Ayesha Lytton

Yes, you can (or may, if you're into grammatical correctness) ask me a question. But please, just ask the question! Don't ask me if you can ask.

I get these kinds of offline IMs every day and they're incredibly annoying. I have no way of knowing if I should be directing them to one of my staff, if they're trying to sell me something I don't want, or even which of my business ventures they're asking about. Why do people do this?

If I'm contacting someone about a business matter, I try to leave them a brief but clear summary of the situation. If I have many questions and need to have a real-time conversation, I'll say "I'm contacting you regarding xyz and have several questions, is there a good time for us to talk?" I always let people know WHAT it's about.

Is there a way to train customers to state their business up front? How do you guys handle inquiries like this? It seems like such a small thing, but is seriously one of my pet peeves in SL.

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Autumn Osterham

I normally say "Yes, you may ask me a question"

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Aliselia Aeon

As long as you have customers, there will be annoying ones. As far as training them? Try a whip and a chair. (Can you tell that working retail years ago left me scarred?)

Ann Otoole

got a few IMs today all asking the same sort of crap.

No. I do not want friends. I will not participate in bogus college studies. Go away. Keep it up and watch the ARs fly.

Eboni Khan

It could be a cultural thing. Americans and Western Europeans are more down to business and want to get directly to the issue, but many other cultures like to build a little rapport before getting to business.

High context culture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dickie Swansong

I just respond with "Yes, you just did". Most times I never from 'em again.

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eku Zhong

it ranks right up there with
''Hi''

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Sredni Eel

If I get the ubiquitous "Hi" or "Can I ask (axe) you a question?" in an offline, I will simply not respond.

If I'm inworld and get that, I'll talk to them but I'll respond with "Hello, what do you need?"

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Vaelissa Cortes

People contacting me with just, "hi", "can I ask you a question?" and that sort of nonsense is also a huge annoyance of mine ... and then there's the horny menfolk that IM me, which is a huge rant of its own. If they need something, they should be direct, I shouldn't have to pry it out of them. Considering the amount of people that contact me for various reasons (Blender help, shape help, etc.), it gets old really, really fast.

Furthermore, I am AFK much of the time my avatar is logged in, so even if I did respond, it's very likely that they wouldn't be online by the time I got to them. This was the case many, many times back when I actually put up with such people. Needless to say, this just prolonged the conversation.

Example of what they do:

Annoying Person: Hi
AFK Vaelissa responding 5 hours later: Hello, was there something you needed?
Annoying Person getting back to me the next day: Yes, I have a question about something stupid because I didn't read the fully detailed help file that answers everything.
Annoyed Vaelissa replying to them several hours later: Something something something copy/paste from file the person already has.
Annoying person replying a long while after that: thx

What would happen if they simply asked me directly:

Smart person who actually read Vae's contact information pick: Hello, I was wondering if you could help me do something with this other thing that you're an expert in. Also, you are beautiful!

Polite Vaelissa responding a few hours later: Sure, blah blah blah answer here.

Conversion DONE! See how much better that is?

I've simply taken to filling my profile with notes on how to contact me and get a reply. If they can't take the time to do a bit of reading before contacting me, I honestly don't care what they may have to say and simply hit the little x to close the chat. Sure, it may seem like a bitch move, but there comes a point when people have just had enough. If somebody has a problem with it, it's probably their fault I'm like that.

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Barry Winterwolf

Only one, and you just used it buddy!

sldenizen

It's like in Robert's Rules of Order. You have to ask the current speaker for permission to ask a question before you can ask.

Darnk Yun

Can I axe you a question?

(had too)

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Khamon

My favourite is:

Are you online?

Are you online?

Are you logged in?

Please, I need you?

Is tomorrow okay?

Are you online?

Are you here?

Hello?

I need you?

Where are you?

Are you online?

Now?

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Void

yes, one per day, talk to ya tomorrow ::logoff::

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Khamon

People leave voice mail for me at work that says "call me." They go to the bottom of the list. People leave voice mail for me at home that says "call me." That's probably not gonna happen. I supposed what they want is for me to carry a cell phone so they can speak to me on demand. That's not gonna happen either.

