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Your potential customers have had it. Feeling empowered by endless options and by the ability to screen out unwanted offers and fend off bad behavior committed in the name of sales, they
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Frustrated with a pushy salesperson or organization? You've got recourse... and a public place where you can rant. If you want justice and a place to vent, visit RipoffReport.com, a web site “ by consumers, for consumers, ” where you can fi ll out a report and detail your complaint for the world to see. As of February 2008, you can browse 306,256 reports (and counting) to discover who ’ s worth doing business with and who ’ s not. Although there are often signifi cant credibility issues with sites like these, it doesn't matter. They do exist and your potential clients know about them. Even if you do nothing wrong, you can still be “ called out ” on these sites, which is unfortunate (welcome to the world of Web 2.0). But if you are doing something wrong, brace yourself. You can be sure to find yourself on one of these sites sooner or later.
RipoffReport.com is just one of many outlets angry customers can use to fi ght back and potentially damage the reputations of the offending parties. Want to “ out ” a bad salesperson or unethical organization? Now there are a million ways to be heard. Post your grievances on your blog, on YouTube, on a user forum, or anywhere else you find other customers like you who will help you spread your story.
Whistle - Blower
That ’ s what Vincent Ferrari decided to become. Frustrated over the treatment he received from the AOL customer service rep when he tried to cancel his account, he decided to fight back. Fortunately, he made the smart decision to record the call with the AOL rep. With proof of the bad behavior right on the recording, he posted the audio for the world to hear. And, boy, did they! MSNBC even picked up the story, giving thousands more potential AOL customers the opportunity to see why they should choose another Internet service provider.
Sure, it ’ s possible that this one particular sales rep at AOL went against company policy with his efforts to discourage Vincent from canceling his account. But not likely. Most likely, that customer service rep was just “ doing his job ” and doing what he ’ s been told to do: Acknowledge the customer ’ s wishes, but do everything you can to save the sale. Unless you want to end up on MSNBC, on YouTube, or on a popular blogger ’ s site, you might want to think twice before using some of the typical sales tactics. Unless your offer is relevant, timely, and focused on the needs of the customer, you ’ re signing up for a game of Russian roulette. You never know when the average Joe or Jane you're courting as a prospect has an ü ber - successful blog
out in cyberspace. As a result, you are not only jeopardizing the immediate sale but risking the loss of future sales, discouraging referrals, and possibly even risking your very reputation without even knowing it.
Unlike Apple, many sales professionals and companies don't see the connection between how you sell today and how you are perceived tomorrow. Nor do they fully understand that what you do in the short term to convert sales and make your numbers can create negative residual effects for years and years to come. When a salesperson, company, or industry uses the typical tactics over and over to speed up sales and force customers to buy before they are ready, it results in a particular perception of the sales professional, company, or industry. Think used - car sales people, door - to - door peddlers, or snake - oil salespeople.
Each individual act builds upon the one before until there's a strong perception or belief in the public eye about your organization or industry. A perception that usually persists whether it ’ s true or not. A perception that's very diffi cult to change once it ’ s entrenched in the minds and hearts of potential prospects. Because most folks will simply accept the groupthink about what it's like to do business with you or others in your industry without investigating it for themselves. Of course, the group has a lot to say about you and what you do.
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