VERY sorry that we contacted you at your home (we have removed that number from our data base). Thanks very much for allowing me to clear this up.
Sincerely,
Jim Campbell
Vice President of Marketing
CDNetworks
That was a bit mean Mike. She’s probably gonna get fired.
An employee should get fired though if that’s the way they think they should conduct themselves with the press.
She was wrong, but it shouldn’t have been posted here. She’s probably a college intern who cannot tell the difference between techcrunch and cnet news.
The thing is though, it’s unlikely she had a sudden brainwave that she would call up the head of a large tech review website with a genius idea of offering gifts in exchange for good PR. If she did, she does need to be fired (she probably should be anyway for that barely legible email, “We are interested provide CDN”? They’re going to give Mike the company for a writeup? Sweet deal)
But I’m guessing it’s company policy to pull this kind of crap
ouch …it’s actually cbsI now
P, you just supported your argument. If she’s that stupid, she needs to be fired and CDN shouldn’t have hired her in the first place!!
Haha nice shot at cnet
in any case I am not really surprised at her approachh
I’ve met people with no social skills at all “representing” other companies.
it casts their employers in a bad light
What is so bad about cnet news by the way?
either: A) she was probably instructed to pitch this proposal by the unnamed vp of marketing, meaning there is no grounds for termination; or B) she took it on her own to contact via home phone, which is usually reserved for established business relationships, not cold calls.
He didn’t place her on full blast naming names.
I would suggest if she is reading this:
Please let this issue go and do not attempt to fight Mike in any way on this issue. Learn from this mistake and let it slide, tomorrow is another day.
I wonder if the first comment had been something else, what would ppls reaction be?
You must have ran out of milk or got stuck on the can w/o TP this morning.
Let this salesperson be.
i am a bit grumpy today. Scoble pissed me off with that Droid/Pre nonsense.
We all have those days and people on the receiving side catch hell.
You have a lot more power/influence/whatever than the average grump. Use it responsibly and be aware that your posts can send more than the average tongue lashing. Sometime people are boners like Shukla and fan the flames with a leaf-blower, but other times it may just be an over-eager 20 something trying to catch a whale when they should be scooping up minnows.
trust me, i do use restraint. there’s lots and lots of stuff that never shows up here.
Write a book. Please. Seriously.
Signup to our site and get a free date!, no more grumpy.
Grumpy well Thats why theirs http://www.ventnation.com !..lol
Ha ha! Well, you’ve certainly held up your end of the bargain Mike, now I hope they deliver on theirs.
hey, wait a minute…
i thought you slept in till noon
what kind of rock star are you taking calls so early in the day?
dude, i get up at 7 am every day now. new leaf and all that.
yeah Scoble’s saying that Pre is better than Droid pissed me off too
but still, she only asked, you could gently rejected, its not her or your fault that whole media has been working like this for decades.
i will email her my apologies.
Yeah, with a limited time offer…
really? I adore you.
ok this sounded weird, delete this comment:)
Yes, yes it did…
But she could do her homework first. Lot of other people also can’t afford to make mistakes in their work, and will suffer consequences if they do.
From another note, I am not sure whether it is ok to re-publish private emails, regardless of their content.
We are interested provide CDN in some type of exchange
She should probably do her english homework first.
If it was only that easy right? Lol.
My question: How are they finding your house number? Directory block? How do you expect people to not try your home number if it so easy to find? I mean I wouldn’t lol, but someone looking to fill a quota and hit the motherload would.
yes, i guess that someone who’s willing to trade something for articles can’t really be expected not to call home numbers.
You’re just a negative-nancy. This is considered “ambitious” among some. Just like Pincus
Good job Michael but that surprises me further, then how some trash companies get listed on TechCrunch with positive reviews.
that’s just our poor judgment. There’s a reason I’m a blogger and not a venture capitalist.
You are very nice guy.
I agree with you 100% Mike. This is a breath of fresh air toward my feelings that commercialism runs the world. Thanks!
Keep up the good work.
Mike, take a chill pill or get a life. She is probably a new hire trying to get ahead.
taking chill pill now. searching on Internet for a life.
Using Google or Bing?
Let me guess; Bing will tell you how to live without all those pesky options (cult-like “decision” engine,) and Google tells you about everything but makes you find the path… (why did I climb this @#$%^&* mountain again?)
Have a better day
I’m pretty sure Wolfram Alpha was built for this. Off to check…
Nope, even the great Wolfram has failed us: http://www.wolf...I+get+a+life%3F
Back to square one. ><
Or am I just interpreting it wrong?
Nice one. However, you could add a page in TC stating how to get a hat tip (eg. Didn’t know that free service providers will get a link in TC before this post). Might save you some trouble.
| “Let me know your level of interest.”
… Done!
CRAP company. How much candy did you get from the competitor
I’d send you an Edible Arrangement if I knew your address.
Nothing like fruit on a stick to put a smile on my face.
Wow, her grammar sucks.
+1
How’s your Korean? It’s just a different culture, though this coverage seems a bit passive-aggressive.