Orc

I think they are trying to start a conversation in a polite way. To them, it's a version of "Are you free to talk? Am I bothering you or should I try later?". They probably have no idea about offline IMs and don't even think about that. Maybe the best way to combat it is have contact info in your about me page and also put it in your facebook feedlike thing since that's the first page that pops up when you open a profile. Something short that mentions offline IMs and asks for messages to contain details. Not many will even read it but it's the best you can do to get the word out there.
Another thing you could do is have an auto response message (or copy/pasted yourself) that asks for details and says you'll get back as soon as possible. Would be more trouble than just saying "hi, what can I help you with?" but if you really want to train them you could just copy paste an awaylike message with info on how you like to be contacted to only the ones that send IMs like that.

Probably no way to stop it since there are always new newbies who don't know "SL etiquette" and popular people must get spammed with it constantly. Maybe it can help to just remember that they probably aren't griefers trying to annoy you, and by real life standards it's actually normal when talking to someone in real time (which is what they think they are doing even when you are offline and it goes to IMs). Asking for people not to just say "hi" is a reasonable request, so is asking for people to only send IMs or only send notecards. One merchant asks that people start their messages with "Superman" so he knows they read his FAQ and that's a little overboard haha.

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SimonLeo

Annoying yes?
Should you be happy anyway? Yes

It's a goddamn customer people. Talk to them.
It's called: doing business. There are no stupid questions. You have a (potential) customer on the other end of the line. Deal with it or don't do business.

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eku Zhong

not necessarily...

some dude: hi
me: how can i help you
some dude: i have a problem
me: how can i help you
some dude: i bought a bed
....
.....
me:how can i help you?
some dude: well i cant use the animations
me: The menu doesnt work?
some dude: no the menu works but I cant use the animations
me: I am a little confused here, do the pink and blue balls come out?
some dude: yes
me: can you sit on them?
some dude: yes but i cant use the animations
me: can you teleport me because I dont understand your problem
some dude has offered you teleport
me: where is the bed?
some dude: its this bed here
me: I dont make or sell that bed
some dude: yes but you make beds
me: did you contact the creator
some dude: yes, but they wouldnt help me
(i decide to try and help the guy.. and touch the bed.. use the menu.. get on the thing .. and it works)
me: theres nothing wrong with this bed
some dude: I cant use the animations
me: they are working
some dude: i know but i dont have a girlfriend so i need you to have sex with me
me.. tp out mute ban etc etc...

SimonLeo

He bought a bed and asked you about it.
I have no idea what/if you sell in SL but I am sure you could have sold him something. Or at least tried to.

At the very least I offer friendship to such people. They apparently see me as someone that 'knows' something. That is always an opportunity to sell. If it is not now, it's later on.

Building a network is good for business.

eku Zhong

me: hello
SimonLeo offers friendship and tries to sell me a bunch of things
me: fuckoff

SimonLeo

That would indeed be stupid.

The offering friendship comes after a small conversation.

And yes, there are always exceptions to the rule but in general if someone asks me something it is a business opportunity. Not a ban and mute.

Melodie Darwin

"This ain't Burger King and you can't have it your way."

There should be a point where its not about customers and merchants but about respecting the time of other users.

It might be helpful to notice the hapless noob and suggest they'll get better results next time if they cut to the chase. But there are times where all the $L in the world won't buy some a clue.

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SimonLeo

Agreed but ban and mute won't make you any money for sure.
Talking to them and offering friendship keeps the door open for future business.

This doesn't mean I spend hours talking to crazy people. But an annoying crazy customer is still a customer.

Elric

There will always be the illiterate or uncertain individuals out there. Profiles are a great place to explain how one prefers to be contacted regarding business matters.

If a profile lacks contact information, I usually write a notecard explaining my situation/query, send it and then IM with a quick "Greetings, I sent you a notecard named XYZ. Thank you for your kind attention. Cheers, Elric." I find it's the least obtrusive (at least I hope it is).

But as I said above, not everyone reads profiles or even thinks to look in a creator's profile for method of contact.

Cheers!

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eku Zhong

the guy basically wanted pixel sex..
so youre of the mind that women who want to succeed in business should expect to give free sexual favours to random dipshits in the offchance that they might spend a few cents.

respect earns respect. full stop.

and yes that conversation did actually take place... except the end part was way more on the lines of i cant fuck without a cunt to do it with...