Bad Sales behaviour take 2.....

We receive a ton of calls in our office from sales people trying to prospect me. Mostly they are bad. Well, let me be truthful, mostly they are horrendous! The other day Casey took a call from someone who said they were referred to me. When she asked who by, the sales “pro” could not answer the question. It became obvious after a series of questions that she was just using this as a tactic to get through the gatekeeper.

Here’s a hint….lying never works.

Speaking of lying…. Last night at home I received a call from a telemarketer. Well, it was more like a message because it went right through to voice mail. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have noting against voice broadcasting, when it’s done correctly. In this case the message left was “we are just calling to make sure you received the free sample of meat we sent you” and then went on to deliver their commercial about their extraordinary meat. Now really, who delivers fresh meat in the mail to consumers who are not expecting it? This is just stupid. They did not ship me meat, they are just hoping I’ll call back so they can sell me some.

I’m not sure what makes me more frustrated, the fact that sales people still use these tactics, or that consumers are still falling for them. I realize its kind of a “chicken or the egg” argument. I wish it would stop because every time a lie is used, all sales people get branded with the same brush, making our jobs as real professionals even harder.

LAST one I promise….A couple weeks ago I was writing in my office and Casey was informed that I was blocking all calls except for one from a particular vendor. When she answered, I heard her ask “Oh hi Joe, are you the Joe from XYZ’s office?” and then she put the call through. I answered expecting my vendor and it wasn’t. So I had to ask, “why did you say you from XYZ office when you were not?” he replied, because I thought it would get me through to you?. I asked him if he knew what we did for a living (which he didn’t , so now he has two strikes – the second for not being prepared) and then I gave him a quick sales lesson about what lying got him, offered to sell him Honesty Sells at a discount rate because he needed it and told him not to call again. OUCH!

Yes….OK I was harsh. I am just so sick of blatantly ad and rude sales behavior. Remember our number 1 rule….BE NICE!

Dediciated to increasing your sales,

Colleen