The use of English is just horrible. Proofreading anyone?
owned
Arrington above the Fray FTW! Lawlz
You would think a company with 100mm in funding wouldnt have to resort to this, Jesus.
a hundred millimeter? I am scared!
If shes new then she gets to learn a very important lesson right away and if she isn’t new then well um she should have known better. Who cares? Point is you A. Don’t call people at home and B. Don’t try and trade product for press.
Michael: I have a crapload of Halloween candy left over. Here’s the deal: I’ll swap you the candy and take out your recycling for a month (I know you pound tough on weekends) for some killer press, free ads and a case of Lowenbrau.
Oh, and the Lowenbrau is for my dad… not me.
How the H-E-L-L does *anyone* other than Calacanis, your mother and Laguna have your home phone number??!
It may be a little mean to post this here, but she pretty obviously crossed a line with this whole situation too. Hopefully you can both get past it.
Brilliant! That salesperson was obviously told by whoever to do that, they should collectively be fired. Well, they got their free post anyway.
I’d say mission accomplished for this young soul. This is about as nice a blasting Mike could give and he actually did give her and the company some PR?
Anyway she was so arrogant about that..a good point of start could be “What shall I do in order to get you interested and write an article about CDNETWORKS?”
What i dont like Mike is that they still got their publicity by you printing all this at TechCrunch.
between zynga and other cpa companies and this CDNetworks, Arrington is causing more job loss than the recession, lol.
as far the name shows, they will be doomed anyway, so no worries
Name Check powered by The Life Design Company
“CDNetworks”
Early success, but be careful not to run out of it. The internal and external do not match together, and there are more and more barriers in the future.
This name is destructive.
Shut up, tool.
+1
What’s wrong? What happened with freedom of speech?
Relax man.
We just launched our service today and was wondering how TC crowd will react. Hope you don’t represent majority, we would live than in very narrow minded society.
you remind me of the locator guy. he spoke like this!
that was very mean.
what exactly is the motivation for posting this?
the reason i am asking is that half of the stories on techcrunch (posted by the more junior writers) sound like paid placement, or PR straight out of the company/product reviewed (see almost any iphone app story on techcrunch.)
what is your home phone number ? and are you listed in the directories ?
finally they got the coverage on TC heheh. but i feel pity for the poor girl.
I get contracted by CDN Networks several times a month. I’ve INSISTED that they remove me from their Spam list but apparently they don’t listen.
The SPAM is always the same with little to no insight or customization applied to the e-mail they send.
I’m scared to contact TC. Ever.
I also get contacted by CDN providers with similar pitches. The word desperation comes to mind.
++
She is probably getting a promotion as we speak.
All publicity is good publicity, as long as they spell the name right
.
>But asking for free press is just so distasteful.
and asking for paid press tastes better?
I know exactly what a CDN is and actually have a contract with one. But I still see the letters CDN and think:
Canadian
I can’t help it, eh. Anyone else do that, eh? Sort of like one of those oval country stickers you see on the back of a car, eh? Later, eh.
You still have a landline at your house? I thought those were extinct.
+11
I believe Arrington has noted in numerous posts that he uses Vonage.
Not sure why it matters.
This is Arrington – if it’s a landline, it’s the kind that connects you to the Matrix.
We’re you listening to me Neo? Or were you looking at the woman in the red dress? http://www.tech...amour-magazine/
re: the grammar… it’s like one of those fortune cookies that makes you say, “huh?” (i.e., “future world brought shame and honorable to grandfather”). either way, it’s idiocy like this that simply warrants a head shake. guh.
WTF?!?! This (http://www.crun...volkswagen-gti/) is ok, but CDN contacting you is not?! WHAT KIND OF ETHICS YOU GOT GOING? If it’s a car.. then ok.. if not, TROLL the mf’ink life out of the person…
Am I the only one who doesn’t get how this (http://www.crun...-volkswagen-gti) = endorsing a car after free hotel + food = is ok, but asking for endorsement and questioning what you want isn’t??? Does no one else think something is fishy?
It may have been tactless and rude, but I’d say she accomplished her task, and they didn’t even have to offer their “content delivery” service in exchange.
mike, this is great. stick it to ‘em! im tired of ppls lack of ethics.
thank you!
now if it was some big vc’s secretary asking exchange for similar favor, MA would be all happy and obliging.
Remember Leo Laporte http://www.yout...h?v=IsV-lgnAjps
You’re not supposed to give good PR for services, but you’re supposed to give a good review for a free demo unit. Thanks for the tip on ethics, Mr. Arrington.
The bit that gets me is the calling at home. I would only do that to someone in an emergency. Way not cool.
“data base?”
Note to self: be sure to use the actual words BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT when pitching for business development. Product for press? oye.
Arrington should get the webbie award for best jedi mind trick “to drive pessimistic lemmings community to rip on blog posts” Whatever it takes to drive traffic up and engagement right? I guess it’s ok this is a blog not actual noteworthy news, right?