Why Sleazy Sales Tricks Don’t Work

Way back in the dark days, when I was a corporate cubicle dweller there was a common trick used by salespeople.  One that I was taught as a rookie recruitment consultant, and it served me well – up to a point. I was trained to cold call potential clients and tell them that my company was conducting an industry survey into recruitment practices and trends. It would only take 10 minutes of their time, and if they took part they would be provided with a free copy when the survey was published.

Of course, it wasn’t what it seemed.

The truth was that the answers to the survey would tell us whether the client was recruiting, or likely to recruit in the near future, how big their team was, and how big their recruitment budget was. Then bingo! If they sounded like a dream client we would try to arrange a meeting – and of course the client would agree much more readily now that rapport had been developed over the 10-15 minutes of the survey questions.

The aim of the call of course was nothing to do with the survey, it was to win business. In fact, I remember the moment when, naïve and incredulous, I asked my manager and discovered that there was no such survey! I couldn’t feel the same way about the ruse after that and stopped using it – it was a short lived period of success in using a “sleazy sales trick”.

Fast forward to today, and I teach heart-centred business owners how to sell in ways that are authentic and based on integrity, and I don’t teach any of the sleazy techniques that give sales such a bad name.

So I feel deeply uncomfortable when I see this kind of sales technique being adopted by otherwise good-hearted business people.

(Note:  I’m not saying here that there is anything wrong with Research Calls in themselves – they can be GREAT for your business when done well, and for that reason are one of the Milestones in Stage 1 of my Business from the Heart Pathway.
So it’s not about the strategy itself, it’s about the “intention” behind it and the way you go about it).

It goes something like this: Coach or therapist meets someone networking and on chatting to them discovers that they are in their target market. Instead of being straightforward enough to say “from what you’ve just told me I really think that I could help you with that, might you be interested in having another conversation with me to find out more?” they instead ask their ‘target’ if they would be happy to help with some market research.  The ‘target’ (not even a potential client if they have not actually indicated an interest) like most good people, is happy to help, and so a few days later they end up on a call with the coach answering a series of “market research” questions. Having taken them through the questions, if the coach feels that the target could potentially be a client they then change tack, and the next thing they know the ‘target’ is subject to a sales conversation that they didn’t even volunteer to take part in.  Ouch.

I’ve also been on the receiving end of using “Market Research” as an underhand tactic to get me into a sales call, and it’s not only felt unpleasant, but I’ve felt pretty irritated at having my time wasted and it makes me much less likely to want to work with that person, even if I could benefit from what they offer.

Here are the reasons why this tactic is unlikely to work:

1. It’s Uncomfortable

Most coaches, healers & holistic practitioners are good-hearted people who don’t like to operate without integrity. Using a sneaky approach like this will most probably feel uncomfortable for most of them, and that uncomfortable energy will be picked up by the client. It’s also pretty darned uncomfortable for the person who volunteered to help, when they discover they have been “tricked” into receiving a 121 sales pitch.

2. It’s One Sided

This approach sees the business owner meeting an otherwise innocent party and “deciding” for them that they are a potential client, and then trying to “lead them down a path” of becoming a client.  It’s actually not YOUR place to decide who your clients are. It is for THEM to decide if they need you – your job is to make sure you communicate what you can do for them in the most compelling way possible so they understand exactly what you can do for them. And then IF they are interested, and IF you know you can help them, it is to guide them confidently to make the right decision about whether to work with you.  So I recommend you never force someone into a sales conversation they haven’t volunteered to take part in.

3. It’s Disingenuous

Your client may be polite about it, but nobody will “not notice” when you turn a research call into a sales conversation. And it’s pretty unlikely that someone will be happy to switch seamlessly from realising they have been hoodwinked into being sold to, to being genuinely open to consider working with you (if they seem to be, they are probably just being polite).

4. It’s no way to start a Relationship

When your client says yes to working with you, it’s not like selling a widget or a used car where the customer walks off into the distance and you never have to face them again. Instead, when your client says “Yes!” to you, you enter into a deeper level of intimacy where they are going to be working with you over a period of time. If you enter that relationship based on dishonesty it will be very difficult to regain the level of trust that you need to truly work together to get the best outcome.  And, like me, your client might be so annoyed that you tricked them into it that they might not want to work with you at all.

So what to do instead of sales tricks?

That’s easy! Only ever treat a potential client in the way that you, yourself would want to be treated. If you wouldn’t want to be tricked or lied to, then don’t do it to someone else.  Even if you get the outcome you want, it will be a hollow victory if it doesn’t feel good for either of you.

Instead I’d suggest you do one of the following:

1.  If you truly feel you can help someone then simply invite them directly to a conversation to find out more about working with you, or offer them a “high-value free session” so that they can get to know you and your work much better.

2.  Or it’s not clear if someone could be a potential client or not, but they DO fit your ideal client profile then absolutely invite them to take part in a Market Research call – just do it without the “ick”!

Research calls done well can be hugely valuable for your business and I do recommend them, especially when you are in the early stages of business and still learning about the problems and desires of your ideal clients, and the language they use to describe them.    But there are ways to do them well that feel respectful and DO lead to clients, referrals and other opportunities:

• Let the subject of your research call know what they can expect from it and how it will work
• Acknowledge at the end and thank them for their time – usually by offering to help them with something in return e.g. many of my clients offer a free session of some sort by way of thank you.
• If having conducted the research you genuinely feel you could help them further then absolutely you should invite them to find out more about working with you – but that’s all.  Simply invite them.  And let the individual decide if they want to take that next step to find out more.
• Once you’ve concluded the research they might well be eager to find out more – but equally they might not be, so don’t “force” them into a sales conversation they didn’t volunteer for.

I’ve seen this more “honest” approach to Market Research work beautifully for so many of my clients, generating clients, referrals, invitations, partnerships and other opportunities, ass well as helping them get to know their clients much better, so they can improve their marketing message, offers and pricing.  Why not give it a go – the non sleazy way!

Learn The 7 Steps to ‘Yes!’ for Authentic Sales 

If you’d like to learn a sales process that feels much more comfortable for both you and your future potential clients, sign up for my 7 Steps to Yes! FREE video training.  In less than 35 minutes, you’ll learn a 7 step structure for your sales conversation, and the sort of questions to ask to guide your clients to an excited ‘Yes please!’

Sign up for the 7 Steps to Yes! Free training here