My “buyers are liars” mantra has never made me particularly popular in groups that include purchasing types. It’s been my experience that buyers tend to make up little stories about pricing in order to finagle better pricing out of sales professionals.

However, today’s sales blog post is not about their lying; it’s about ours. I recently found myself on the receiving end of a salesperson who was lying like a career politician.

The Setup
My mother-in-law recently died. My wife and I went to a large, respected funeral home and made all the arrangements. We signed all the paperwork. We paid everything in advance. Signed, sealed and delivered.

Fast-forward six months. The “funeral director” (i.e. salesperson) called my wife and was disheartened to report that he had accidentally failed to have us sign a “necessary form.” When queried as to exactly what that form was, he – shockingly – didn’t have a good answer.

It gets better. This guy wanted my wife and I to travel to his office to sign this “necessary form.” Both my wife and I are not new to slight-of-hand sales techniques. We told him we would be happy to sign the form if he came to our house at a time that worked for us. We also told him not to bring his sales pitch book. He assured us this wasn’t going to be a sales call.

The Day Of Reckoning
At the appointed time, the salesperson came into our home and immediately started to pitch us on all the available “pre-need” services my wife and I should be buying. Am I looking that old these days? My wife and I were, to say the least, not particularly surprised that he launched into sales-mode once inside our house.

In short, we bought nothing more from this funeral home, signed his “necessary document” and gave him the boot.

I must admit I felt sorry for him. Very sorry. I’m serious. Let me explain.

It Wasn’t Him
It wasn’t the salesperson’s idea to come up with this scam. It was the creation of the sleazy sales management at the funeral home. No doubt he was coached on how to implement this ruse, accompanied by a plethora of supporting sales tips.

He was just a young pup, maybe 22-23 years old. He couldn’t have come up with this on his own.

This company was promoting a detestable sales scam in an attempt to reach their short-term sales goals. Is sales management that myopic? The answer for this particular company is yes.

Sales Blog Epilogue
I feel we are seeing a slow elimination of this kind of shell game in professional sales – thankfully. It hurts all of us in the profession. It stereotypes us as unethical. And shame on the clueless and inept management that devises, promotes and teaches this kind of junk.

What should you do if you find yourself in a sales job that is encouraging this kind of behavior? Quit. You’re better than that. Working for an organization that advocates this kind of lame trickery will only sully your reputation in the end anyway.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

Related posts:

1. What Would Dr. Seuss Have To Say About Buyers?
2. Report Card Sales Management
3. A Funeral Director Teaches Us How Not To Handle Objections

Tags: career, manager, sales-training

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