Sales is a difficult profession. That’s why I have respect for good salespeople and contempt for bad ones. It can be very challenging out there when you have to make a sale to put bread on your table, or to satisfy a belligerent boss. Sadly, caving in to the pressure often takes the form of compromising your values. I witnessed this first hand last week.

Starched White Shirts and Baklava

I have been patronizing a small family owned dry cleaning business for the past two years. I’ve gotten to know the family and look forward to stopping in. Sure, they’re very good at what they do but my visits are more about pleasant conversation and home made baklava than crisply starched shirts. I’ve mentioned what I do for work a couple of times but never tried to sell them anything. One day last week they called me to ask if I would be interested in redesigning their website. “Of course,” I said. So after throwing a pile of dirty clothes on the counter and getting my pickup slip, we sat down to discuss the possibilities. There was a problem.

Right Place Right Time

They were at the end of what they believed to be a one year contract with a large, well known company whose specialty is traditional phone book ads. I won’t mention their name. Just imagine a book being the color of a banana. Subtle enough hint? As we talked, their sales rep pulled into the parking lot. Pure serendipity. To avoid a potentially awkward situation I respectfully offered to leave. The family patriarch grabbed my arm and said, “please do me a favor. Just sit here reading this magazine (note: the magazine was in Greek. I don’t read Greek.) and listen to what he says so we can discuss it later.” Well, I thought. This is kind of different. I didn’t see any harm in it so I complied.

Making the Sale at all Costs Just Might Cost Too Much

What I heard was a toxic mix of lies and misinformation.

  • lie – “You can’t redesign your website or move it to another provider because you will lose all of your search engine standing.”
    The truth is that you can redesign or move your website any time you choose. By using 301 permanent re-direction code, a technique any web designer knows about, anyone looking for an old page will be redirected to the new version of that page. The permanent nature of the redirect tells Google to remove the old page(s) from it’s directory and replace it with the new page.
  • misleading information – “Don’t worry about your domain name. We’ll take care of it for you.”
    I cautioned about this in an earlier post. While this may sound like one less thing you have to worry about, what it really means is that they will own your domain name. One more way they make it difficult for you to leave and take your business elsewhere. Your domain name is a vital part of your business. You should own it. They should tell you that.
  • selective memory – “You signed a two year contract”
    Before the sales guy arrived, both brothers emphatically stressed that they were told they were signing up for one year. It was a precondition to signing the agreement in the first place. The sales guy suddenly had a different recollection. Guess who I believe?

Now Back to You

I’m pretty steamed about this. I know it’s easy for me to say but if making a sale requires that you lie, please look for other work. There are plenty of terrific salespeople out there who blend their skill (make no mistake, selling is a skill) with good values and strong ethics. What do you think? Have you been manipulated by a shady salesperson? Did you know it when it was happening? What’s your take? Talk to me.

Photo credit: Supermac1961