The other day I received an e-mail from an internet marketer who was bemoaning the fact that calling people on the no-call list is now illegal and that puts such limits on marketing. He is far and away not the only one with that viewpoint; I find it almost everywhere I look. In fact, it is almost universal among marketers. You know what? I frankly dont understand why they feel that way.

If there is one marketing perspective that is more universal than hatred for the no-call list, it is that in order to be successful in the world of marketing, you have to focus. Focus on your customer. Focus on your target audience. Focus on your target niche. Focus, focus, focus. So why would you want to waste your time and energy and money and every other imaginable resource spraying your message out to people that are guaranteed NOT to want your product or service, no matter how wonderful you just KNOW it is?

Marketers spend a lot of money buying leads, hoping that if they send just the right message about just the right product or service to just the right people who have already agreed to hear the message, enough of them will buy the product or service to make the marketer a decent living. If the marketer is good enough at his or her craft, he or she will indeed make a good living. Most of them will tell you that its a numbers game. With enough good leads, or enough targeted leads, usually numbering many thousand, there will be enough interested customers to support the marketer.

What I dont understand is why marketers dont think of the no-call list as reverse leads. These are people who have made it loud and clear that they are not interested. I mean, how targeted can you get? Here marketers have been handed, on a silver platter, totally free, a whole list of people NOT to waste time on! I just cant see why marketers cant see the value in this! The no-call list has done a very effective job of weeding out a large portion of people who have indicated they are NOT INTERESTED in whatever it is you are selling! Marketers should be thanking them for helping to create more targeted lists!

So how about it, marketers? Can you see this glass as half full instead of half empty? Can you express gratitude for what you have been given instead of grumbling and complaining about what has been taken away? Can you now see those of us on the no-call list as chaff that has been removed from the ripe kernels of grain to whom you can now more effectively market? If not, maybe you need to adjust your stinkin thinkin!