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Salesdrip Report: Do Not Believe What You Read

I'm on a mission to bring honesty back to sales. You all know that.

To achieve my mission I must be willing to do three things:

1. Teach people how to sell without manipulation.
2. Teach buyers how to spot salesdrip behavior and avoid being taken by it, so the salesdrip tactics stop working.
3. Expose the salesdrips of the world (those who do it on purpose) and the salesdrip behavior I spot (usually by those who do it by mistake).

Today we're squarely on #3, and I'm letting Devil Gill out to play by sharing my opinion and ranting against what was, in that never-been-humble opinion, a blatantly manipulative pile of garbage.

If you don't like this sort of stuff, leave or delete right now.

Devil Gill Unleashed ...

Last week Friday, the folks at honestysells.com advertised a "teleclass" with the following marketing copy:

To coincide with the release of our book [Honesty Sells], Steven and I will reveal our secrets to building open and honest customer relationships that pay.

Join this free teleclass on Friday, June 5th at 2pm (Eastern) to discover the proven system for navigating gatekeepers and objections, increasing customer responsiveness, closing sales faster and more often, getting honest answers from clients and prospects, and troubleshooting problems before they scuttle big sales or important projects. And hear the worst-of-the-worst of sales lies - but be forewarned - you will cringe!

I'll admit when I read the copy I was both excited to hear other sales trainers had taken up the charge to bring honesty back to sales, and worried that it might be yet another situation where manipulative practices are sold under the veil of "we're teachers of honest selling."

So myself and a colleague registered for the class. (Actually, I thought I registered but it turns out all I did was submit a comment. My colleague, Brian, gave me his access-number last minute.)

Unfortunately what we received was a 50-minute sales pitch with a few tidbits of advice and a couple stories thrown in. (Well, Brian received only about a 15-minute sales pitch, because he felt it was a "worthless waste of time" and hung up.)

Then, when I called them to the mat for their manipulative marketing copy, I received the following:

"Steven and I stated at the beginning of the call our intent was threefold (1) share key concepts from Honesty Sells that you could implement right away, (2) encourage everyone to buy the book and implement the ideas and (3) encourage them to use this blog as a source for honesty in the sales profession."

(Note: You can see the entire conversation on the link above, unless they removed it.)

Then why in the name of honesty didn't you say that in your marketing copy instead of crafting a bunch of fluffed-up value dribble (bait) and then providing something else (switch)?

And stick your "it's okay because X people liked it" excuses where the sun don't shine. Of course some people liked the call. I never said your manipulative tactics wouldn't work. I said they were dishonest.

Testimonials from happily manipulated people are the social proof salesdrips use to overcome intelligent skepticism.

If you truly are advocates of honest selling then you MUST hold yourselves to a far higher standard than everyone else. You must take enormous care to avoid even the hint of manipulation or dishonesty. You must be a beacon that stands out both day and night.

You must be HONEST!

Okay. Rant over. Now let's let Angel Gill have the stage.

Angel Gill ...

I am not infallible. In fact, I'll bet huge money that despite my very best efforts there is something I've written in my own marketing copy -- somewhere, anywhere -- that could be perceived as inaccurate, misleading or downright manipulative. That's the problem with crafting the message myself -- I know what I mean so sometimes I see what I want to see in my writing instead of what others will see. (If you ever spot something like that, please tell me right away.)

I could also be wrong. Perhaps my perception of what these authors wrote as compared to what they delivered is slanted due to my heightened radar for manipulation. (Although Brian, who was also on the call, said the same thing -- I'll invite him to add his own thoughts in comment form as soon as I post this entry.)

I'll also grant this might have been an oversight or simple mistake. Perhaps one of the authors wrote the marketing copy and the other crafted the program. Perhaps they wrote the copy first, created the program second and forgot to go back and make sure the copy was still accurate.

There are all sorts of possibilities as to how this could have come about by mistake rather than intent.

If that's the case, I invite both authors to speak up. And my heart hopes they'll do exactly that, because the world can use all the honest selling advocates it can get.

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association

To Cold-Call Or Not? Here's The Answer

Been tweeting (find me at http://twitter.com/honestselling) about cold-calling a bit lately, because a few people on Twitter have been bashing the activity itself, even though they have no real knowledge of how it can and should be done.

On Soapbox
Cold-callers are an easy "bash them" target, because so many people hate doing it and because so many people have been on the receiving end of bad cold-calling tactics.

I personally believe only a cowardly bully would bolster himself by bashing easy targets.

But that's me.
Off Soapbox

Anyway, I figured I'd do a quick brain-dump of my thoughts on cold-calling so anyone reading this can decide whether to learn how, and then, when and whether to give it a go.

I'll be brief but try to cover everything important. As soon as you find the reason you should not cold-call, you can skip reading the rest.

Should You Learn How To Cold-Call?

There are really only two good reasons to learn how to cold call effectively:

1. You truly love repetitive tasks -- so repetitive they become almost brainless -- and want to control your own income. (Note: Only about 2 percent of the population fits this mold, so there's a 98 percent chance you should not cold-call as your primary means of finding clients or customers.)
2. You want a contingency plan for any time you're in the famine cycle on sales. (Note: It's actually kind of comforting to know that you can find a client and close a deal within one week any time you want to or really need to. I mean, if your family needed feeding and you could find a client using honest cold calling, would you temporarily be willing to do it? If so, then by all means learn how.)

