Business or Real?

April 14, 2010 in Business, Entrepreneurship, Marketing with 6 Comments

A sales rep stops by your office and you instantly know that well, he’s a sales rep.

The phone rings and, within first 10 seconds, you know it’s a business call. They don’t care about you, they care about the sale.

A real estate agent tells you about a house the same way he writes the ad for the newspaper - 2 bedroom, 2 bath, new fireplace, granite countertops, fenced yard.

He’s just going through the motions; hammer the sign into the lawn, write the ad, open house on Sunday.

A car salesman walks, talks, acts like the stereotypical car salesman. He’s always got to “present” your offer to the manager. You think you’re negotiating a major deal – he’s laughing at you in the next room.

Did you really believe you saved three grand on that new SUV because of your super negotiating skills?

You walk into the furniture shop, and you’re swarmed by commission-ready vampires.

You think they care if you buy the flower print ottoman? Do you really believe that it’s actually on sale – and he’s “willing” to do even better on the price?


It’s all business.

We knew it all along, but we chose to accept it. We have stereotyped these people because we believed there was nothing else we could do about it. Therefore, we cope by making light of the situation.

All of a sudden, these tools exist, and we choose not to accept it anymore. All of a sudden, we’ve lost our sense of humour.

Lie to us and we tell our 400 friends on Facebook. Please understand that 400 friends on Facebook can snowball into thousands of people in seconds.

Provide horrible service at your restaurant, and instantly we can Tweet to 2500 people about it.

Tell us the house is a great deal, even though you know it isn’t, by hiding the fact that it needs 20k in repairs. People will retaliate by starting a blog exposing the lies.

Here’s the flip-side. Actually, I’d be willing to say rather than this being the flip-side, this is the only side that matters, going forward.

Be real.

Be honest and truthful with us and we’ll tell our 400 friends on Facebook. Please understand that 400 friends on Facebook can snowball into thousands of people in seconds.

Provide amazing service at your restaurant, and instantly we can Tweet 2500 people about it.

Tell us honestly that you believe a house is a great deal, but warn us it’s going to need 20k in repairs, and we’ll start a blog to share our great experience.

Get it?

  • http://lamiki.com/ Laura Kimball

    I used to manage commission sales reps in the gift industry. They worked hard to develop relationships with their retail accounts based on trust, but ultimately the relationship was grounded in how many dollars they could write.

    It was interesting to see a shift in the reps when the economy collapsed. Retailers weren't buying and it was hard to get an appointment (b/c buyers knew they'd have to buy). The buyers trusted their reps to lead them to bestselling merchandise. The reps were scared and careful not to write an order for a product they weren't certain would sell. For if they did and the account was loaded down with merchandise that didn't move, it'd jeopardize the relationship.

    As a consumer, I have found some restaurants and businesses (usually locally owned) that do care about the relationship they have with their customer and those are businesses I return to and recommend to friends.

    Being 'misleading' is part of a salesperson's toolkit. But I would much rather buy from someone who is honesty, transparent, and treats me as a person. Nice post, Noah.

  • John Boy

    Toyota execs should have read this…years ago.
    Consumer Reports just trashed their Lexus SUV as a DO NOT BUY due to flipping over.
    How come one restaurant is Packed to the Gills with people waiting an hour to get seated while another place across the street is dead and dying?
    And are they studying the busy place to learn anything? Doubtful.

    Right on the button again Noah :)

  • http://josephratliff.com JosephRatliff

    Good stuff Noah.

    I like to start a genuine conversation with business owners, and if that conversation leads to doing business, then the business owner is comfortable with that and will do business. If they just want to end the conversation, that's fine with me too.

    What's funny about “selling” services is you really don't have to sell at all, in fact I recommend that you don't “sell” at all…because people will read into that, and your chances of doing business go down.

  • http://noahfleming.com/ Noah Fleming

    Thanks John-Boy!

  • http://noahfleming.com/ Noah Fleming

    You're right Joe.

    People want to deal with people…nuff said. Business? For sure. But at the heart of it we're all just real people.

    Ditch the manuals and training guides I say!

  • http://noahfleming.com/ Noah Fleming

    Thanks Laura!

    I always appreciate your wisdom.

    It seems these days the only people making movements ahead are the ones who said “what a minute, this toolkit is flawed. I'm going to do things my own way.”

    Noah