He Who Has a Thing to Sell - Interline Creative Group

Why don’t people provide their emails if they are in business?

The 2025 Innovators was a KBDN feature in the October, 2025 issue featured 28 “outstanding leaders.” They were “nominated by industry peers and members of KBDN staff.” Presented alphabetically, the 28 represented a wide range of designers.

If you just go by the content of the piece, 14 states were represented, and one from Canada. Colorado had three honorees; Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, California, Virginia and New York had two each; and Georgia, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Missouri and Tennessee had one apiece. Six designers had no location listed at all.

I was curious about these 28 people, so I took the time after reading the piece to look up their websites and contact information, which was not provided within the piece (why?). For a feature celebrating leaders and innovators, failing to include even a basic email address is a surprising oversight. That omission shifts the burden onto the reader to track people down—a time-consuming process, as I discovered. I searched Google, found or didn’t find them, examined the websites looking for contact information.

Shocker

Of the 28 designers, 39% had no email address on their website. Not even an info@.

These were seasoned veterans in the industry, not newbies. Their stories were exciting testimonials of their rich careers, full of experiences that were unique and compelling. Why wouldn’t 39% (11) of them put an email contact on their website? Why hide the main channel for direct communication?

Even more surprising: three designers had no website at all—just social media accounts. Is Instagram now considered a substitute for a proper online presence? Do consumers really hire companies with no website?

Trying to Reach Them

I sent an email to the 17 I was able to identify with congratulations and a few ideas for their consideration, including entering the KCMA Design Award Program. I sent these on November 5 and November 6. None of the emails I sent bounced.

When I could not identify a personal email from the website, I sent it to the “info@” with the name of the person highlighted in the email itself. My subject line was: Congratulations and a Few Ideas. I provided my cell phone as well within the text of the email.

What do you think my response rate will be? Stay tuned, and I’ll tell you in a week!

But this experiment leads to the bigger point: why don’t people provide their emails if they are in business? Or perhaps more pointedly: why didn’t the magazine provide that information in the first place?

Heavy Hitters, Hidden Doors

Many of the 28 people are heavy hitters – people not only established, but with careers that showcased high design. Designers, as a group, tend to be generous with ideas and willing to share. Yet only 17 of these 28 offered a straightforward way to contact them online.

The remaining group? Invisible unless you’re willing to hunt.

Don’t Call Me, I’ll Call You

Most work in this industry is WOM, referral. Email can invite spam. A recent spam attack on a company we own had over 200 “people” subscribing to one of our newsletters. This change in pattern prompted an examination revealing the spam attack, and building a spam protection layer.

Did these 28 people have too much work? Was it cases of hubris?

When I used to train magazine salespeople, I was one asked how many leads was a good number. This was back before the internet, and the magazine was a magazine that covered high-end main frame computers, each running about over a million dollars. The sales people were complaining about the lack of leads for their advertisers. They were averaging about four or five per ad and their clients – the advertisers – wanted more.

“What did you say the price of these computers was?” I asked. “Well, if you consider the price of an ad is $10,000, then you sell one of those four or five inquiries you got with a million-dollar computer, I would suggest that the right number is one – as long as it’s the right one.”

The same is true about emails or any point of contact: you just never know who is going to be responding.

Hiring the One

If you were a consumer trying to hire one of these 28 designers, you’d be hard-pressed to choose. They all read exceptionally well. You might narrow by state—except that only 14 states were represented. If you live in Illinois or Indiana, there’s no one. Even in Colorado, with three honorees, you could only easily find two online.

Maybe one of the most interesting ones was a designer who was in the top one percent nationally for her skill in color perception, not an easy feat. Unfortunately, she worked for a company without a website. You can try LinkedIn but there are 12 with the same name, and even with advanced filters in Sales Navigator it was pretty hopeless. Oh well. I’m sure life goes on. But this all reminded me of the best piece of advertising advice I ever got.