So if you both hate repetitive tasks and don't feel the need to have the cold-calling arrow in your client-acquisition quiver, then stop reading now.

The Right/Wrong Way To Cold Call

There are really only two ways to cold call, and the best way I know of to explain the difference is to discuss the objective of every dial:

1. Wrong: Your objective when you dial the phone is to set a sales appointment or close a sale with the person on the other end of the line.
2. Right: Your objective when you dial the phone is to find people who enjoy buying from cold-callers. When you find they do, you then start the process of building a buyer-seller relationship. When you find they don't, you NEVER CALL THEM AGAIN.

Here's the deal. Only 5 to 10 percent of the buying public will regularly answer the phone, listen to an honest cold-call offer and make a yes/no decision without being pissed that you called. And at any moment in time, only 1 to 2 percent of this small group is ready to buy right now. So if your objective is to "close" everyone you call, it's no damned wonder most of the people you call hate your guts.

However, when your objective is to find the people willing to take your calls and willing to buy when the timing is right, then only the rare idiot will rant and rave when you call (you'll suffer from his wrath toward others who called him using the wrong approach).

The Manipulative Vs. Honest Approach

Manipulative salespeople do whatever it takes to keep you on the line, keep you talking and keep you engaged, because they're too stupid to understand that it's faster, easier and better to build relationships before trying to make the close.

Honest salespeople:

• Make EVERY attempt to disqualify the people who don't want to be called at all, so they can remove them from the call list and NEVER waste their time or their prospects' time calling again.
• Give their true prospects (people willing to buy from a cold-call), EVERY chance to say "No" to "today's offer," so they can build an "I'll take no for an answer" relationship and keep the door open to CALL BACK.
• Respect the time of every person they call. (Even with true prospects, you should never exceed about 20 seconds on your ENTIRE offer. Anything more and you're officially a salesdrip, because you effectively put your own needs and desires ahead of the needs and desires of the people you're calling.)

A Few Summary Points

When a cold-calling system is working, it hardly ever changes. That's why implementing one on a daily basis is so repetitive. All the guess-work, analysis, configuring and tweaking goes into creating the system. After that, it's pure repetition that makes it work.

There are typically two types of minds involved in creating a killer cold-call system and making it work long-term.

• The creative genius who figures out how to make the system work (that's why guys like me get paid).
• The heads-down implementers who actually enjoy banging away at the phones all day.

I will personally dial the phone like a madman in either of the following situations:

• I've been hired to create a cold-calling system and I'm solving the puzzle of how to get it to work.
• I got lazy on my other marketing efforts, ran out of cash and need to pay the rent. (Nice to have this arrow in my quiver when I need it.)

So learn cold calling only if you love repetitive tasks and want to control your income, or if you want the ability to find a buyer and close a deal quickly, should your other marketing efforts suddenly dry up.

As for my last request, I wish everyone who hates cold-calling (because you don't like doing it or because you hate getting called by idiots who do it poorly) would stop bashing the entire profession. There are a lot of outstanding people out there who suffer the effects of your thoughtlessness while working their asses off to earn an honest living taking care of the people they call.

I think they deserve a break and would greatly appreciate your giving them one. (Thanks!)

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association

Sales Leaders: Choose Your Words Carefully

Sales leaders (trainers, coaches, mentors, managers, etc.) PLEASE take care with your wording so it doesn't foster manipulation. Example:

Bad: "It is your job to create discontentment inside the psyche of your prospects, and make them desire the change that you're offering." (See full article.) (Note: I'm not critiquing the author -- only the words that were used.)

Alternative: "It is your job to determine whether a prospect is discontented and whether what you offer can be his or her salvation. And if you determine both situations exist, to make sure the prospect understands this so he or she can make an intelligent choice."

If you teach someone to "create discontentment" and/or "make them desire," you are promoting manipulation. Period.

Imagine someone you taught meeting with a prospect who is totally NOT a fit to buy what she sells. (Prospects frequently attempt to buy solutions that aren't appropriate to their problems, because their expertise is with the problem, not with solving it.)

To follow the first piece of advice above, she must attempt to foster discontentment and desire that does not naturally exist. This will destroy her relationship with this non-buying prospect, because prospects are not stupid and they HATE being manipulated.

Now imagine her following the second piece of advice, or any other wording that conveys discovery and assistance over control.

First, she diagnoses the situation and helps the prospect truly identify and articulate his discontentment -- whatever it may be.

Relationship enhanced.

Next she offers some ideas for solutions if she can -- helping the prospect determine the best course of action to take.

Relationship further enhanced.

Finally, she lets the prospect know her solution is NOT a fit, and recommends a provider of a solution that is. (Yes ... even if it's her biggest competition.)

Relationship solidified.

Attempting to follow the advice conveyed with the poor choice of words, she wastes her time and the prospect's, and leaves with nothing but a reputation for dishonesty and self-centered thinking.

Using the advice conveyed with the alternative approach, she leaves with a solid relationship, a reputation for honesty and a door open to referrals and future sales opportunities.

Honesty is intentional, not accidental. Please choose your words carefully when teaching people to sell.

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association