
Don’t tell me about your product - bandris
http://jeffcroft.com/blog/2009/oct/19/dont-tell-me-about-your-product/
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mahmud
I bet you good money you wont forget the company or its product for the next
few years though, and every time you see a similar product you can't help but
compare them.

It was a friken cold call and it worked. You went through the trouble to blog
about it. The salesguy has the wisdom to seek you as an influential web
persona, and if he "failed" with you today it doesn't mean it's the end of his
campaign, specially if he has a well-researched prospect list.

Instead of being cranky at him, if you had a shred of business sense you would
have talked with the guy and possibly "flipped" him to promote your ventures
and services; you can see he is already working at a very detailed nano-level;
most software promoters go straight after big fish, write long boring articles
and waste good money advertising with shell "industry" websites that are
nothing more than a press-release dump; instead of harnessing visible
personalities to be their word of mouth. BUUUUUT, you're _designer_ , move
along, select message and click "trash".

Business is give and take, rub my back I rub yours. You could have asked for a
promotion offer, exchange contact details, added him on
Skype/LinkedIn/Facebook, and got yourself a reseller deal with his firm and
possibly a lead-generation fee for his own sales/marketing services you share
with your network.

Annoying sales guy 1

Annoyed web socialite 0.

~~~
izaidi
This is needlessly hostile. It's like you're assuming everyone should want the
same things as you. Not everyone cares about being good at business.

The author was just trying to understand a reaction he had to something that
happened to him. I didn't get the impression he was "cranky" at all.

~~~
mahmud
It's hostility but not "needless":

1) The blogger is a "freelancer", by his own admission, and someone out there
rightfully thought the man's services where available to the market and wanted
to establish a business relationship. I guess the blogger is not a
businessman.

But wait ..

2) The blogger goes to write an article about how to market your products and
services.

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tptacek
I'm going to go with, "this is the worst piece of advice I have ever read on
Hacker News". The #1 rule of sales, all sales, everywhere: ASK FOR THE SALE.

What went wrong for this PR guy was the 1-2 punch he tried. He was clumsy
about how he timed his pitch, and he was superficial in how he tried to
connect to his prospect. But the blogger's response, "wait until I ask you
about your product", is exactly the wrong lesson to take from this.

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sunir
It's hard to generalize one person's reaction as a rule. Getting a conversion
rate of 10% is often good for a campaign, but remember: that means 90% said
no.

That being said, Don't burn your market! Don't be deceptive, because there are
two conversion rates to worry about. The percent who said no and the percent
who now hate you--and you can normally only track the one.

~~~
josefresco
How many people have MS, Apple and Google burned? I think as a percentage it's
quite low but does Bill G or Steve J give a crap about the few who hate them?

Just like meeting girls, the assholes usually win that battle and while
'taking the high ground' might mean you sleep better or have better karma, it
also means you'll have to make due with a lot less (which for some is okay, we
all have our threshold).

It's a balance between being that asshole sales/marketing guy who lands the
project/sale/client and the guy who actually cares about the customer and
their needs after the sale.

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tezza
But, damn, I'd Love This Product Even If I Weren't A Stealth Marketer

<http://www.theonion.com/content/node/43456>

------
zandorg
Does Nestle ask for your friendship before selling you some Oreo's?

~~~
josefresco
No, you're hungry, they sell cookies .. done deal.

I commented on this dude's blog but basically he's turned off by a rather soft
sales technique. If he ever had to survive in a sales world .. he wouldn't.

People in business want .. more business. Just like people who are hungry want
food. If you make a product that serves a need, you gotta get over that whole
"I don't want to offend anyone" and get to it. Otherwise your competitor will.

