Let’s get real.
Even if you’re in sales and believe 100% in the sales profession (yes, I am one of them), we will still run across salespeople who are nothing but fakes.
When I mean “fake” or “fraud,” I mean not only are they bad for the profession, but worse yet, they’re bad for their customers. Of course, that assumes they even have customers — or at least those who buy from them more than once.
As a customer, I’m sure you’ve dealt with salespeople who are frauds. Here are 8 ways to spot a salesperson who is a fraud:
1. They have all the answers.
Even worse, not only do they have all the answers, but they’re so smart they don’t even bother asking you, the customer, a single question. To them, a customer doesn’t know anything anyway, so there’s no reason to waste any time soliciting their opinion.
2. They are quick to give you a date as to when you can have your order, but just as quick to never follow through with you to ensure it happens.
3. They are 100% positive any problem that can occur is due to someone else’s mistake.
To them the “home office” is full of stupid people, and shipping and other key departments don’t have a clue as to what is going on. What’s worse is not only do they blame everybody else, but they’re so busy blaming others that they never come up with a solution to fix anything.
4. When they’re talking with other salespeople, they always refer to their customers as “stupid customers.”
Every customer with whom they deal is just plain stupid in their eyes. They believe nobody can be as smart as they are, and they are more than willing to verbally point it out.
5. They have a lifestyle of “relax, step back and chill out.”
In their mind, customers and prospects will always reach out to them when they want to buy, so there’s no reason at all to reach out to them. To them it’s far more important to be ready for the call, so the best way to do that is do as little work as possible.
Of course, should the phone ever ring, they wouldn’t want to respond quickly, because they want to make sure the customer understands how important their own time is.
6. They believe pricelists are a complete waste of time and paper.
Since the fake salesperson knows the customer better than anyone else, they will know best what price the customer can afford to pay. They firmly believe there’s no sense in drawing out the sales process, and the best way to speed things along is by putting an amazingly low price on the table quickly.
To them this is serving the customer with amazing service, and any profit that is lost in the sale is not their problem anyway.
7. Salespeople who are frauds have zero regard for following any direction that comes from their boss or their company.
Remember, the fake salesperson believes everyone else is stupid, especially those who work for the company, so the best way to be successful is to not do what they may want them to do.
8. Finally, the fake salesperson believes any shortcomings in their numbers would be 100% due to either the economy or the company not making what the customer wants.
If the economy were better and the company made what the customer wanted and as cheap as the customer wanted it, then they’d be able to make their number.
BONUS: Oh, one more thing…the fake salesperson believes the marketing department clearly doesn’t have a strategy because any leads are not worth the time, at least according to the salesperson who is a fraud.
Have you known salespeople that fit the above descriptions? Maybe you’ve worked with a few. Maybe you’ve bought from a few.
It pains me to say this, but over the years I’ve seen far too many salespeople who either are masters at each one of the items listed above or at least minimally engaged in using one or more of them.
Not only are their customers being short-changed, but they are too.
Copyright 2011, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
