Salesdrip Report: Do Not Believe What You Read

I’m on a mission to bring honesty back to sales. You all know that.

To achieve my mission I must be willing to do three things:

1. Teach people how to sell without manipulation.
2. Teach buyers how to spot salesdrip behavior and avoid being taken by it, so the salesdrip tactics stop working.
3. Expose the salesdrips of the world (those who do it on purpose) and the salesdrip behavior I spot (usually by those who do it by mistake).

Today we’re squarely on #3, and I’m letting Devil Gill out to play by sharing my opinion and ranting against what was, in that never-been-humble opinion, a blatantly manipulative pile of garbage.
If you don’t like this sort of stuff, leave or delete right now.

Devil Gill Unleashed …

Last week Friday, the folks at honestysells.com advertised a “teleclass” with the following marketing copy:

To coincide with the release of our book [Honesty Sells], Steven and I will reveal our secrets to building open and honest customer relationships that pay.

Join this free teleclass on Friday, June 5th at 2pm (Eastern) to discover the proven system for navigating gatekeepers and objections, increasing customer responsiveness, closing sales faster and more often, getting honest answers from clients and prospects, and troubleshooting problems before they scuttle big sales or important projects. And hear the worst-of-the-worst of sales lies - but be forewarned - you will cringe!

Note: The page linked above was removed by the authors. You can see the original page and the first part of my conversation with them by viewing this PDF file.

I’ll admit when I read the copy I was both excited to hear other sales trainers had taken up the charge to bring honesty back to sales, and worried that it might be yet another situation where manipulative practices are sold under the veil of “we’re teachers of honest selling.”

So myself and a colleague registered for the class. (Actually, I thought I registered but it turns out all I did was submit a comment. My colleague, Brian, gave me his access-number last minute.)

Unfortunately what we received was a 50-minute sales pitch with a few tidbits of advice and a couple stories thrown in. (Well, Brian received only about a 15-minute sales pitch, because he felt it was a “worthless waste of time” and hung up.)

Then, when I called them to the mat for their manipulative marketing copy, I received the following:

“Steven and I stated at the beginning of the call our intent was threefold (1) share key concepts from Honesty Sells that you could implement right away, (2) encourage everyone to buy the book and implement the ideas and (3) encourage them to use this blog as a source for honesty in the sales profession.”

(Note: You can see the entire conversation on the link above, unless they removed it.)

Then why in the name of honesty didn’t you say that in your marketing copy instead of crafting a bunch of fluffed-up value dribble (bait) and then providing something else (switch)?

And stick your “it’s okay because X people liked it” excuses where the sun don’t shine. Of course some people liked the call. I never said your manipulative tactics wouldn’t work. I said they were dishonest.

Testimonials from happily manipulated people are the social proof salesdrips use to overcome intelligent skepticism.

If you truly are advocates of honest selling then you MUST hold yourselves to a far higher standard than everyone else. You must take enormous care to avoid even the hint of manipulation or dishonesty. You must be a beacon that stands out both day and night.

You must be HONEST!

Okay. Rant over. Now let’s let Angel Gill have the stage.

Angel Gill …

I am not infallible. In fact, I’ll bet huge money that despite my very best efforts there is something I’ve written in my own marketing copy — somewhere, anywhere — that could be perceived as inaccurate, misleading or downright manipulative. That’s the problem with crafting the message myself — I know what I mean so sometimes I see what I want to see in my writing instead of what others will see. (If you ever spot something like that, please tell me right away.)

I could also be wrong. Perhaps my perception of what these authors wrote as compared to what they delivered is slanted due to my heightened radar for manipulation. (Although Brian, who was also on the call, said the same thing — I’ll invite him to add his own thoughts in comment form as soon as I post this entry.)

I’ll also grant this might have been an oversight or simple mistake. Perhaps one of the authors wrote the marketing copy and the other crafted the program. Perhaps they wrote the copy first, created the program second and forgot to go back and make sure the copy was still accurate.

There are all sorts of possibilities as to how this could have come about by mistake rather than intent.
If that’s the case, I invite both authors to speak up. And my heart hopes they’ll do exactly that, because the world can use all the honest selling advocates it can get.

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association

Comments

[Brian C]

Gill summed up the bait and switch fairly well. They basically provided tidbits of information to tease you into buying their book. They both seemed qualified and successful in their endevors, but misleading in delivery. My initial thought was that they failed to prepare properly. There did not seem to be any format for the call, but Colleen and Steven simply discussed stories from the top of their heads. My two cents!

[Gill Wagner]

Thanks, Brian.I'll admit I was fuming over the misleading marketing copy. That undoubtedly colored my opinion of what they actually said, and/or caused me to not listen.What gives me pause is their defense of the behavior. In my experience, honesty includes admitting when you screw up, whereas salesdrip behavior includes blind defense of all your actions.Still waiting for their final actions before passing official, Honest Selling judgment, but I'm admittedly leaning on the side of distrust right now.

[Brad Simpson]

Gill,First of all: Props to you, for giving Angel Gill a chance to speak his piece. In the heat of the moment it is easy to tune out the twin on the opposite shoulder, and ignore possibilities that don’t conform to your gut reaction.Not having been a participant in the aforementioned teleclass, I can only comment on what I have observed, both specifically - in this case - and in general.1. Intentional or not, there does appear to be a disconnect between the marketing copy, and the threefold purpose disclosed at the beginning of the session. I give your hosts Honesty points for the latter, and deduct points, for the former. Being up-front from the get-go would have served them better, and been more congruent with the image they are trying to project.2. Countering your bait-and-switch allegation with compliments from participants is a classic non sequitur that smacks of an end-justifies-the-means mentality. Though good-to-know, the satisfaction of fish who took the bait, has nothing to do with the veracity of the lure.Without ascribing bad intentions to its author(s), I am inclined to conclude that the teaser for the teleclass was misleading, and that your respondents would be wise to heed their own advice and be honest with themselves. If the switch was an oversight, there is no shame or weakness in admitting it.You are right to hold Mr. Gaffney and Ms. Francis to a high standard, and call them on their inconsistency. Many pirates fly the flag of honesty, and those of us who aspire to sell with true integrity, have an obligation to keep ourselves, and others, honest.

[@KellyFerrara]

Hi Gil,Catching up on my Google Reader entries - and just read your June posts. Thanks for the candor and perspective, as always.Kelly